Getting sponsors for any venture is no joke. And in the media, finding sponsors that encourage use of innovative technology and getting them to pledge allegiance and provide sustainability for new media projects might require a bit of wand weaving.
Yet, some corporations are thinking big and are investing in the future of Africa’s new media landscape. MTN, MultiChoice, Telkom and the Department of Communications are some of the giant players promoting the use of new technology in journalism and are currently exhibiting at the 2009 Highway Africa conference. These corporate titans are not solely sponsoring South Africa new media projects but have extended their reach to vast Africa as they are aware of the challenges African media is facing.
Group Executive for MTN Group, Zolisa Masiza says “we need journalists to cover the World Cup using the new technology that is easy to be used by everyone else.” Masiza adds that with Africa’s economic and infrastructural adversities, there is no easier way to approach the new media venture but through the most popular networking tool, the cell phone.
MultiChoice has introduced mobile television which citizens can view anywhere, enabling the watch of soccer matches during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Fathima Ebrahim, communications specialist at MultiChice SA says, “This mobile television is more advanced than the usual cell phone’s applications and it is only available in Africa for now.”
Reported by Lwando and Lucky.
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