Editor,This is a reaction to Gerald Mpyisi’s article, “Can Africans write their own story? (The New Times, February 4, 2013). Thank you Mr. Mpyisi, for your interesting and well-written article. I especially like the point you make about investing in the media, and in our writers, particularly. In more developed countries, print media have enjoyed centuries of book writers and thousands of university and public libraries, not to mention millions of avid readers as a loyal and well-paying market audience. Today, however, digital media has revolutionised the industry and has put writers and other media producers into an interesting conundrum. The internet affords a much wider audience but makes it more difficult to recover revenue. There are two solutions. The first is for non-profit organisations- whether universities or writer associations, as you mentioned- to invest in writers (and other media) for public good. But the second, more viable solution is to continue to develop the online advertising industry so that The New Times and other online publishers can sustain themselves and lead others in their industry. Again, I thank you for this article and for the articles of those writers, which you mentioned. I hope that the Rwandan private sector can continue to support The New Times and I look forward to see where the future will take online media in Rwanda—eBooks, short films, and so forthMutoni Karasanyi, Washington, DC
