This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
The media and communication industry is undergoing significant disruption, forcing businesses to innovate and adapt to remain competitive.
At the 9th East Africa Communication Association (EACA) Conference, hosted by The Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications (GSMC) in Nairobi, media and communication scholars and practitioners discussed the challenges facing the media sector and how new technological trends are transforming it in East Africa.
Dr. Alex Awiti, Interim Dean at GSMC and Vice Provost, Aga Khan University, East Africa, acknowledged that the media and communications sector is facing daunting change in these unprecedented times.
“Fake news, digital age, shrinking print circulation, unreeling public, and autocratic, despotic regimes present a new dawn, not a peril, for media businesses and the craft of journalism. With these major shifts, legacy and non-traditional media industries must realign their strategies in order to survive,” he said.
Dr. Awiti further added that GSMC is helping practitioners embrace innovation through its partnership with DW Akademie to implement the Futures Project for Media Innovation and Sustainability.
Dr. Wilson Ugangu, President of EACA, acknowledged the theme of the conference as timely and relevant considering the transformations the sector is witnessing.
“The conference offers an opportunity to consider what is going on, and to seek to build ideas about how to better understand and respond – as academics, researchers and practitioners,” he further added.
The conference aimed to offer solutions to the challenges that the media sector is currently facing and will interrogate how new technological trends are transforming the sector in East Africa.
