Image by @zenzele (X)
By Makhosazana Zwane-Siguqa
In the seismic media era driven by major technological advances, media organisations, academia and practicing journalists from various global organisations gathered from September 1st to 2nd September at the inaugural M20 Summit in Sandton, South Africa.
Organized by the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), the M20 Summit aims to address pressing threats to independent journalism, media viability, the surge in physical and online harms, and the upholding of women’s and children’s rights, alongside the G20 consultative process.
The M20 Summit, a joint initiative of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), is committed to addressing pivotal challenges confronting independent journalism. These encompass threats to media sustainability, the escalation of physical and online aggressions, and the protection of women’s and children’s entitlements, in consonance with the G20 consultative framework.
Over the two days, the delegates presented to conference their policy briefs which will contribute to the core principles of the “Johannesburg Declaration”.
They intend to present this declaration to the G20 leaders ahead of the 2025 South African G20 Summit meeting on November 22-23, 2025, which is taking place alongside the global media landscape which is faced with grave and multifaceted threats particularly impacting public interest media, independent journalism and media viability.
This declaration will be presented to G20 leaders before their summit in South Africa on November 22-23, 2025, amidst severe global threats to public interest media, independent journalism, and media viability.
This crisis is exacerbated by an alarming escalation of information disorder and physical and online harms directed at journalists.
The confluence of these factors creates a precarious environment where the public’s right to accurate information is compromised, democratic discourse is undermined, and the most vulnerable members of society face increased risks.
Research ICT Africa’(RIA) Zara Schroeder presented RIA’s policy brief she co-authored with senior research fellow, Scott Timcke which focuses on key challenges facing AI Governance : M20 Policy Brief 4: Power, Politics, and Economics – AI, Africa and the G20 – Media20
Their findings reveal that G20’s current AI discussions inadequately address the media’s oversight function.
The present deliberations within the G20 concerning artificial intelligence fail to adequately encompass the oversight role of the media, as indicated by their findings.
This is despite the media being explicitly referenced in Africa’s AI Continental Strategy; the gap represents an oversight in democratic governance frameworks for AI.
Despite explicit references to media in Africa’s AI Continental Strategy, this gap highlights an oversight in democratic governance frameworks for AI.
This omission signifies a critical oversight in the democratic governance frameworks surrounding AI, especially given the precarious position African countries hold within the global AI technology stack. This vulnerability is multifaceted, encompassing limited access to foundational AI research and development, dependence on foreign AI models and infrastructure, and a lack of robust regulatory and ethical guidelines tailored to the African context.
Addressing this oversight is therefore paramount to ensuring that AI development and deployment in Africa are equitable, transparent, and ultimately beneficial for all citizens.
Some of the key challenges noted in AI Governance are the concentration of power and ensuing difficulties. A handful of global tech companies dominate AI development, making effective regulation and public accountability difficult. Existing mechanisms struggle to govern these entities, particularly across different jurisdictions.
Africa’s weakened economic position also means that African nations primarily contribute to AI through low-wage data work, which deepens economic reliance and limits local oversight of AI systems. This is further exacerbated by the media’s general incapacity gaps with journalists often lacking the necessary to cover AI governance while often prioritizing the technological aspects over its broader implications for power and policy.
This entrenches a pattern of economic reliance, thereby restricting the prospects for African nations to cultivate indigenous AI proficiencies and exert substantive influence over the AI systems that progressively impact African societies.
The external reliance is exacerbated by severe internal inadequacies within the media sector.
Journalists frequently lack the requisite specialized knowledge and language instruction to adequately report on the intricate complexities of AI governance, often emphasizing technological advancements and superficial aspects of AI rather than its profound ramifications for power configurations, public policy, and societal parity.
This journalistic inadequacy obstructs informed public discourse and curtails the capacity of African media organisations and journalists to comprehend, critically evaluate, and ultimately influence the ethical and regulatory frameworks governing AI’s maturation and implementation across the continent.
Alarmingly, should the above not be addressed, the implementation of AI in Africa frequently will inadvertently lead to “digital colonialism,” wherein multinational corporations’ benefit from local data without contributing to the continent’s economic development.
AI-driven misinformation worsens these problems, while journalistic fact-checking faces significant resource and structural hurdles. External information disorder, compounded by inadequate AI media literacy and diminishing press freedom, collectively imperils information integrity and democratic processes.
Proposed G20 policies include
Transparency Standards which seek to establish requirements for AI systems employed in public services, thereby enhancing accountability and oversight.
- Support for Independent Media: Provide funding for initiatives that enhance media capacity in AI governance reporting, thereby ensuring independent oversight of corporate and governmental practices.
- Champion the development of indigenous AI tools by nurturing the creation of AI systems that respect African languages and contexts, thereby precluding exploitative dynamics.
- Advocate for Press Freedom: Uphold media integrity and advocate for press freedom, including implementing sanctions against governments that misuse “fake news” laws.
- Monitor government AI adoption and to realign the AI discourse from a purely technological perspective to one emphasizing power dynamics, it is imperative to oversee governmental AI implementation and critically assess corporate assertions regarding AI’s advantages and to cultivate cooperative relationships among media entities to enhance oversight through the examination of economic ties and data transmissions concerning AI.
To read more about the policy briefs please visit https://media20.org/policy-briefs/
Share your suggestions or comments for consideration: M20support@altadvisory.africa.
