To help fuel the growth of independent journalism in Africa, a group called the Africa Media Initiative has created a media challenge to offer funding for aspiring journalists.
The current state of journalism in many African countries is somewhat bleak. A majority of news outlets are state-run, and fueled by bias regime propaganda. Independent news sources are few and far between, and struggle to fund their endeavors. Even those who do are consistently threatened by those same regime forces that fear reporters criticizing the government.
Cue the African News Innovation Challenge, a new competition that will give away $1 million dollars in grants to news outlets who seek to create a different journalism experience for Africans. This ties in strongly to the use of new technology, which is unavailable to many African news outlets due to the high costs involved with online publishing and necessary software. Aspiring journalists can submit proposals describing how they intend to use technology to improve the quality of African journalism. Winners will receive between $12,500 and $100,000 to implement their proposal, as well as advice from media experts, and connections to venture capitalists who may fund future endeavors.
The challenge focuses on technology because newer mediums are subject to much less censorship than traditional television, radio and print. The prize is being handled by the African Media Initiative, a group funded by a mix of foundations and corporations from the West. All entrants will need to submit their proposals before the July 10th deadline, and the winners will be announced four months later. All submitted proposals will be available for viewing and comment on the challenge’s website.
