[FoME] DW Akademie: Supporting African media to press on for press freedom

[Ute Lange]

World Press Freedom Day 2016 : #WHK25 

DW Akademie is marking World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), and the 25th 
Anniversary of the groundbreaking Windhoek Declaration for independent and 
plural media in Africa, through supporting the publication of an online 
special and newspaper The African Free Press examining the state of press 
freedom in sub-Saharan Africa.

Together with its partner, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), 
DW Akademie has helped to publish the views of 40 journalists and media 
experts on the state of media freedom and expression; access to 
information; media pluralism and diversity in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The African Free Press newspaper will be made available on May 3 at 
various WPFD events across Africa and in partnership with other media 
freedom organisations. All articles and images from The African Free Press 
special online edition (www.whk25.misa.org) are also available to download 
in a digital format for publication by any media organization for free. 
Details of how to download the articles are below. MISA’s new website 
www.misa.org will also go live on 25.4.2016 and will feature a special 
dossier with all 40 articles as well as several video statements.

The new MISA website offers not only a comprehensive source of information 
on press freedom and access to information in Southern Africa, but also 
digital tools developed with DW Akademie to assist reporting and 
documenting media freedom violations.

„As a journalist and someone passionate about the future of African media, 
I found the opinions and reflections on media freedom in Africa in this 
special edition to be essential reading - and also inspiring. It 
identifies the most pressing challenges, and moreover, moves the debate 
about media freedom forward“ said Natascha Schwanke, head of the Africa 
Division of DW Akademie.

The Regional Director of MISA, Zoe Titus, said: “The Windhoek Declaration 
is at the core of MISA’s work advocating for media freedom and access to 
information. By making these articles readily available for anyone to use, 
we wanted to ensure that media across the continent could offer citizens 
the analysis and views of leading African voices about media freedom - a 
fundamental element of functioning democracies.”

The African Free Press was co-edited by Jeanette Minnie and Hendrik 
Bussiek – both leading experts on media freedom challenges in sub-Saharan 
Africa. The two highly respected journalists commissioned articles on a 
wide range of topics pertinent to the current African media environment 
(see table attached). The online and social media editor, Kyle James, 
commissioned a series of video messages asking an important question: what 
do young people want from their media? James also adapted the written 
articles for online publication.

Both DW Akademie and MISA would encourage social media editors to actively 
use the #WHK25 hashtag on social media platforms when referring to 
articles from The African Free Press special edition newspaper and any 
activities promoting media freedom on World Press Freedom Day.

The articles, accompanying pictures and short video messages can be 
accessed online for immediate use either in the run up to or on WPFD May 
3, via the WHK25 Media Kit on the special www.whk25.misa.org or in a 
public access Dropbox folder entitled:  “WHK25” 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ny483zhpdh15d4p/AABkNHddl5v_BoJiYP6ioatHa?dl=0 
The articles are being made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 
4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. 

African Free Press newspaper: 
http://whk25.misa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2016/04/WHK25_publication_web.pdf


Contact

Barbara Gruber 
DW Akademie
T: +49-30-4646-8539
barbara.gruber at dw.com
 
Zoe Titus 
Media Institute of Southern Africa MISA
T: +264 61 232975
M: +264 81 128 3919
zoe at misa.org


Beste Grüße

Ute Lange
Leiterin Kommunikation
Hauptabteilung Training und Kommunikation
DW Akademie

Deutsche Welle (DW)
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
53113 Bonn

T +49.228.429-2099
F +49.228.429-2060
M +49.173.7008759
T +49.30.4646-8508 (Berlin)
ute.lange at dw.com
www.dw.com
http://dw-akademie.com
https://www.facebook.com/DWAkademie
http://twitter.com/dw_akademie



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