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Joe Public 2 days



Social issues, poverty and hunger, and changing the 'Afro-pessimism' image of Africa in the face of crime, poverty, corruption and war, were the themes on the second day of the Fapra conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday 23 May 2006.
The main point to come out on the second day of this historic conference was that Africans must start telling their own stories about Africa and harness their own media to tell the whole story - not just the lowlights as told in other parts of the world by media with no interests in Africa.
Johnston said the first step was to start referring to 'Afro-optimism' instead of 'Afro-pessimism'.
"The public relations industry has a definite role to play in repositioning Africa. The soccer world cup is the greatest marketing opportunity that Africa has ever had - 28 billion people watch the final and we have the opportunity to reach them all and change their minds about Africa!"
"So how are we going to make it an African world cup when all the matches are being played in South Africa?" Johnston asked. She has the following suggestions:
Trust and infrastructure
Jerry Okungu from Kenya, a newspaper and research analyst and Nepad East Africa communications, delivered a rousing presentation on how Africa needs to trust herself and have the confidence of greatness, despite what the global media were projecting about Africa.
"The face of Africa is poverty... people dying in Ethiopia. What we see is gunmen on the streets of Somalia... violence... corruption. Wherever you talk corruption, it is the African who is seen to be corrupt... no mention is made of the Enrons of this world!
"We (Africans) tend to consume so much of other people's ideas and opinions of ourselves. We have never developed the confidence to do it on our own and move forward.
"The mistakes we have made in the last 40 years in Africa, are no bigger than the mistakes made in the rest of the world in the last 40 years!" Okungu emphasised.
He said Africa's underdevelopment on this continent is due to two things:
He emphasised that the PR practitioners' job is to communicate. "You are the communications experts. You are a professional. You take the entire company in your hands and influence its image. You are supposed to nurture that culture of good governance in the companies you represent and therefore beyond. The company you represent will outlive you and the company CEO... but your impact will be felt for a long time after."
Kenyan government spokesman, Dr Alfred N Mutua, asked whether the proliferation of media options on the continent in the last decade or so had increased communication, or simply provided more information, pointing out that readers may have more choice, but not necessarily more wisdom.
"And there are more and more PR companies popping up - but are they adding value to communications and information?"
He told the Fapra delegates to ponder the following:
"The whole concept of managing Africa's PR is if we can communicate with our people and be fully understood when we communicate, and when we don't scare our people," said Mutua.