The Wits LINK Centre and WitsX have announced the opening of registration for a free six-week massive open online course (MOOC) on Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in Africa. It will commence on October 4, 2019.
The course which aims to empower activists, students, regulators, journalists, lawyers, and everyone interested in ensuring a free, pluralistic and independent African media is available on the global edX platform, https://www.edx.org/.
This Wits course honours and sustains the legacy of South African media freedom and freedom of expression activist, Ms Jeanette Minnie, who passed away in November 2016. Jeanette devoted her professional life to ensuring robust civil society engagement with African media policy. A media activist, she developed massive experience in understanding the challenges and knew how to make changes for the better.
Participants who take the course will get to grips with:
- identifying the core elements of freedom of expression, media freedom, and access to information in a fast-changing world
- pinpointing the policy and practical components required by a democratic media ecosystem
- analysing laws and regulations that build media pluralism and diversity
- assessing mechanisms of self-regulation, co-regulation, statutory regulation and regulatory independence in democratic media ecosystems
- exploring the practical and policy dimensions in relation to online media, online expression, and online information access, and
- building strategies for effective civil society engagement with policy and practice in support of democratic Africa media ecosystems
This dynamic, interactive and intellectually-engaging course, including its discussion forums, assignments and assessments is free of charge but participants who wish to also receive a Verified Certificate of Achievement for the course, endorsed by edX and Wits University have to pay US$49.
Course instructors include Prof. Justine Limpitlaw (Wits LINK Centre), Paula Fray (frayintermedia), Zoe Titus (Namibia Media Trust), Dr. Sarah Chiumbu (University of Johannesburg), and Koketso Moeti (Amandla.mobi).
The course content was developed by the instructors and WitsX with support from the course’s international Advisory Committee and frayintermedia.
Funding for course research, development, piloting and marketing was been provided by Free Press Unlimited, Bertha Foundation, Namibia Media Trust (NMT), and fesmedia Africa while Marketing support is provided by frayintermedia.
Interested persons wishing to enroll for the course are advised to please visit the edX course link, http://bit.ly/MediaFreedomAfrica.
