PEOPLES' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) recently hosted a two-day Russia-African Young Media Practitioners Forum named after Congolese politician Patrice Lumumba in Moscow, Russia.
The event was attended by young media practitioners from 10 African countries including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivore, Cameroon, Algeria and Egypt.
Zimbabwe was represented by Tanyaradzwa Rusike and Brandon Mazumba who told The Standard that the forum discussed challenges faced in accurately and comprehensively reporting on SDGs in the region.
“I believe the event strengthened ties between Russia and African media as we got to engage and discuss the issues affecting the media in both countries and the forum sought to debunk Russo-African stereotypes,” said Mazumba.
“It touched on issues affecting both media vis-a-vis their relationships. It was noted that there is lack of information about each country and as a result, most reports are based on stereotypes which lead to misinformation and disinformation thus resulting in wrong or biased reporting amongst African countries and the western world,” he said.
Rusike said she got to know that media played a pivotal role in the reporting and improvement of the SDGs and that can only be made possible if media resources such as transportation, equipment and connectivity are made available.
“Transport is affecting the media in Zimbabwe in terms of accessibility to news due to the lack of cars owned by media houses in the country,” she said.
“Most media houses do not have the resources to drive or have correspondents in remote areas in African states unlike in Western countries.
“The media also has a part to play in the improvement of SDGs which means it has to mainstream this, put it as part of Agenda setting, educate and inform citizens about the 17 SGDs.
“However this can be made possible with the right media resources.”
A call to action was made at the conclusion of the forum, encouraging media organisations, governments, educational institutions and civil society to collaborate in considering the proposed workable solutions for SDGs reporting.
