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All Africa



Third world countries have been making leeway in the digital world, and they are often times more advanced than we think. Take Africa for example: The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa created a program called PADIS (Pan African Development Information System) back in the 80’s to try and open up new opportunities for the movement of information in Africa. The internet did not become commercial in Africa until the mid to late 90s whereas the United States, the forerunner of the first world, had already been browsing for nearly 30 years. And as late as that may seem, there are still areas such as Greenland who have little to no internet connection at all. Today, although struggling with their content availability, Africa has several ways of receiving new and information both internally and internationally. With the help of the internet, newspapers are able to report digitally, and independent users are able to create private channels that have less government influence. The website All Africa, on the other hand, includes press releases and other material provided by hundreds of different organizations. It markets itself as a host to content from governments, non-governmental organizations, and other news-makers inside and outside of Africa. These documents are selected by All Africa editors to augment the reports and commentaries from African news organizations and are included to provide their audience with access to original material, directly from the source.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS:
It is already difficult enough to generalize Africa as one entity, but All Africa serves an audience that involves any influence or demand of African sentiment. Many different levels of press freedom exist in Africa, from Senegal and its lively newspapers to Eritrea and Djibouti, where there are no privately-owned media at all. After a wave of liberalization in the 1990s, press freedom violations are now all too common. They include arbitrary censorship, especially on the Internet (by means of ad hoc Internet cuts in some countries), arrests of journalists on the grounds of combating terrorism, and acts of violence against media personnel that usually go unpunished. The financial weakness of many media outlets makes them susceptible to political and financial influence that undermines their independence. For the most part, state-owned media still tend to be governmental mouthpieces or propaganda tools and have a long way to go before they can become independent public service media that reflect a variety of opinions. According to RWB (Reporters Without Borders), 2019 marked the progress of press freedoms of some areas in sub-Saharan Africa but also a disturbing decline in others. The index overall has shifted noticeably; Namibia is newly restored to its position as Africa’s best-ranked country while Eritrea and Djibouti are described as “black holes” where no independent media is provided. As far as All Africa, their strategy of bringing together several values under one roof is an intellectual way to appease and defy at the same time. They showcase the face of the government while undermining the indifferent levels of tolerance the government would usually have for certain opinions. It is not completely uncensored, but any information displayed is deemed responsible by the party that posted. “All Africa does not have the legal right to edit or correct.”


The construct of the website is very unified, not much is able to especially stand out over the other as far as appearance. Although that steers away some urgency, I would assume that this kind of display is necessary when providing a meeting ground for so many different producers. It is evident, however, that All Africa tries to focus on representing as many countries as possible. At the very top of the site, there is a “Countries” tab specifically dedicated to helping the reader find a particular country provided. This allows you to isolate stories only from that area, and it would come in handy if you are doing research or a spotlight search for a certain area’s news. Considering that All Africa tries to cater to all of Africa, it would be easier to cast out biases by searching and comparing similar or the same stories by different areas. For example, Nigeria and Ghana have been combatting the circumstances of #SexForGrades, a hash tag created during the investigation of a broader one that uncovers the sex for grade crises in universities in Nigeria and Ghana. The Ghanaian Times mentions the solutions of this tragic occurrence like the creation of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Commitment for their schools, and it publicized the indictment and discharge of Professor Ransford Gyampo and Dr. Kwame Butakor from the University of Ghana. For Nigeria, Premium Times reports about the University of Lagos is still under investigation. University lecturer and well-known church servant, Boniface Igbeneghu, has been accused of “inviting” student for a meeting of prayer which reluctantly turned into a night of “romance”. The Foursquare Gospel Church of Nigeria has asked the lecturer to step down from all duties to the church due to the allegations. Both stories are in relation to the same problem buts produced in different ways according to the area.

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