From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:AFRICA: PAN-AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY PINS HOPES ON UNESCO
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 22:15:27 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: AFRICA: PAN-AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY PINS HOPES ON UNESCO RESCUE PLAN


an inter press service feature

by peter da costa

dakar, december 22 (ips) -- staffers at the cash-strapped pan-african
news agency (pana) are looking forward to a major shake-up in the
media organisation which will determine whether it sinks or swims.

a unesco rescue plan recommending measures to make the agency
market-oriented, competitive and ultimately self-supporting will
come into effect next month, when a three-year turnaround period
begins.

since 1986, barely three years after it begun editorial
operations, the agency has been hit by a financial crisis so
crippling it has rendered pana virtually inoperable.

journalists based here at the headquarters have found the
occasional cash handouts too little too late, in a city ranked
among the world's most expensive. hit by low morale many have
resigned in despair, opting for the security of salaried, if
less challenging, jobs back home.

the hard luck story of one editor, who told ips he was owed
about 15,000 dollars in back pay, is typical of the plight of
pana journalists. ''it's been really tough. there's only one
editorial car on the road for eight journalists'', he complains.

''you're sent out to cover conferences with no allowance so
you have to go hungry. then you come back to file the story
knowing you're firing into outer space because subscribers can't
receive the service.''

the agency's communications network has been devastated. pana
once had dedicated computer-to-computer links from dakar to
lusaka, zambia and lusaka to eight southern and east african
capitals.

in addition there were lines to lagos, nigeria and paris,
france as well as radio transmissions servicing much of west and
central africa. now, unable to pay its bills, pana has literally
been cut off. only the line and transmitter to lagos remain
operational.

it's a far cry from the euphoria that greeted pana's birth in
september 1979. created by the organisation of african unity
(oau) to bridge the huge gap in the coverage of african news, it
brought to life an idea pan-africanists had mooted as long ago
as the turn of the century.

a resolution at the oau's maiden summit in 1963 called for
the creation of a news agency that would counter the negative
perception of africa as a dark continent where nothing happened
except civil wars, famine and other disasters.(more/ips)


africa: continental (2)

however noble the idea, reality soon reared its ugly head.
oau member states, unable to honour their committment to the
continental organisation, soon began to default on their
payments to pana.

between 1979 and 1991 oau members gave 18 million dollars to
pana. but as the agency sought to expand its editorial capacity
the shortfall, (some 55 contributions were still outstanding)
became all too evident.

''things went relatively smoothly for the first four years'',
recalls current director of news victor adefela. ''from 1983 to
1986...virtually all the staff were people who came on
short-term secondments from national news agencies''.

but when pana started recruiting africans for posting in
dakar as well as to regional bureaux ''the salaries budget went
up and from about 1988 (pana) found it difficult to pay staff
and telecommunications bills''.

today pana is owed some 12 million dollars in contributions.
its five regional offices (libya, zambia, nigeria, zaire and
sudan) as well as bureaux in ethiopia and zimbabwe, face
imminent closure while the 15 member journalist team an
uncertain future.

its last hope is the unesco rescue plan. interim cost-cutting
measures will include replacing expatriate staff in the regional
offices with less expensive locals as well as cutting back on
administrative expenditures.

should the blueprint be implemented as planned the new pana
will have bureaux in 12 countries and a strong network of
stringers throughout africa.

by the end of the three-year turnaround period adefela hopes
to see a leaner, fitter pana. ''in the past we depended largely
on national news agencies for our supply of news'', he explains.
''but the kind of news we wanted was not what we were getting''.

the intention is to make pana ''a more efficient news agency,
not a purveyor of government statements. with our own
correspondents... we are looking to be more professional in our
activities''.

under the plan -- adopted by oau information ministers
shortly after the july dakar summit -- pana will retain its
mandate whilst becoming more commercially viable. (more/ips)


africa: continent (3)

a non-profit-making pana foundation, to be based in dakar,
will preserve the agency's pan-african character by promoting
regional integration, unfettered dissemination of news,
pluralism, research and development of the media. it will also
specialise in training.

a second entity, pana limited, will succeed the present
body -- pana news agency. it will be led by a director general
who will also run the foundation. pana limited, it is hoped,
will become a profit-making news organisation with a fixed
capital of 6.5 million dollars.

roughly 20 percent of pana limited shares  will be offered
to national news agencies, 20 percent to private media
organisations and 15 to sub-regional and regional banks.

of the remaining 45 percent, 15 percent will be offered to
in a climateof escalating political violence and security force ''doubleage
telecommunications companies, 15 percent to non-gorvermental
organisations and media-related associations, and 15 percent to
africans in the private sector. no single interest will be
allowed to have a controlling share.

the third element, pana communications limited (panacoms) is
a partnership involving telecommunications companies and banks.
it will offer technical services to africa's media on a
commercial basis. as a private company with fixed capital of
three million dollars, panacoms will be the key to making the
group financially self-reliant.

some nine million dollars are needed for the turnaround
period. in these 36 months pana's newly-appointed interim
director general -- assisted by advisers from each of africa's
five sub-regions -- will supervise the implementation of legal,
financial and technical measures proposed by the unesco plan.

the new man is senegalese communications expert, babacar
fall, a former inter press service editor who worked at unesco's
head office in paris. fall's first key task will be to recover
monies owed by oau member states.

staff are hopeful fall will prove more dynamic than his
predecessor auguste mpassi-muba. muba was recently sacked by oau
in a climateof escalating political violence and security force ''doubleage
ministers. insiders blamed his unpopular management style for
many of the agency's structural problems.

adefela, who has been director of news for six years, pours
scorn on those who say the agency is finished. ''i have faith in
pana. we've got a good core of journalists and the basic idea of
pana is still as viable today as it was in 1979''.
(end/ips/pdac/oa/92)