Nairobi:  The African Media Initiative (AMI)  has postponed the 7th  African  Media Leaders Forum, which was due to take place from November  12-­‐14th in  Johannesburg,  South Africa.

This  action is a result of much debate by the AMI board and management, and  is informed by  current  developments on the continent.

As part of precautionary measures to prevent the entry of  the  Ebola  virus  into South Africa,  the Department of    Health last week issued a travel advisory for travellers, especially those coming from affected countries.
The AMLF is a Pan-­‐African event with approximately half of the delegates coming from West Africa.

The current travel advisory, and the bleak outlook  provided by international medical agencies, including Medécins   Sans Frontières (MSF)  and the World Health Organisation (WHO),  has  forced this postponement.

“The AMLF  is about networking, discussing ideas and finding  new and  joint solutions to problems that plague   the African  media sector.  We  cannot  take  the  risk of  half  of  our core  constituents being left out of  the conversation”,  said  Event Director Maimouna Jallow.

Nevertheless, AMI remains committed  to organising what is  the largest gathering of  media  owners  and  leaders    on the African continent.  The  event will now  take   place  in November  2015, in  South Africa.
All  other  AMI  programmes remain unaffected.

“Since its  inception, AMI has supported media  owners and leaders jointly address the  issues facing the media    sector, be it lack  of  revenue and audience data  or  digital migration,”  said AMI  Chief  Executive Officer,  Eric   Chinje.

“We remain committed to this mandate, and will be launching  a  series of new programmes in  the coming months,   in order  to solidify our  position as a continental platform through which the needs of  the African media can be   met”.