Who Gets to Tell Africa’s Stories in the Next Digital Decade?
Technology has widened access to publishing, but questions of ownership, context and representation remain.
More Africans can publish today than at any earlier point in the continent’s media history. A phone can record, edit and distribute a story to audiences across countries in minutes.
Access, however, does not automatically solve the question of representation. Who chooses the angle? Who is treated as an expert? Which languages, communities and experiences are considered important enough to preserve?
From being covered to becoming the storyteller
African media institutions have an opportunity to move beyond reacting to how others describe the continent. They can build archives, train writers, publish books and create visual records that begin from local knowledge.
This does not mean avoiding criticism or complexity. Ownership is most valuable when it creates room for honest, well-researched stories rather than simple praise.
Platforms shape memory
The stories published now will influence how future readers understand this period. Digital magazines and libraries therefore carry a cultural responsibility: to keep work accessible, organised and connected to the people who produced it.
