Africa offers platform for media businesses
It is a continent of diverse languages, cultures, religions and resources. Now, Africa is emerging as a big opportunity for communication business with nation branding. It is the last great market globally, providing untapped business opportunities for industries such as IT, finance, telecoms and infrastructure.

Ad case study shows return of traditional masculine virtues
The success of recent Guinness campaigns in Africa validate the ‘menaissance' trend that cultural commentators predicted. This is according to Ian Young, MD of Saatchi & Saatchi.

SOUTH AFRICA

WAN up in arms over Yahoo-Google ad deal
PARIS: Competition authorities in Europe and North America have been requested to block an advertising agreement between Google and Yahoo on anti-competitive grounds by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN),today, Monday, 15 September 2008. According to WAN, the deal will have a negative impact on the ad revenues that the search giants provide to newspaper and other websites, and on the cost of paid search advertising.

ANGOLA

Angola elections - no independent oversight, media bias
Luanda: Angola's parliamentary elections on 5 September 2008, reportedly won by the ruling MPLA party, were marred by numerous irregularities, Human Rights Watch said today, 15 September 2008. Preliminary results indicate that the MPLA won more than 80% of the vote, the first held in Angola since 1992.

SOUTH AFRICA

Gillmor on citizen media's effects on business, culture
[Sindy Peters] Fresh from presenting at the 12th Highway Africa conference last week, Dan Gillmor, director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship (Arizona State University, US), gave a lunch talk at the UCT Graduate School of Business on Friday, 12 September 2008. Gillmor's discussion focused on how the media landscape has evolved over the last decade or so and how media and business industries have been affected by social media tools.


SADC Protocol on Gender: What's in it for the media?
The recent signing of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development could mean that the stories and images in the region's media may soon have a more balanced perspective.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

Exactmobile/NORM royalty dispute continues
WASPA announced last week that it has reached an agreement with SARRAL whereby WASPA members who sign individually, will be granted mechanical rights for digital music sales, at a rate of 5% of the retail sales price. Exactmobile is the first WASPA member to sign with SARRAL.

Zain scoops GTB Innovation Award
[Walter Wafula] Zain, formerly known as Celtel was last week awarded the Global Telecoms Business (GTB) Innovation Award for introducing its One Network.

ZAMBIA

Zambia relooks its investments campaign
[Gregory Gondwe] Although Zambia is experiencing more investments in its mining sector, government is planning to establish multi-facility economic zones (MFEZ) across the country and improve its petroleum sector.

Closing gaps in MDG requires increased efforts
[Gabrielle Wade] In preparation for the 25 September 2008, high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the MDG Gap Task Force released a report this week examining the key areas where targets are not being met throughout the world.

Mozambique-Zimbabwe: The commodities lifeline
Harare: It is 7am at the main long-distance bus terminus in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The roof-rack of a battered 75-seater bus is piled high with goods, from bales of dried tobacco leaves to reed mats, in preparation for the 24-hour journey south-east to the town of Sango, in Chiredzi district on the Mozambican border.