On November 22, 2018, Michael Bloomberg used the fourth annual African Business Media Innovators forum in Livingstone, Zambia, to make a case for stronger financial journalism, better data, and wider media investment across Africa.
Bloomberg said the continent’s rapid economic and media growth is creating both opportunity and risk. He pointed to Africa’s fast-growing economies, a rising middle class, and the spread of mobile technology and social media as forces reshaping how people consume news and how businesses, governments, and investors make decisions.
He argued that the value of data depends on accuracy. Reliable information, he said, helps companies reach customers, allows governments to improve services, and gives financial journalists the material needed to produce analysis that can guide investment decisions. He also warned that false and inaccurate information is expanding alongside mobile access, creating dangers for society.
Bloomberg linked that concern to his broader media work on the continent. He said strengthening financial journalism was one of the main goals when Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa was launched in Johannesburg in 2014. According to him, the initiative is working with universities, non-profit groups, and private-sector partners to train more reporters and support journalism that can strengthen public institutions.
He said the effort is focused on South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. He also said Bloomberg and the Ford Foundation created a fund to help small campus-based and community-based media outlets.
Beyond journalism, Bloomberg said Bloomberg Philanthropies has worked with the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to help more women raise their incomes and become financially independent. He added that the foundation is also supporting maternal and reproductive healthcare in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Uganda, and working with leaders across Africa to reduce traffic crashes.
Bloomberg said business and philanthropic investment can make societies more stable and prosperous. He said the Livingstone forum brings together leaders who can help speed up the growth of Africa’s media industry, middle class, and economies.
Mr Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and served three terms as mayor of New York
