In December 2003 with generous donor funds (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Netherlands Institute of Southern Africa), we set out to cover the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Switzerland. 18 journalists drawn from the several African countries sought to cover what we considered to be a critical event for the developing world. We thought we should hear the voices of the powerful and the marginalised as they contested the definitions and implications of the so-called “Information Society” and transmit the information to our audiences across the continent. Under the rubric of Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) we had set up a subscriber list of over 150 individuals, organisation and networks based in Africa. We saw our role as to:

• to report the proceedings, issues, personalities, positions in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to African audiences via the media networks and individual subscribers

• to report the proceedings, issues, personalities, positions in WSIS from an African perspective

We did that and more and our stories are on http://hana.ru.ac.za

The gist of my article, however, is not about what we did but of the challenges that we now encounter as try to set up a news agency dedicated to reporting on “Information Society” issues and on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). These challenges are few but critical. They relate to how to create viable and sustainable media that is different from mainstream commercial media in terms of its focus.

To make my point clear I should go back to the vision for HANA. Our objectives are:
- to create a virtual platform for reporting on developments in technology and how these relate to our societies (read the poor and marginalised);
- to interrogate ICT policies and practices from the point of view of the public (the poor and marginalised)
- to create a space for ordinary voices to be heard and also for their views to be mainstreamed

Now to go about making the above a reality is a challenge. We are grateful for the donor funds we have received to date but they can only take us for a couple of years until we make our agency sustainable (or collapse). It is this issue of sustainability that is killing pro-poor media. The world over both commercial and non-commercial media are grappling with how revenue and profits can be generated online. Various business model are punted on a daily basis but the reality is that most “successful’’ online news publishers rely on their printed newspaper. The profits of the shareholding company sustain them through the start-up years (it literally takes years to develop a profitable online news publishing business). In any case not much of the content generated is new. Various sources of content are identified and the result can be a myriad sites carrying virtually the same stories.

So faced with problem how do we create viable pro-poor media? I think we need five key ingredients:
- clear vision
- individual commitment
- partners (funding and strategic) who share same vision
- some money
- hope

The e-mail bulletins, independent online news sites and other small media are normally driven by the zeal of one individual. That commitment is an essential ingredient in the creation and sustaining of pro-poor media. But an individual can only do so much hence the need for partners (strategic and financial) that buy into that vision and help drive it. Empathetic sponsors are crucial in making the dream take off. Someone has to pay for the editor’s living expenses, some equipment and all that.

Above all else driving a vision for viable media needs a huge dose of hope. The hope is for a changed world and for equally transformed media.

When all five – vision, commitment, partnerships, money and hope – come together we can build media that truly speaks the language of our people’s dreams.

We hope that Highway Africa News Agency will go some way in delivering development news (inclusive of Information Society issues and ICT) to Africa.