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The Highway Africa conference takes place from 4th to 7th July this year. Temporarily moving from its traditional September calendar, the conference will run under the banner “African Voices in the Global Media Space”. Speakers include former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, Nozipho January-Bardill, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mathatha Tsedu and Matthew Buckland.
The conference will kick off on the evening of Sunday 4th July with the Telkom-Highway Africa New Media Awards. Here prizes will be given to three Africans that have excelled in the use of online technologies to produce and deliver news and information.
Using a combination of plenary sessions, keynote addresses, debates, training workshops, networking dinners and book launches, the conference will explore how the internet and mobile technology are transforming Africa’s media and society. A key feature of the conference is the Reporting Development Forum – a series of plenary sessions in which leaders in media and broader society discuss how Africa’s media is framing the continent’s role in the global development agenda. Some of the key questions the sessions will interrogate include:
- Africa’s relationship/partnership with China;
- Africa’s recovery and growth trajectory in the aftermath of the “global financial crisis”;
- Africa position in relation to global trade rules and the emerging re-alignments;
- Africa’s democratic prospects (has Africa finally turned the corner in terms of dictatorships and human rights violations)?
- Africa and the meaning of the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
In other sessions the conference will look at how the business of the media is changing in light of the rapid uptake of internet and mobile technology. Going beyond the usual debates around the death of print, the sessions will seek to explore how African media companies are harnessing technology to grow audiences and revenue.
As part of the conference’s social programme, Absa will host a dinner in honour of the former President of Ghana, Mr. John Kufuor and MTN will host a Fan Zone for delegates to watch the two 2010 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
The conference is expected to be attended by about 500 delegates drawn from over 40 countries. The conference ends on Wednesday 7th July with a closing speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Note: Now in its 14th year, the Highway Africa Conference is co-hosted by Rhodes University, SABC and the Department of Communications. The key sponsors for the event are Telkom, MTN and Absa. The event, the largest annual gathering of African journalists, exists to provide a platform for journalists to demystify and utilise ICT in their work and media businesses.
Media inquiries: Moagisi Letlhaku (Ms.), m.letlhaku@ru.ac.za, Mobile: +2773-381-5227, Telephone: +27-46-603-7139
Website: http://highwayafrica.com
