{"id":54959,"date":"2025-07-21T10:42:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwanda-media-commission-to-represent-east-africa-on-continental-media-body\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T09:19:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T09:19:59","slug":"rwanda-media-commission-to-represent-east-africa-on-continental-media-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwanda-media-commission-to-represent-east-africa-on-continental-media-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda Media Commission to represent East Africa on continental media body"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The nomination was made during the Pan-African Media Councils Summit, held from July 14 to 16 in Arusha, Tanzania. RMC\u2019s new role places it at the heart of efforts to promote press freedom, professional journalism, and regional cooperation in the face of digital-era media challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Emmanuel Mugisha, Executive Secretary of RMC, said the nomination affirms the growing recognition of Rwanda\u2019s media development efforts and opens doors for stronger regional influence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an opportunity for RMC to influence media development, advocate for press freedom, and enhance the media sector\u2019s capacity across East Africa,\u201d he told The New Times.<\/p>\n<p>RMC\u2019s position on the NIMCA board comes as the continent grapples with urgent issues such as online misinformation, disinformation, and the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in journalism. <\/p>\n<p>Mugisha noted that one of RMC\u2019s priorities will be working with regional counterparts to harmonise media standards and codes of ethics, particularly around the use of AI tools in news production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a region, we agreed on the need to align AI-related media codes. This will help ensure responsible innovation without compromising journalistic integrity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The summit, which also served as NIMCA\u2019s inaugural Annual General Meeting, brought together delegates from across the continent. <\/p>\n<p>Participants emphasised the importance of digital literacy as a frontline defence against harmful online content and fake news, particularly in countries where internet access is growing faster than media literacy.<\/p>\n<p>Calls were made for greater investment in journalist training, stronger collaboration with fact-checking organisations, and greater accountability for social media platforms. Delegates also urged education systems to integrate digital literacy into school curricula to equip young people with critical thinking skills online.<\/p>\n<p>NIMCA\u2019s newly elected leadership includes Kennedy Mambwe of Zambia\u2019s Media Self-Regulation Council as President and Phathiswa Magopeni of South Africa\u2019s Press Council as Chairperson. RMC now joins a select group of regional representatives tasked with driving the network\u2019s agenda across East, West, and Southern Africa.<\/p>\n<p>With its new continental mandate, RMC aims to promote collaboration, share best practices with peer institutions, and ensure that the East African Community (EAC) has a strong, unified voice in continental media discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur participation will support knowledge exchange and collective problem-solving as we face the rapidly changing media landscape together,\u201d Mugisha added.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-91256 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/82037.jpg\" alt=\"The Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) has secured a seat to represent East African press councils on the board of the Network of Independent Media Councils in Africa (NIMCA), strengthening Rwanda\u2019s role in shaping continental media policy and governance.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-91257 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/nimca.png\" alt=\"The nomination was made during the Pan-African Media Councils Summit, held from July 14 to 16 in Arusha, Tanzania. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) has secured a seat to represent East African press councils on the board of the Network of Independent Media Councils in Africa (NIMCA), strengthening Rwanda\u2019s role in shaping continental media policy and governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000091258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000091258,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/82037logo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000091258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54959"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54959"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}