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The east African metropolis of Nairobi played host to the fourth annual KAS/SPI Institute Media Leadership Conference. Titled East Meets South: Strategic Challenges for African Media, this conference gathered 30 media leaders to explore swap ideas for managing successful media businesses from editorial, regulatory, new media, marketing and training perspectives.

Topics under discussion included: Using Tactical Marketing to Increase Brand Awareness; The Impact of Tabloidisation on Media Markets and Society; Media Profitability and Government Controls in East Africa and African Cross-Border Media Investment. Selected abstracts of these presentations can be found at the link above.

Participants were treated to a tour of Kenya's largest media organisation, the Nation Group, and later to a lavish dinner in their honor. Owned by the Agha Khan, the Nation Group's holdings aggregates properties in new media, newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and television headquartered in a highrise in downtown Nairobi. For several participants, this was a first opportunity to compare how one of Africa's largest media conglomerate is organised and operates.

Lessons African media managers should learn from the successes and mistakes of their European counterparts - who have recently undergone a a period of intense industry consolidation, convergence, shifting advertising, labour, technology - were provided by Cologne based media consultant, Christian Zabel from HMR International.

The conference concluded with the release of a statement that condemned the rise of media repression in East Africa and the Horn of Africa countries. The conference sternly rebuked African governments for the unwarranted detention of journalists without charge or due process; charging journalists with 'attempted' genocide and treason for covering political protests; damage to broadcasting equipment and printing presses by government agents and the intimidation of journalists. The statement was later endorsed by the council of the South African National Editors' Forum meeting in Durban.