President of the Federation of Atlantic African Press Agencies (FAAPA), Khalil Hachini Idrissi Friday appealed to African governments to re-tool and revive news agencies in their countries.
He said news agencies symbolised the sovereignty of states and ought to be supported by governments to protect state interests.
Mr Idrissi made the appeal at the closing ceremony of a week’s training on “web journalism” for journalists from FAAPA member states in Rabat.
The FAAPA training was to help participants master the optimisation for search engines and identify opportunities for visibility on the web through social media.
Mr Idrissi said it was fundamental for every state to have a national press to promote national cohesion and agendas, saying, the absence of social cohesion was fuelling inter-ethnic and religion-based attacks on the Continent and underscored the relevance of news agencies to developing countries.
He said good governance was dependent on communication and called for a closer relationship between governments and news agencies.
Idrissi said FAAPA was committed to empowering the human resource of member states and asked the respective countries to support the agencies with equipment.
Heads of news agencies from Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Liberia and host Morocco, October last year met in the Kingdom of Morocco and established FAAPA.
The formation of FAAPA is geared towards laying the basis for a strategic partnership, especially sharing information and multimedia products.
It is also to ensure circulation of information and news concerning any member country.
A.B Kafui Kanyi, Rabat-Morocco, courtesy: FAAPA
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