Togo: "Religious media have an important role to play in educating young people," according to a representative of the Ministry of Communication
"We have high expectations of religious media in the education of young people," said Franck Missité, chief of staff to Togo's Minister of Communication and Media. He was speaking on Monday, November 22, at the opening of the fourth edition of the Lomé meetings, organized by FOMECAF (Forum of Christian Media in French-speaking Africa).
Religious media reaching out to all citizens
"Religious media should reach out more to all citizens with topics that are not 100 percent religious," added the trained journalist. "It's important to vary the content. 75 percent prayer and preaching is enough. 25 percent culture and ethical and moral education would be good!"
This edition of the Lomé meetings will address the theme "Media & Generational Divide" with Abdoulaye Sangho, Director of Transworld Radio West and Central Africa (TWR), as the keynote speaker. Around fifty representatives of Christian media outlets from French-speaking Africa, Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, DRC, Rwanda, and elsewhere have traveled to attend the week-long training session. In addition, around a hundred people have registered to follow the event online.
"Media, make room for young people!"
"64 percent of the population of West Africa is under the age of 24," said Emmanuel Ziehli, president of Radio Réveil France, "and our media do not speak the language of young people. What's more, we don't cover topics that interest them. Let's be models of generational transition," he insisted. As a result, he asked radio executives to make room for younger people in their programming and among their journalists and presenters.
Emmanuel Ziehli also cited CICERI, the International Christian Center for Study, Research, and Information in Lomé, as an example of dynamism. Thanks to a team of young people between the ages of 18 and 30, CICERI organizes the Lomé seminars each year with complete transparency.
In addition to Abdoulaye Sangho, keynote speaker, Juliette Kpessou, host at Radio Hosanna in Benin, Olivia Adiko, editor-in-chief of Radio La voix de l'espérance in Abidjan, Etienne Kiemdé, director of Radio Evangile et développement in Burkina Faso, Illia Djadi, head of African relations at the NGO Portes Ouvertes, and Alphonse Teyabé, media consultant in Cameroon, will also speak.
Meetings launched by Radio Réveil
The "Lomé" meetings began in January 2019. They offer Christian media professionals from French-speaking Africa the opportunity to receive a week of training and to network in order to develop a dynamic of exchange between professionals from different countries.
In January 2019, Radio Réveil en Suisse, an association that produces radio programs for the entire French-speaking world, decided to mark its 70th anniversary by inviting its radio partners in Africa to a training session in Lomé. Around 100 people took part in the event and signed the Lomé Declaration of Lomé. The signatories pledged to renounce competition between evangelical and Protestant radio stations and to pool resources to improve the quality of their programs. (c)
The FOMECAF website with the Lomé 4 program.
