Efforts are under way to a establish a network of journalism educators for the African continent.
Spearheaded by South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in collaboration with working with the Fojo Media Institute (Linnaeus University, Sweden), the initiative aims to bring together journalism academics from the continent to a forum where they will exchange information, pedagogical experiences and research.
Wits head of the Department of Journalism, Professor Franz Krüger, who is leading the initiative, said the idea was to cultivate co-operation in journalism training on the continent.
Consultations have been undertaken with journalism academics from various countries on the continent, who offered valuable input on the initiative.
The network will be launched in 2021 following a conference of journalism educators to be held in Johannesburg or via a Webinar, depending on developments regarding travel and conferencing restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the initiative, a newsletter and a website will be published. AJENda is the name of the network’s newsletter, of which this is the first edition. The newsletter will be published monthly, while the website will be launched in the new year.
The two platforms will feature research from the continent’s academics and students.
The idea is to publish editorialised research reports with internet links to full research reports.
The website will, among others, contain research material published by African journalism scholars to facilitate research and citing of work produced on the continent.
Wits journalism lecturer, Enoch Sithole, is AJENda’s editor.
