Pre-colonial Africa had peculiar media that required special skills orally passed down from generation to generation. However, later educated young Africans played a role in the fall of the classical media and the rise of modern media. Classical categories are the graphic media and the audio media. Papyrus was the most famous medium in the graphic category, while the audio category included the talking drums, regular drums, horns flutes, maracas and the gong-gongs.

Political independence brought about changes, giving hopes of having contemporary media, which were later used as development platform. Rich promises of the first decade saw flourishing democracy in most of the newly independent nations, giving a positive impact media. Works by various leading intellectuals had a profound impact on African youth.

But the circumstances changed. The cold war ensured dictatorships and sent African media cowering down. Censorship and single party system reigned. The news became government policy extension. Writers fled for greener pastures. News outlets were highly limited - mainly echoing the news as seen through the eyes of the government. Private radios and television were banned. Opinions against dictatorships were not allowed.

The end of the cold war rejuvenated the African media, leading to the wind of democratic changes in many African countries. Africa's media potential is still not well utilised. Objectivity in news reporting is still an issue. Furthermore, politics takes too much time of African media. Existing problems in Africa result from no less than five centuries of neglect, mismanagement, slavery, and colonialism. For these reasons some of the current African issues are better analysed by magazines and books.

Science and technology are leading new discoveries testing the limits of Telecom and Information Technology. The impact of technology is becoming tremendous. The Internet is already making headway on the continent. Africa needs to prepare herself for the wireless technology. But Telecom infrastructures are still in their infancy in many parts of the continent. Africans need wireless technology to reverse the trend.

Some important questions need to be discussed:

• What is Africa's image in the African media?
• Where does the African Media source its Africa news?
• What is the relationship between African and global media?
• How is the Internet useful to the majority of Africans?
• What challenges do African media face?
• How do media address the continent's conflicts and wars?
• How do they set agenda for free and fair elections?
• How do they advocate for respect for human rights?