Keep Tanzania in your thoughts this week as a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck north-western Tanzania on Saturday. The death toll on Sunday was updated to 16 and 200 people were reportedly injured. The town of Bukoba was at the epicentre and SABC News reported that several hundred houses there collapsed. According to news reports, tremors were felt by neighbouring countries Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda.
In more positive news, a couple of media launches grabbed the headlines this week: the African Press Organization (APO) has launched its press release and news distribution service into North Africa and the Middle East; and Iroko has launched IrokoX, a multi-platform content network to produce content for Africa and the diaspora, enabling digital content producers to produce, distribute and monetise original short-form content.
And while there are good news media stories, there is still a shadow over press freedom in some parts of Africa, with journalists persecuted and even murdered. This week the spotlight is on Burundi and Kenya. Media freedom is a critical component of democracy and must be vigorously defended.

Have a great week!
Louise Marsland
Africa Editor: Bizcommunity.com

Comment online in our ed's column archive. Go mobile with apps and m.bizcommunity.com. Engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Subscribe to YouTube and via RSS. Send all your African marketing and media news and event invitations to africanews@bizcommunity.com, exclusive opinion pieces to contributors-africa@bizcommunity.com and international news to internationalnews@bizcommunity.com. Read "How to contribute to Biz, from op-ed pieces to news".