Specialist conference
Details
At the 7th Media Leadership Conference of the KAS Media programme high- profiled media managers arrived from 16 countries to not only exchange their experiences, but to also discuss new trends in the fields digital and new media.
And this time the participants were not only from southern or Eastern Africa, but for the first time also from West African countries.
Despite aspects of work organisation like the personal structure of a newsroom or the usage of additional tools like blogs, twitters or podcasts, the focus was mainly on the business component of the digital media. A result: the problems working with new media are always very similar, if not identical, but we keep on learning from each other and do benefit by the knowledge of others. The Kenian example shows that SMS campaigns can substitute traditional media if the government decides to ban live coverage. Also social networks like facebook are getting more and more important. And this not only in the US elections, but for media in Africa.
One of the main focuses of the KAS media programme is to strengthen media houses of the region economically, because bigger economic success equals more independence from the main advertisers. After seven years the Media Leadership Conference is well- established, so the move to a fully continental event can be done. This will happen in the upcoming year when North and Central African countries will join the conference.
