Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

<strong>the</strong> obstacles our own project
faces. The fundamental problem in
facilitating a pan-African discussion
is translation. At <strong>the</strong> moment, Free
African Media is available in English
only. Our first aim is to consolidate
and improve our English coverage,
but translation, initially in French,
is a concrete medium-term goal.
Financing is also a concern. For
its first few months of existence,
Free African Media has relied on
technical and editorial support
from <strong>the</strong> Daily Maverick, with our
freelance contributors writing out
of <strong>the</strong>ir generosity of spirit and
devotion to fur<strong>the</strong>ring <strong>the</strong> cause
of media freedom in Africa. We
realise that this is not a sustainable
model and are currently finalising
funding that should be official by
<strong>the</strong> time this book is published.
It’s early days yet, but we believe
we’re on <strong>the</strong> right track. Most
heartening have been <strong>the</strong> cases
where African journalists have
been able to publish <strong>the</strong>ir reporting,
analysis, and opinion on Free
African Media <strong>after</strong> having been
rejected by mainstream and even
so-called independent publications
in <strong>the</strong>ir own countries. This
alone justifies our existence, and
proves <strong>the</strong> need for a project like
Free African Media to assume a
central role in <strong>the</strong> continent-wide
effort to defend and improve free
media organisations.
Free African Media provides a
platform for advocacy around
issues of media freedom on <strong>the</strong>
continent. But our website serves
ano<strong>the</strong>r role as well — <strong>the</strong> stories
we publish are an example of
what free, independent, quality
media in Africa can look like. We
look forward to publishing many
more of <strong>the</strong>m as Free African
Media continues to develop.
182 | Media in Africa - 2011
Climate change: a social
justice informational
challenge for <strong>the</strong> media in
Africa
By Alan Finlay
Alan Finlay is a writer, researcher
and editor based in Johannesburg.
He currently edits <strong>the</strong> annual
publication Global Information
Society Watch (www.giswatch.
org), and works part-time as
<strong>the</strong> ICTs and Environmental
Sustainability co-ordinator for
<strong>the</strong> Association for Progressive
Communications (APC). He is
also a research associate at <strong>the</strong>
Wits Journalism Programme,
where he supervises Masters
and Honours students in media
research.
It is widely anticipated that climate
change will magnify socio-economic
challenges in developing countries.
Changes in wea<strong>the</strong>r patterns already
being felt in Africa will increase food
and water scarcity, cause migrations
to urban areas, spread diseases,
and mitigate against poverty relief
efforts generally.
The most vulnerable will be <strong>the</strong>
most effected. And those who are
likely to have <strong>the</strong> least access to
diverse media sources – whe<strong>the</strong>r TV,
radio or <strong>the</strong> internet — are likely to
need <strong>the</strong> media <strong>the</strong> most. The most
disconnected will need <strong>the</strong> kinds of
information a wired world provides.
In many ways reporting on climate
change is likely to face similar
challenges to HIV/AIDs coverage,
given its scientific and technical
content, policy implications, and
impact on people on <strong>the</strong> ground.
And, as we have seen, climate
change denialism — like HIV/AIDS
denialism — is also a pervasive
feature, detracting from real