PanAfrican News Agency

Christopher H. Sterling

The PanAfrican News Agency (PANA), formally known since 1997 as PANAPRESS, is a continent-wide news-gathering and sharing operation, linking the many national African news agencies to reduce their dependency on major Western news agencies. The dream of an Africa-based global news agency is an old one. Ghana, the first former colony to become independent (in 1957) sought to create just such an entity. Years of often frustrating discussion and negotiation followed the independence of other former colonies into the 1960s. In April 1963, African nation ministers of information agreed to create the Union des Agences d'informations Africaines, based in Tunis, Tunisia, which provided some news services for all of the continent's nations. Although its services were by no means comprehensive, the nascent information agency did suggest what might be accomplished with stronger organizational and financial support. In July 1979, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) formed the PanAfrican News Agency, ...

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