The 10th Conference of African Communication Regulation Authorities opened in Rabat on Wednesday with many English, Portuguese, French and Arabic-speaking African countries attending this multilateral event.
The meeting seeks to lend a new lease of life to the activities of the African Communication Regulation Authorities Network (ACRAN) after an interruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The great upheavals experienced by the media and communication at the global level and in each of our countries, and the challenges that these accelerated changes impose on our societies, commit us, not only to capitalize on the action of our network but to further boost the force of proposal of ACRAN through expertise and sharing of experiences and best practices,” said Latifa Akharbach, president of HACA, the Moroccan regulator of the audiovisual.
The ambition is “to see ACRAN assume its mission in promoting and improving media regulation on the continent in an optimal way.”
In addition, the head of the HACA reviewed the challenges facing the African audiovisual landscape, calling to upgrade this sector and consider it a priority of public policy.
She said this means adopting “real strategic visions so that the economic model of radio and television evolves and integrates the new conditions of production of content.”
Akharbach also emphasised the shortcomings of the public sector.
For her, the digital transformation is essential to prevent “the downgrading” of the public offer.
Under the theme “The African audiovisual in mutation: lines of evolution and new challenges,” this 10th Conference of Communication Regulatory Authorities of Africa is spread over three days.
The highlight of this conference, the thematic seminar will provide participants with an opportunity to cross their perspectives and enrich their common reflection on the economic, cultural, technological and professional issues related to the transformation and development of the African audiovisual sector in a context of multiple and profound changes in the global ecosystem of media and communication.
Centered on African realities and the evolution of the expectations of the continent’s societies and media, the work of the seminar will also be open to international experiences and analyses due to the globalization of communication.
The three sessions of the thematic seminar will be devoted to questions of great acuteness for the African audiovisual sector such as the search for a new economic model, the mutations of the practices and professional standards or the digital strategies to be set up to ensure the development of this sector in the context of the deep transformations brought by the digital technologies.
The RIARC, of which HACA is currently the vice-president, is the multilateral framework of cooperation and consultation of reference between the media regulatory authorities of the African continent and contributes to establish the technical, professional and institutional authority of its 36 member authorities.
Its primary objective is to strengthen the contribution of media regulators to the consecration of a pluralist African audiovisual landscape, promoting the diversity of African societies, respecting the principles of human rights and conveying democratic and humanist values.
HA/fss/as/APA