If the views expressed by media practitioners, government and business community during the Mail & Guardian Business Breakfast at Fairmont the Norfolk Hotel are anything to go by, Africa, is taking the right path. During the launch of the newspaper’s digital news platform, the importance of Africans mustering confidence, telling their true story and not allowing others to define them was underscored. Indeed, there are good things happening in Africa in the areas of innovation, philanthropy, sports, entrepreneurship and intellectual achievements, among others. These ought to form the highlights of media reports while not ignoring the bad and the ugly.

It is no secret that most Africans rely on non-African media for analysis and investment decisions. Africa’s media must establish why its local consumers have lost confidence in it, proactively strategize to resonate with them and  win back their trust. This will involve being impartial, objective, balanced, credible, truthful and responsible. African governments on the other hand must in word and deed allow the media to play its role.