"In sub-Saharan Africa, 495 million people (46 percent of the population) subscribed to mobile phones in 2020, however, the cost of accessing the internet is very high and many African Governments are renowned for restricting access to the internet to limit critics and their opposition through inter...net shutdowns, especially ahead of elections. There is widespread government surveillance in many countries in Africa without sufficient legal basis. In Zimbabwe, for example, the interception of private communications is permitted without a warrant issued by a court; instead, the Minister of Transport and Communication has the power to order such surveillance. Many countries in Africa and around the world have passed cybercrime legislation in recent years or are about to do so. There is great concern that many of these laws over-reach their legitimate aim, lack clear definitions and are susceptible to being used for regulating online content and restricting freedom of expression." (p.1)
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"Public broadcasting has a lot of friends in the world today - but they do not always seem to be loving quite the same thing, and certainly not for the same reasons. For some, the term merely refers to radio and television which is not commercial, following the common distinction between public and ...private enterprises. For others it means a service provided to the public - much like public schools or public health facilities. And just as there is general agreement that these will be provided by the state for the benefit of all citizens, the same is taken to apply to broadcasting. Terms like national broadcaster or state broadcaster or public broadcaster are thus used interchangeably, as if they all denoted one and the same thing. For yet another group of friends, public broadcasting is the natural home of all that is great and good and worthy on the airwaves, far removed from the plain offerings of commercialism and entertainment. This Tool Box will dissect some of these myths and misperceptions, so that an informed debate can be held on what exactly public broadcasting is all about, and to assist its real friends in civil society in their advocacy work. It will describe more precisely what makes a public broadcaster the very opposite of a state broadcaster, what it can do and should be doing, and how it will be controlled, financed, organised and run in order to succeed." (p.3-4)
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