More than 2,300 journalism students and expert reporters from 29 countries have actually up until now taken part in an online course developed within the CoMMPASS Effort. The initiative– co‑funded by Erasmus+ of the European Union and supported by a network of 37 partner universities across the African continent– commemorated its conclusion with a conference at Uganda Christian University in Mukono. The CoMMPASS course on migration in Africa was released in 2024 by lecturers and scientists from the Erich Brost Institute together with associates from six African universities in Uganda, Malawi, and Burkina Faso, with extra support from partners in Portugal. Conceived as a flexible, multilingual online program, it integrates scholastic research with editorial practice and promotes ethical, data‑driven reporting.
The last conference brought together university partners and decision‑makers from across Africa to go over the future of online journalism education. It marked the conclusion of a substantial dialog process that started in 2023. Present discussions focused, to name a few things, on how African universities can take higher ownership of migration narratives in mentor, overcome stereotypical representations, and use digital storytelling to foster social change. In previous years, the partners had actually currently exchanged views with agents of the International Labor Organization, leading regional media, and the United Nations on the relationship between media and migration.
At the Crossway of International Media Dynamics and Local Understanding Production
“The CoMMPASS Effort builds on the Erich Brost Institute’s longstanding research on migration reporting in Africa and Europe,” states EBI Director Prof. Susanne Fengler. “By concentrating on the expert training of journalists and, in future, likewise on geopolitical media influence, we position ourselves at the intersection of global media characteristics and regional knowledge production– and strengthen our academic partnerships, which extend far beyond specific projects.”
The new project, launched in February at Makerere University in Uganda, takes a look at disinformation and control projects by foreign state actors in Sub‑Saharan Africa and examines how geopolitical competitions are reshaping the region’s media landscapes. Entitled The ‘Fantastic Game’ of Media and Politics in Africa: Geopolitics and Media Intervention post‑2022, it is funded by the Daimler and Benz Foundation. In addition to TU Dortmund University and Makerere University, 8 more academic partners from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania are included.
The scientists analyze how China, Russia, and Turkey– along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and potentially other BRICS states– exert influence on media systems in Sub‑Saharan Africa. Particular attention is paid to these actors’ relationships with newsrooms, journalism educators, and media policy decision‑makers, in addition to the impacts on selected African countries. By producing empirical information on foreign media intervention, the task intends to enrich both scholastic debate and media policy conversations in an era of increasing global competitors.
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