#AfricaBlogging – How bloggers are taking over from traditional media

Takura Zhangazha, Anne Marie C. Befoune, Aisha Dabo Political
bloggers and online activists have gained increasing levels of
attention by governments since their key role as information
transmitters during the so called “Arab Spring”. In many parts of
Africa, authorities can feel threatened by bloggers who are able to
bypass the gatekeepers with their online avenues to free
expression. Independent voices are regarded as threats and are
monitored by state security networks. In this context, blogger
networks can help to provide exchange, updates and common purpose.
The international blogger network #AfricaBlogging is an online
platform featuring a plurality of voices and views supporting
democratic culture and debate in Sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in
2015 in Johannesburg, its members believe that blogs play a major
role in providing information and diversity of opinion in Africa.
They are committed to encouraging open debate on matters that are
at times not adequately covered by traditional media such as
politics, economics, gender equality, health and social matters.
However, there is a growing trend for bloggers to be monetized
‘multiplicators’ and to become brands. Those who shun the native
advertising and commercialization trends and feel their function in
the information ecosystem is to offer critical analysis that fills
the space between events and conventional media reporting, have to
fight to remain independent and credible. From cyber-activism
campaigns that helped bring an end to the Jammeh regime in the
Gambia to the political reality-check that bloggers have been able
to offer more recently about Zimbabwe’s political development,
members of the network are at the forefront of social and political
change across Africa. Join us in this session with three members of
#AfricaBlogging to discuss the positioning of bloggers between
activists and political analysts, how to remain independent and
credible, and what it means to be a successful blogger in the
post-truth world of social media and fake News.