Media experts at Russia-Africa Summit pledge to bridge information gap

Russian and African communication experts have inched closer to forging collaboration in bridging the information gap between the two regions as well as measures to fight against anti-Russian propaganda in western and European media in Africa.

The experts noted that African continent is becoming ever more important in today’s international order. The media can, and indeed must be a decisive factor in building effective ties. Knowledge of Russia and the steps being taken by its political leaders to tackle global challenges are given little space in the continent’s media landscape.

Nearly all the panellists noted precisely that western media dominates in Africa.

“Oftentimes, unique news offerings created by the Russian media simply do not make to the users and viewers in many regions, including Africa. Evidently, this vacuum gets filled with one-sided information from other players in the media market. This information can be biased, or outright hostile towards Russia and residents of other countries,” Mikhail Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa.


Professor Alexey Vasiliev, Honorary President of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chef Editor of Asia and Africa Today Journal, told the audience: “Africa is largely unaware of Russia since African media mainly consumes the Western sources and then replicates them. And all the fake news, the Russophobia and anti-Russian propaganda, spread by the western media, are repeated in the African media.”


Artem Kozhin, Deputy Director, Department of Information and Press, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation pointed to the fact that “freedom of speech situation around the world is far from satisfactory. We encounter that all the time. Some Western countries break their international obligations and keep pressuring Russian media and their partners.”


“We support establishing direct contacts between the leading media outlets of Africa and Russia to develop professional dialogue, professional training, veritable information exchange, as well as sharing experiences in facing new threats and challenges,” added Artem Kozhin.


In his view, Khalil Hashimi Idrissi, Managing Director, Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), African continent is discussed quite a bit in the media. “We have to analyze and comment on things all the time. Often times we get faulty evaluation from other sources. It turns out, that information can be false, marginalized, because the players are not equal and it affects the situation,” he stressed.

Speaking on the insufficient information about Russia in Africa, Xavier Messe A Tiati, Director General, Cameroonian News Agency, informed the gathering that delivering the news from Russia is still difficult. Russia does a lot with the African countries, yet it does not get sufficient coverage. Information about Russia is still insufficient, there is the need to sign agreements with agencies, or magazines, newspapers, radio and television stations so that there is more news about Russia.

Information cooperation between Russia and the African countries is very promising. “Information cooperation is far more efficient and is developing much faster than the economic cooperation. Still, it is not enough. Information cooperation is very promising, and we have whole sets of these programmes,” according to Alexey Volin, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.

“The importance of mass media in modern life and in Russian-African relations is hard to overstate,” said Mikhail Gusman, Chairman of the Russian National Committee of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication and also the Vice-President, News Agency World Council (NACO).

Both Russian and African experts have agreed that expanding Russian media network could further help play consistently key role in strengthening relations with Africa. “Affecting the one-dimensional coverage inclination of the information field can be achieved by developing the wider media network for Russia, including offices in the African countries,” suggested Bogdanov.

There are international agreements that provide unique opportunities to inform the general public about the practical and tangible measures in achieving sustainable development goals. Strengthening cooperation between Russian and African media could take part in the Global Media Agreement.