My Thesis Frontier: Journeys in African Media

Once upon a time, I decided to go to grad school. I was searching for a spark - some sort of inspiration to help me make that all too necessary "pivot" in my life towards something grander and more purposeful. To what exactly? I'm still not entirely sure, but now, with a year of business and media courses under my belt, I find myself faced with the daunting and exciting task of conducting an independent research project for my thesis. This blog is a personal exercise in logging my findings, struggles and joys as I embark on this exploration.

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Inside IBM Research - Africa

The African continent accounts for 14 percent of the world’s population and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With a growth rate expected to average 7 percent annually over the next 20 years, #Africa  is poised to become a leading source of innovation in a variety of industries. To further enhance the scientific and technology base on the African continent, +IBM Research has opened a new lab in Nairobi, Kenya. 

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One wonders how such media can thrive unless repressive media laws are repealed and replaced with legislation that conforms to international standards.

Reporter Mohammed Adow, "Freedom eludes African media" 

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African Media Development Initiative: Research Summary Report

Recently came across a link to the PDF of the Research Summary Report from the African Media Development Initiative. Have yet to delve into it, but if the brief summary I read is any indication, this report will be invaluable to helping me further develop my focus and provide a context of what literature is already out there on developing Africa’s television and media landscape! Excerpt from the “Background and Summary of Findings” section:

This report owes its existence, in part, to the prompting of the Commission for Africa report, Our Common Interest (March 2005), which highlighted this fundamental role of the media. The report made a much-needed call for greater attention, resources and collaboration in helping to strengthen the African media sector. Its recommendation created a unique opportunity to identify ways that donors, investors, media and media development organisations can collaborate in supporting the growth and strengthening of the media sector in Africa.

This report, therefore, starts from the position that fostering a stronger media in Africa is an indispensable part of tackling poverty, improving development and enabling Africa to attain its development goals.

I'm also very eager to finally sit down and learn more about the work being done by the African Media Initiative (who recently updated their website to better showcase their efforts!)… 

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A Kenyan TV Producer Shares Her Thoughts on the Business of Showbiz

Excerpt from interview with Alison Ngibuini, an up and coming TV Producer from Kenya: 

As Kenya and other African countries gear up for digital migration, Ngibuini is positive this will open opportunities for existing and new players in film production.

She argued that for Africa to develop, the continent ought to stop looking inward and start looking outwards.

“We need to move away from our own self-serving interests. Africa needs to negotiate as a block, as opposed to each country pushing for its own individual interest. We should open up our space. Why is it cheaper for me to travel to London than it is to go to Nigeria? We should stick together.”

Read more at How we Made it in Africa...

Mulupi, Dinfin. (2013, Sept 9). A Kenyan TV producer shares her thoughts on the business of showbiz. How We Made it in Africa. Retrieved from http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/a-kenyan-tv-producer-shares-her-thoughts-on-the-business-of-showbiz/30056/

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LAGOS, Nigeria – In Nigeria, it’s not uncommon for a person to carry three or more cell phones, each optimized for a different one of the country’s wireless carriers.

Even deep in the impoverished Oto-Ilogbo Extension slum, built atop a massive landfill in mainland Lagos, there is a makeshift school where youths learn how to use the Internet on an old computer miraculously connected to the web.

A technological revolution is sweeping across Africa, bringing with it deep Internet penetration and exploding rates of smartphone usage.

The phenomenon is ushering in a new era of savvy entrepreneurship, resulting in new investment opportunities that have attracted a number of major international players to what was until recently a mostly localized market.

(via Into Africa: Start-Ups Swarm The Continent)

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“We would like to have a hotel in every major gateway city in Africa,” says Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president of development for Europe and Africa at Hilton Worldwide. After more than 50 years in Africa, Hilton is aggressively seeking to expand its portfolio in the region, riding on increasing travel, a growing middle class and local investors willing to bet their money on the international hotel brand. According to Fitzgibbon, now more than ever, there is demand for more hotels in Africa.

Hilton hotels sets its sights firmly on expansion across Africa

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In just 24 hours, whilst on a visit to Cape Town, US-based designers Megan & Mike Gilger of The Fresh Exchange together with Over founder and designer Aaron Marshall joined forces on a collaborative effort to design a unique app that celebrates one of South Africa’s - and Africa’s - most visited cities - Cape Town.

Recently downloaded the app (it’s free!), called ‘Cape Town Love’, on my iphone and what it does is allow you to add ‘handcrafted, city-inspired and city-specific artwork to your photographs of Cape Town’, and make it look something like the photos above.

A great way to both encourage more folks to take photos in the city, and create a unique collection of images and scenes taken all over Cape Town, whether for personal use or otherwise.

And in case you’re wondering whereabouts to go in Cape Town to get snapping, Miss Moss’ Cape Town City Guide is a great start.

Watch a short video by the creators about the story behind this app.

Discovered this neat piece of info via missmoss & we-are-awesome.

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I think that what Africa offers the world is hope. What Africa offers the world is a reflection on how a group of people - a continent - was on the bottom and is on the rise.

