ABOUT NEWSDESK

What is Newsdesk: Business Africa?

Newsdesk: Business Africa is an innovative and creative learning tool that allows students to develop journalism skills whilst exploring contemporary development issues in Africa. Through interactive software, students from many disciplines can extend their knowledge through the CD’s archives of videos, audio and graphics. Students can further ‘interview’ leading commentators and edit together these resources, along with their own independent research, to build their own picture of African business. This will be presented as a three-minute TV news feature with their own voiceover to complete the presentation..

Newsdesk: Business Africa encourages students to work independently, supported by a wealth of resources, to present their own story of business in Africa through a professional broadcast news feature. The finished news item can then be submitted, by an email submission process within the Newsdesk programme, for judging in an international competition.

Specifically, Newsdesk Business Africa aims to: -

• Raise awareness of Africa’s marginalisation in the international media, specifically the underreporting of business on the continent.
• Support aspiring journalists in and outside Africa.
• Improve understanding of development issues in Africa, highlighting the business environment on the continent and how this contributes to development.

Why has Newsdesk been developed?

It is widely acknowledged that the poor perception of Africa is a major obstacle to the continent’s development. In particular, widespread misperceptions about business opportunities are hindering the ability of African nations to attract investment. One of the key recommendations to business from the UK Commission for Africa was 'help tackle the negative images of Africa by promoting successful investment stories'. Newsdesk: Business Africa, which will build reporting capacity in Africa and promote a more balanced view of the continent amongst international students, is a leading response to Africa’s ‘image problem’. 

For an introduction to business in Africa, please see student support information.

In addition to helping to build journalism skills capacity, Newsdesk: Business Africa is a useful English language development tool. It is being developed by africapractice, an African consultancy which works with governments, businesses and civil society to support African development. The project is supported by Diageo as part of a programme to promote a more widespread and accurate understanding of the business environment in Africa. 

How does it work?

Newsdesk: Business Africa is a CD-Rom which loads automatically and does not require any additional software. It has been designed as an offline learning activity, with the option to be enriched with online research.

When the feature is finished, it can be submitted, via this website, for judging in a competition. For more details, please see the competition section.

Who is Newsdesk designed for?

Newsdesk: Business Africa is a flexible tool and could be of great value to many people for several reasons. It is primarily aimed at secondary school students aged 16-18 (see subject listings below) and university students.

Specifically, the software has been designed to help students to:

• Improve research, analysis and presentation skills.
• Develop journalism and IT skills around a cutting edge issue.
• Explore key business issues around Africa and its economic development.
• In particular, Newsdesk: Business Africa will benefit students studying Economics, Business, Geography, Citizenship and Media Studies.

For specific details about how Newsdesk: Business Africa can be integrated into UK schemes of work, please see the section on How does Newsdesk fit into the UK National Curriculum which outlines how specific topics relate to National Curriculum Requirements and Examination Board Specifications.