Here is a carefully Europe/Africa/Asia/USA-jury-selected Best TOP 20 Listing of African Online Magazine sites-report worldwide. The successfully rated magazines were chosen on the criteria of their contribution to highlighting great African Online Magazines – via focusing on the presentation of a positive, unseen and uncelebrated Africa Images which people do not see on TV.
Report – By Charles Kanrandi & Ben Borchert
NORTH AMERICA
- FORBES AFRICA (www.forbesafrica.com): This is the sister site of the popular Forbes news focusing on business news, technological breakthroughs and politics in Africa. It is becoming really popular on the African continent and beyond as about 45.5%[i] of its daily traffic comes from readers in Nigeria and South Africa alone.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Forbes represents the best of both world when it comes to ethics and journalism. Their focus on business news is unrivalled in the world as their articles are both precise and unbiased.
- CNN AFRICA (edition.cnn.com/Africa): This is one of the most popular TV stations in Africa and beyond. CNN Africa has used its powerful platform and loyal base of readers to expose the positive achievements of African entrepreneurs to the world. They share remarkable business start-up stories of Africans to all corners of the world and they remain committed towards sharing the “African story” to anyone who cares to listen. They are also an important source of information for Africans in diaspora as over 80% of th9eir monthly visitors come from countries like the United States, Japan, Canada and China[ii].
WHY WE PICKED IT: CNN Africa is a reputable news outlets with an array of some of the best reporters in their respective fields. They are focused on telling the story as it is and their online presence is also strong. They are also the one stop shop for all breaking news and unfolding events.
- USAFRICA (usafricaonline.com): USAfrica is the first African-owned professional newspaper on the internet and it is one of the primary news medium for African-Americans and Africans in the Diaspora. It focuses on breaking news, insights, sports and entertainment.
WHY WE PICKED IT: USAfrica has a strong loyal base of readers and is committed towards portraying Africa in a good light and reporting small progresses on the African front that often go unnoticed by the big-name magazines.
AFRICA
- ALL AFRICA (www.allafrica.com): This is one of Africa’s most indigenous websites served in both English and French. It aggregates, produces and distributes business news daily from over 140 reputable African news organizations. It handles topics ranging from political and sports news to business news and it has a global rank of 15,097 on Alexa.
WHY WE PICKED IT: AllAfrica is one of the most popular indigenous websites within Africa as they aggregate news from all over. It allows Africans in Diaspora to review happenings within the continent. They also have a blog which helps as Africans all over the world meet to discuss and debate issues related to the continent.
- VENTURES AFRICA: Ventures Africa is an online platform dedicated to news, analysis and discussion about African business, policy, innovation and lifestyle. They explore the opportunities and complexities of Africa as a continent and tell the story as precisely as possible to Africans in diaspora.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Ventures Africa is dedicated to providing first class business contents related to Africa. They are a major source of information for Africans in diaspora willing to invest in the continent
- COM: Africa.com was founded in 2010 by Teresa Clarke, a former managing director of the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs to provide news and contents on the latest happenings on the business landscape across Africa. The website has evolved to also provide coverage on financial, political and cultural happenings across the continent. It is ranked on the global Alexa index at 123,939 and it also has a strong social media presence.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Africa.com is one of the top news websites for people willing to know more about the business landscape and happenings in the African market.
- NEWS24 (news24.com): NEWS24 is one of Africa’s most reliable sources of information with round the clock coverage on both local and international news. It was created in October 1998 by the multinational news company Naspers and is headquartered in Cape Town. It is also one of the most viewed African based news outlets with a global Alexa rank of 3,050.
WHY WE PICKED IT: NEWS24 is one of the most reliable news reporting outlet on the continent with a unique fan base of over 2.8 million unique readers in April 2010[iii]. They also offer their news content in the Zulu language which is a main draw for indigenes and South Africans in diaspora willing to read the news in their local languages.
- eNCA (enca.com): eNCA is a 24-hour e-news broadcaster, owned by e.tv focusing on sharing South African and African stories to the world. It was the first 24-hour news service to be launched in South Africa as at June 2008
WHY WE PICKED IT: eNCA has the distinction of being South Africa’s most trusted independent TV and online news brand as it pays major emphasis on mobile applications as they have news applications for both the Android and iOS platforms with a dedicated team of developers and editorial personnel.
Best Africa Magazines in EUROPE
- BEN TV (www.bentelevision.com): Ben Television is a lesser known online media outlet based in London. It is a black and ethnic oriented, diverse and cosmopolitan family channel established to empower, transform and challenge the conventional perception of Africa, Caribbean and African descendants in Diaspora. BEN TV also has online radio and live streaming outlets.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Ben Television is the first ethnic satellite television in Europe catering to a large population of Africans in diaspora. It challenges the conventional perception of Africa, Caribbean and African descendants in diaspora.
- EUROAFRICA NEWS MAGAZINE (euroafricanews.com): EuroAfrica News-Magazine Online established in 2004 is an Online Africa Voice in Europe. The magazine focuses on:|Discover Positive Africa | Unreported Africa | and tries to highlight the Africa You Never See on TV. Under the motto: “Africa is more than negative news and images of diseases, wild animals roaming in the Savannah and disasters. We showcase “positive news behind the news” images of Africa” – EuroAfrica was established by the trained Journalist and Intercultural Health/Competence Professional – Chris Ezeh to fill the reporting gap on African News in Europe. It is committed towards promoting independent media and covers from news to medical counselling services
WHY WE PICKED IT: EuroAfrica was created to bridge the reporting gap and to portray Africa in a good light. It is the EuroAfrica Magazine Online is the first and the oldest, private independent media outlet worldwide offering news in two major languages (English & German) allowing them to cater to a larger audience. EuroAfrica Media Network places great emphasis on enduring education/mass communication measures because many blood-curdling stories has been told about Africa in the past by biased Western media.
