By Enock Sithole and Margaret Jjuuko
The African Journalism Educators’ Network (Ajen) brings together colleagues from across sub-Saharan Africa in order to strengthen journalism education on the continent. The Ajen held its third roundtable at the Graduate School of Media and Communications, at Aga Khan University, in Nairobi, Kenya, on 26 – 27 August 2024, under the theme, Sustainable Journalism Education: Rising Through the Tide of Media and a Climate in Crisis.
The event, which also coincided with the Konrad Adenauer Annual Memorial Lecture, was attended by over 50 delegates from 15 countries, including media and communication academics, researchers, practitioners, students and media activists from non-governmental organisations from Africa and Europe.
In his opening remarks, Ajen president, Dr. Franz Krüger, observed that African journalism educators face common challenges and interests, hence, the need to strengthen practical training in a changing media environment. “We need to develop a strong, appropriate research agenda that can support and strengthen the civic role of journalism”, said Dr. Krüger.
Two keynote presentations, one by Prof Nicolas Oguge on sustainable journalism and another by Prof Claudia Nothelle on the evolution of television anchored the two-day event. Delegates also heard presentations from two panels, on Sustainable Journalism Education in Practice and Reporting and Teaching Climate Change in African perspectives.
Ajen also held its annual general meeting on the sidelines of the roundtable, where discussions were held on issues such as the formal registration of the organisation and several administrative issues. Board members also discussed suggestions on training, upskilling and reskilling of journalism educators to meet the challenges of training students.
Prof Nancy Booker, Ajen Vice President and Dean, GSMC – Aga Khan University, tabled a proposal for funding to be raised to enable journalism academics to visit newsrooms to learn about issues in the profession.
Ajen Vice President, Dr. Nancy Booker
Strategies to increase visibility and engagement within the organisation, as well as to increase membership, currently around 122 members were mapped out.
This article was originally published by Ajen newsletter