- Sociology Professor and Filmmaker Tufuku Zuberi in an interview on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane about the importance of understanding and giving value to African independence. Hear the entire news program here: History Detective Tufuku Zuberi on African Independence 

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Recently heard this Radio Times newscast and was inspired by the words and thoughts of UPenn sociology professor Tufuku Zuberi. Below is a quote from the beginning of the interview about the role of Africa and it's interactions on the international scene. 

“There is a part that Africa plays for itself, among itself, so there is all of these 53 different nations, over 2000 languages and dialects. Culture so full and rich that Africa is bursting at the seams with diversity. And all of the conflicts and all of the beauty that that brings is reflected on the African continent.

At the same time, Africa offers solutions to the economic needs of China. Africa offers solutions to the economic interests of the Middle East. Africa offers solutions to mineral needs and resources in the United States. And those things are flowing - they are flowing out of Africa.

While at the same time, Africa is not treated as an equal partner in world affairs. And mainly because a lot of the protocol, a lot of the relationships and the standards for how nations relate to each other, these things were formed, they were put in place before Africans took over their own governments. So they didn’t have a say in the formation of the United Nations. They didn’t have a real say in the formation of the International Criminal Court. They didn’t have a real say in the formation of the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund - or how they would relate to these institutions.

And that is not a problem as long as Africa is not considered and not on your radar. But once Africa is on your radar, now you begin to ask “Why are those minerals that come out of Africa and end up in my cell phone so important?” and “Why is the biggest deposit of those resources in the Congo, and the Congo can’t take care of itself yet that resource flows out of the Congo very freely?”

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Data on state of South Africa's media sometimes hard to find

Columnist and Journalism professor at the University of Witwatersrand, Anton Harber, writes about two recent studies about the media landscape in South Africa. He states:

"The report contained few surprises, but it did take a thorough and nuanced look at the situation and point to where there has been progress and which areas could do with more attention. Avoiding the broad-brush generalisations that often hamper media debate, it highlighted where there has been some change (newsroom demographics and ownership), where there has not been enough (all the boardrooms, gender representation in senior ranks) and which companies lagged (all of them in some areas, some of them in many areas)."

Read more here....

Harber, Anton. (2013, Oct 3). Data on state of South Africa's media sometimes hard to find. Busuiness Day BD Live. Retrieved from http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2013/10/03/data-on-state-of-south-africas-media-sometimes-hard-to-find

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Have you heard about the Nigerian game explosion?

"As Hugo Obi, the co-creator of Maliyo, tells The Guardian (UK): 'We wanted to use the game as an engine to share African experiences between ourselves, and with the rest of the world, through African narratives, sounds and characters.'"

Sergio. (2013, Oct 10). 'Have you heard about the Nigerian game explosion?'. Shadow and Act. Retrieved from http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/have-you-heard-about-the-nigerian-video-game-explosion 

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"It always seems impossible until it's done." sounds like a quote about thesis work to me. 

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Tales of the unbanked: M-PESA and gift economies

“In the Western business press, M-PESA is a new frontier. ‘It is like magic’, gushes The Economist. ‘By clicking a few keys on a mobile phone, money can be zapped from one part of Kenya to another in seconds’. When researchers ran the data on M-PESA, however, they noted a dispiriting pattern. Middle class Kenyans were successfully using the service to accumulate savings, pay bills, and transfer funds. For them, mobile money was a godsend. Not so for the rural poor. The poor weren’t accumulating money at all. They were hemorraging it. The problem wasn’t M-PESA itself – it was the cultural and economic context in which it was being used. Instead of turning phones into tools for banking, M-PESA had become a tool for gifting.”  …Read more…

Rayner, Tim. (2013, Oct 3). Tales of the unbanked: M-PESA and gift economies. Philosophy for Change. Retrieved from http://philosophyforchange.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/tales-of-the-unbanked-m-pesa-and-gift-economics/

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Timothy Havens and his International Television Trade Research

Havens, Timothy. (2002, Dec). ‘It’s still a white world out there’: the interplay of culture and economics in international television trade. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19(4), 377-397. (Found online here)

Just came across this article from Timothy Havens, which was published over ten years ago. I’m excited by the similarities in his work and my interests; and I hope to find a valuable resource and framework for setting up my own studies in this article. I also am curious to see how the international trade markets and the perspectives of professionals have matured and evolved over the past ten years. Cannot wait to uncover more of his work and delve in! 

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"Fueling growth worldwide is “the democratization of content,” in part due to the proliferation of smart mobile devices, says Mary Shelton Rose, U.S. entertainment and media content advisory leader for PwC. While mobile-Internet subscription penetration in mature markets was at 24 percent in 2008, it has surged to 60 percent in 2013 and will be at 83 percent by 2017. In developing markets, mobile-Internet subscription penetration ranged from 5 to 7 percent in 2008, but will grow to 52 to 54 percent by 2017."

  Bond, Paul. (2013, June 4). Study: Global Media Industry Poised to Top $2 Trillioin in 2016. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/study-global-media-industry-poised-562694 

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Discussion of possible changes in alcohol advertising regulations from Finweek: Money Matters program on CNBC Africa in South Africa

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Africa's economy is growing faster than the economies of all other continents. About a third of the 54 African countries are seeing annual GDP growth of more than 6%.

Berman, Jonathan. (2013). Vision Statement: Seven Reasons why Africa's Time is Now. Harvard Business Review, 91(10), 34-35. (Also online here.)