Media in Africa is a ten-part podcast about the people who make African journalism and how they fund it. It is made by Meridian17 in partnership with KAS Media Africa and hosted by Georja Calvin-Smith of France 24. Eight episodes are out, with new ones on Wednesdays.
According to the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's Media Programme Sub-Saharan Africa, the ten-part series "examines how African media is produced, financed and consumed, while also exploring how Africa is reported on internationally and how those narratives influence perceptions, policy and partnerships."
Who is behind it
Media Update reported on 24 August that the series is a partnership between Meridian17, "the Dutch-South African think-and-do tank working on Africa-Europe business partnership", and KAS Media Africa. Meridian17's podcast page adds: "The series is produced in partnership with the programme. Editorial control rests with Meridian17."
The host is Georja Calvin-Smith, who, Media Update reports, "anchors France 24's daily Eye on Africa bulletin". France 24 is not named as a partner in the series.
What has been released
Media Update reported that the series would launch on Wednesday 26 August. Meridian17's page now says "The series is live." Its public podcast feed listed eight full episodes on 14 October. The guests so far are Lisa MacLeod, Moky Makura of Africa No Filter, Stephanie Busari, Ruud Elmendorp, Marie Lora-Mungai of Restless Global, Mamaponya Motsai of fraycollege, Claus Stäcker of Deutsche Welle and Professor Herman Wasserman of Stellenbosch University.
Topics include why local journalism matters, the economics of the media and creative industries, safety and ethics, and public service media. The latest episode, released on Wednesday 14 October, opens: "No media is free of influence. What matters is who's doing the influencing, and whether they're telling you about it."
The KAS page lists two more guests: Hopewell Chin'ono, on investigative journalism, and Professor Nancy Booker, for a synthesis of the series. The release order has not matched the KAS list exactly, so the date of the final episode is not confirmed.
Meridian17 says new episodes come out weekly on Wednesdays, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and other podcast apps.
Why the partners chose a podcast
"This is why, before we can tell any other stories, our first podcast series hands the microphone to those who make our African media or tell the stories about our continent," Kelly Alexander, President of Meridian17, said in the announcement published by Media Update. Hendrik Sittig, Director of KAS Media Africa, said the series "makes the voices of the continent's leading media practitioners accessible to a broad audience, in Africa and in Europe".
Meridian17 describes the show as part of its research work, not a standalone product. "It sits at the centre of our dissemination strategy, designed to translate research outputs into accessible, engaging content and distribute them at scale across both continents," its podcast page says.
Why it matters
For African podcasters, the series is an example of a think tank and a foundation choosing a podcast to publish their work. KAS says the conversations cover "some of the most pressing issues facing the media sector, including press freedom, audience trust, funding models, fact-checking, public interest journalism, representation, and the impact of emerging technologies." The descriptions here come from the partners themselves. The sources cited publish no listener figures.