May 25, 2005
By Dauti Kahura Nairobi

National news agencies are the foundation of media development and expansion in Africa, a consultant said at the IPI conference yesterday.

Nicholas Kotch, a former Reuters bureau chief in Nairobi, who is now based in South Africa, yesterday said national news agencies offered the best hope for media advancement in the continent.

"There is a need to revive the national news agencies of many African countries which have been dead on their feet for many years," he said.

Kotch said news agencies provide a platform not only for media but also for companies.

He said this is especially true in Africa where many countries have fledgling national news agencies "that are forlorn and are a tool for state propaganda".

"But unlike the national news agencies of yore, the 21st Century national news agencies should be independent, credible, neutral and with enough resources to run their operations," he said.

He said many African countries relied on foreign news agencies and needed to resuscitate their moribund national news agencies.

He said there were now more opportunities for media development in Africa and urged countries to tap into resources from different organisations. He said African journalists could only have a voice if they nurtured strong national unions.

"The unions should not be avenues for corruption and complacency but forums for championing journalists' interests and creating training opportunities," he said.