African Broadcasters Reorganize

Michael Hedges August 21, 2006

The Administrative Council of the Union of National Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA) agreed to proceed with the organizations restructure, complete with a new name, after meeting in Dakar, Senegal.

The restructuring results from long term financial difficulties. Members, largely State broadcasters, are not paying their dues, leaving staff unpaid and forcing the closure in April of the Afro-Vision program distributor.

Rivalry between Francophone and Anglophone members had plagued the organization, according to Secretary General Andrew Sesinyi, quoted last year in a Botswana Press Agency interview. Sesinyi is Director of Information and Broadcasting with Radio and Television Botswana and a presidential spokesperson.

URNTA was formed in 1962 and has 48 members, according to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

A new headquarters, new name and an executive council replacing the current Administrative Council are among the changes expected to be finalized at the November General Assembly. Private broadcasters will also be included in URNTA’s membership. The Afro-Vision operations center will also relocate.

The organizations name will change to African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), only slightly different from ABU – the Asia-Pacific Broadcasters Union.

“Membership of the union will be made up of African public and private broadcasting organisations, broadcasting organisations of Africans in the diaspora as well as broadcasting organisations outside the continent,” said Administrative Council Chairman Kevin Ejiofor, reported by the ABU. Ejiofor is Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).

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