Cape Town conference drafts access to info declaration

CAPE TOWN – African journalists, academics and government officials attending the Pan-African Conference on Access to Information are drafting the African Platform for Access to Information declaration.

“That platform ... sets out principles on the access to information and it calls for recognition of September 28 as the annual World Access to Information Day,” conference convener Professor Guy Berger said. “Our aim is that the platform should become a springboard, inspiring and enabling action by all participants.”
Berger said the declaration was due to finalised and voted on yesterday, when the three-day conference ended at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Delegates were invited to submit suggestions for inclusion in the declaration.
Press ombudsman Joe Thloloe said the platform reinforced commitments made by African governments.
He said he was disappointed that only 10 African countries had freedom of information legislation as the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 – by African journalists on principles of press freedom – spoke about access to information.
“I found the debate on media regulation interesting. I heard a wide range of views with some saying that self-regulation was the way to go. A Ugandan delegate said state regulation is the best.”
The conference is running simultaneously with its sister event, the 15th annual Highway Africa conference. A video message from President Jacob Zuma was shown at the joint opening ceremony.
The access to information conference formed a working group of nine leading African civil society organisations.
African Media Initiative chief executive Amadou Mahtar Ba told delegates that a pan-African media portal had been launched and contained a directory of media organisations on the continent, a library of documents, reports and resources about critical media issues, and a forum for discussing media roles.
The participants also established a media network as a platform for dialogue on media and development issues. – The Cape Times

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