- AFRICULTURES (reconnectafrica.com): This is a publication of arts and culture about and from Africa and its Diasporas founded in 1996 and based in Paris. The magazine is managed by the association Africultures and it is published by L’Harmattan. Since 2012 the documentation produced by the magazine and its database made of over 80,000 biographies of artists and description of books, music, films and institutions has been released under the open Creative Commons attribution share alike license. It has become one of the leading portals for information on African topics on the Internet.
WHY WE PICKED IT: This is a magazine catering to the needs of artists as it contains one of the largest catalogues and biographies of books and others. It serves the French speaking population of African origin.
- AFRICAN HERITAGE MAGAZINE (africanheritagemagazine.de): The African Heritage magazine is a mainstream business and entertainment print magazine with a firm foothold in West-Central Europe and they operate from Hamburg, Germany. They bring news content to the English speaking audience around Europe and Africa. They also focus on conducting interviews for Heads of Governments, Diplomats, Politicians and Influential people in order to promote Africa as the destination for financial investment, culture, entertainment and new goals. They launched an online version of their popular magazine in 2012.
WHY WE PICKED IT: African Heritage Magazine is focused on bringing quality content about Africa to people in West-Central Europe. They are also an invaluable source when it comes to reviewing interviews by influential people on the African scene.
- NEWSNOW (newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Africa): NewsNow is the UK’s first and leading home-grown and independent news aggregation service. Fully-automated, and on a continuous basis, NewsNow displays breaking headlines linking to news websites all around the world. Launched in 1998 with fewer than ten sources, today NewsNow links to tens of thousands of publications, from top news brands to alternative news sources — all on a single platform.
WHY WE PICKED IT: NewsNow is a reliable source with frequent news updates as it is fully automated and also links to other sites. It is an invaluable resource for Africans in diaspora doing research on topics related to Africa.
- TRAVEL AFRICA (travelafricamag.com): Travel Africa is one of the few international magazines with an online presence dedicated towards the promotion of travel and tourism in Africa. Travel Africa has been publishing magazines quarterly since 1997, monthly online magazines recently and also through an application available on all mobile platforms. They also offer an online travel directory to help foreigners or Africans in the diaspora travel to Africa either for business or tourism. Travel Africa is published in the UK by Gecko Publishing and they operate all over Africa.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Travel Africa is the number one stop for planning a trip to Africa including resorts, hotels and places to visit.
- RECONNECT AFRICA (reconnectafrica.com): Reconnect Africa is a UK based website and online magazine for African professionals in Diaspora. It is packed with essential information about careers, business and investment opportunities in Africa. They cater to the needs of those looking to do business or invest in Africa using monthly feature articles, interviews and targeted online links. They’ve won several awards which include the African Youth Foundation Adler Award for Media (2009) and the WEB Universal Award for Connecting Africans in the Diaspora (2010).
WHY WE PICKED IT: ReConnect Africa is a sought after and recognized resource for thousands on African professionals looking to do business or invest in Africa. Their targets are skilled professionals of African origin with experience of working in developed markets.
- THE NETWORK JOURNAL (tnj.com): The network journal is a monthly online business magazine for African professionals and business owners. It was founded in 1993.
WHY WE PICKED IT: TNJ is dedicated towards empowering its users by providing news and commentary on issues that affect the growth of business and the advancement of professionals in the workplace, featuring successful entrepreneurs and professionals who offer insights on business- and career-building strategies and highlighting business and career trends in key industries.
- AFRICA POSITIVE (africa-positive.de): Africa positive is a German-language online magazine with up to date reports about Africa published by a club of the same name. It is published quarterly and it has been around since 1988. It was founded by Veye Tatah who is Cameroonian and it reports on economy, culture, people, politics and countries of the continent. The target group are German-speaking readers including African immigrants in Germany.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Africa positive is focused on providing information on valuable resources in the government, corporate and non-profit sectors
- NEWAFRICAN (newafricanmagazine.com): New African magazines are published by IC Productions based in France and it is a bilingual magazine with over 50 years’ experience in publishing magazines, industry reports and market intelligence across Africa. With over 2.6 million readers across its portfolio in over 100 countries, their publications are one of Africa’s undisputed market leaders when it comes to news and latest happenings.
WHY WE PICKED IT: This magazine is focused on reporting trends in the industry in a precise and easy to understand format.
ASIA
- THE TIMES OF AFRICA (thetimesofafrica.com): The Times of Africa is an international bi-monthly business magazine with an online presence created with the prime impetus of promoting the existing corporate avenues of the African continent. They are headquartered in New Delhi, India and they have overseas offices all over the African continent all the way from Burkina Faso to Senegal. The magazine has a wide base of readers which includes the readership desks of the Indian and African diplomatic missions, President Houses and they also do in-flight insertion of magazines in airlines.
WHY WE PICKED IT: The Times of Africa caters for the Asian market with professional articles that rivals that of the big names. They are also committed towards reporting events without bias and are free from political influences.
- AFRICA ON THE RISE (africa-ontherise.com): Africa on the Riseis committed to highlighting and propagating the positive changing realities of the African continent. This platform is changing the African conversation by monitoring, analyzing and sharing qualitative content about Africa’s rising potential, fostering development through the power of information and inspiring hope by humanizing the process of positive change.
WHY WE PICKED IT: Africa on the Rise is focused on showing a different view of Africa to Africans in diaspora and the rest of the world. It aims to inspire people to get more involved in the renaissance of Africa and build a better economy and reality for the continent.
[1] https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/forbesafrica.com
[1] www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cnn.com
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News24