Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) to deliver IT Summit news to Africa.
2 December 2003

The Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) which is an intiative born from the partnership of the SABC and Rhodes University’s Highway Africa annual event, will be participating in the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva next week.

HANA, which involves African journalists and students, will provide an African perspective on the negotiations taking place at the World Summit. This is an exciting development, as we will have African viewpoints being considered with European and American positions through the participation of the African team.

HANA, a multi-media news agency operating from the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva will cover the summit, and distribute newsworthy material free of charge, to all subscribing African news organisations.

The SABC, as a co-convenor of the annual Highway Africa conference held in Grahamstown, is proud to play a leading role in the Highway Africa News Agency. The SABC’s continued involvement in Africa’s biggest online journalism conference is in keeping with the corporation’s goals of promoting freedom of expression and access to information technology for all.

Mr. Peter Matlare, the SABC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, will be the first keynote speaker to address the opening ceremony of World Electronic Media Forum taking place at the same time as the WSIS. He has been invited to publicly comment on a section of the World Broadcasting Union’s declaration to the summit. He will support the declaration’s contention that information technology is only a means to an end, and that the real value of IT is in the information and content that it carries

The SABC is working together with a number of Southern African NGOs to have a visible presence at the African Village in the WSIS exhibition centre. SABC Africa, the corporation’s continent-wide, satellite based television channel will show topical news footage and feature programmes at the Village.

HANA to have a multi-cultural team from six countries
A team of twelve working journalists and students from six African countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa) will make up the staff complement of HANA. The members include a rich blend of experienced writers and reporters mixed in with inspired radio anchors and topped up with highly skilled New Media students.

HANA journalists will listen in on high-level discussions, do interviews with world leaders and take photographs. They will then post the news articles, digital pictures, animated graphics and audio packages onto a web page where all the material will be freely accessible.

Bridging the digital divide, or providing access to information technology for all African people is one of the main objectives of the WSIS. The SABC and Rhodes University working together in the Highway Africa News Agency believe that it is important that Africans tell the story of how this goal is to be achieved.

News organisations or individuals wishing to receive regular updates from Geneva can subscribe to the HANA listserv at the following address: http://listserv.ru.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/highwayafricanews-l

If you prefer to visit a web site to choose the articles you would like to download, please go to either of the following sites as from Sunday, December 7th:

Þ http://www.sabcnews.com/features/wsis
Þ http://www.highwayafrica.org.za/hana/
Contact information:
Ntombi Mhangwani [email protected] and
Oluseyi Folayan [email protected]