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Civil Society and African Media Policy in the Digital Age | WitsX on edX.org

985 views · Published 31 August 2018 · 1:43 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: edX · 2018 · Education

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https://www.edx.org/course/civil-society-and-african-media-policy-in-the-digital-age

Learn how to cultivate media freedom in Africa through advocating for improved policy and practice.

This course aims to empower civil society actors in support of a free, pluralistic and independent African Media. It seeks to sustain the work of the late South African activist, Jeanette Minnie, who was devoted to robust civil society engagement with African media policy.  

The Media plays a critical role in democratic societies by informing citizens, facilitating and building freedom of expression, and fostering access to information. This course will help you to identify the principles and components of democratic media policy and practice, and to identify strategies for effective civil society engagement with these matters in African settings.

Drawing from a network of experts and recent case studies from across the continent, this course will explore what freedom of expression is and why it is important for democracy. It will detail the components and actors of democratic media policy and practice. 

Together, we'll take a look at media pluralism and diversity as well as media regulation in a democratic media environment. We'll review the influences of online media, online expression, and online information access on policy and practice effective civil society engagement with African media policy and practice.

What You Will Learn
How to identify the core elements of the principles of freedom of expression, media freedom, and access to information
The policy and practical components required by a democratic media ecosystem
Regulatory and other measures that build media pluralism and diversity
The mechanisms of self-regulation, co-regulation, statutory regulation and regulatory independence in democratic media ecosystems
How to identify the practical and policy dimensions introduced by online media, online expression, and online information access
Strategies for effective civil society engagement with policy and practice in support of democratic Africa media ecosystems

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