The third African Media Convention is scheduled to hold in Ghana at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) from May 15 to 17, 2024.
Journalists, communicators, students, media organisations and corporate partners are expected to join the conversation.
The yearly convention is a collaborative effort supported by the African media stakeholders to reflect on fundamental role of journalism on the continent, celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom and deliberate on measures to safeguard media freedoms and promote access to information, the safety of journalists and media viability in the African Union member states.
The Convention will bring together media experts, scholars, students, journalists, journalists’ unions and associations, editors, public and private sector, including cooperating partners from around the continent and beyond, as well as representatives from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the AU Commission.
There would be exciting sessions, discussions and side events for all to participate in.
The African Media Convention is currently the largest gathering of media stakeholders and policymakers in the continent.
The Convention, an initiative of The African Editors’ Forum (TAEF) is designed to safeguard the hard-won media freedoms and safety of journalists on the continent.
According to Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) President Albert Dwumfour, the first Convention was hosted by the East African Editors’ Forum in Arusha, Tanzania while the second edition of the Convention was hosted by the Southern Africa Editors’ Forum (SAEF).
He added the third convention aligns with the global theme with a focus on the following thematic areas: “Freedom Of Expression, Sustainable Development, And Environmental Crises.”
He disclosed, “the third African Media Conference marking World Press Freedom Day 2024, is an important opportunity for the international community to collectively reflect on these multidimensional challenges, the fundamental role of journalism, and the transformative power that reliable information has to protect our planet, achieve sustainable development, and consolidate democracies.”
He further noted, the convention will serve as a platform to: “Assess and discuss the situation of the right to press freedom globally, identify areas where journalists face repression, violence, or censorship.; establish and strengthen ties between different actors, such as media organizations, NGOs, governments, and international bodies, to work together to promote and protect the right to press freedom; reaffirm commitments to freedom of expression and press freedom as human rights enshrined in various international instruments, recognising their importance for the strengthening of democratic societies.
Other objectives include: calling for the importance of reliable and accurate information, especially that which denounces and investigates the environmental crisis and its effects; raising awareness on the urgency to defend the media from attacks on their independence, freedom, and pluralism and recall the Windhoek+30 Declaration on information as a common good; paying tribute to journalists who have lost their lives and those who fight for their freedom in the line of duty; raising awareness about the violence faced by journalists and communication workers when promoting sustainable development and environmental protection, encouraging a gender-responsive perspective that promotes non-sexist journalistic discourse and promoting professional journalism that discusses the eradication of all types of discrimination and biases against women.
