Data Alliance at the 2026 Africa Editors’ Forum
This year’s Africa Editors Congress brought together over 250 media leaders, including editors-in-chief, media executives, and policymakers, to address the “multifaceted crisis” facing journalism on the continent.
Under the theme: Reclaiming Value, Rebuilding Trust, Redefining Sustainability, the inaugural congress was held in Nairobi from 23rd-24th February 2026 at the Aga Khan University Graduate School for Media and Communications.
The event included a special focus on Data Access and Policy alerting participants to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Resolution 620 and the related draft Guidelines.
The members of African Alliance Team were given the opportunity to present in a session “Making Access to Data Policy Changes Work for Journalists and Publishers.” Moderated by Article 19’s Sarah Wesonga, the session highlighted the opportunity for media to use Resolution 620 and embed media-relevant norms into the draft Guidelines and wider African data governance frameworks.
Prof Guy Berger raised the issue of unlocking data for Africa and why editors and journalists have a stake in data sharing to foster information as public good. He brought out the salient points of the Guidelines by stressing that data is an indispensable tool for public accountability. To this end, he said, governments and private entities must be governed to ensure that data is accessible to researchers, civil society watchdogs, and journalists.
Further, the prof noted that the Guidelines require platforms to commit to refraining from legal actions alleging breach of contract, intellectual property infringement, or unauthorised access. This would free up African researchers, journalists and civil society actors who engage in the automated collection of publicly accessible data from their services for legitimate public interest purposes.
The Guidelines also propose adequate policies and processes to enable rapid access to elections data during the electoral period and timely responses to threats to data integrity or data-driven disinformation. Data may only be legitimately withheld as an exemption if its release would violate internationally justified limits.
Juliet Nanfuka from CIPESA and Rosemary Okello-Orlale from Africa Media Hub-Strathmore University Business School gave a presentation on how the Guidelines can support newsrooms across Africa. The following areas were discussed:
• Strengthening investigative reporting
• Negotiating with platforms on audience reach and advertising transparency.
• Navigating debates around data sovereignty
Also discussed was how newsrooms are currently operating within deep data asymmetrical areas. For example.
• How various governments are controlling critical public-interest datasets that are often inaccessible.
• How global platforms are controlling data on audience reach, advertising metrics and online news distribution.
• How AI systems extract value from media content without transparent data flows.
• How editors struggle to negotiate revenue and visibility without full information and data parity.
The session had a lively discussion and the following questions that came up were:
• Question 1: What problem was Resolution 620 responding to, and what governance gap does it aim to address?
• Question 2: From a media perspective, which elements of the draft guidelines most directly affect journalists’ ability to access public or platform-held data?
• Question 3: If you were advising editors in this room, where should they pay attention first?
• Question 4: Where is the media sector in the ACHPR process, and what influence can editors realistically have at this stage?
• Question 5: If adopted, how could these guidelines strengthen African media’s leverage in negotiations with governments or global tech platforms?
• Question 6: How does limited access to audience and advertising data currently weaken newsroom sustainability today?
• Question 7: Can improved access to data genuinely rebalance power between African publishers and global platforms, or are deeper structural reforms required?
• Question 8: Where does data sovereignty strengthen media ecosystems, and where might it risk limiting press freedom?
