Why we must help the new media Africa XXI

Five months after its launch, the magazine Afrique XXI is looking for 40 euros. One of its editorial coordinators explains the challenges for this independent media devoted to Africa.

Launched last September, Africa XXI magazine wants to be a media “without publicity, in free access and completely independent”. Associated with Orient XXI, the site is now seeking funding. Rémi Carayol, editorial co-coordinator with Michael Pauron, explains why crowdfunding was the means chosen by his team to give Afrique XXI its independence.

#crowdfunding Thank you @rokiatraore support @AfricaXXI ! You can participate in this adventure by making a donation here => https://t.co/1Y97sp82aC We need you! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/3KPVtYgS69

– Africa XXI (@AfricaXXI) February 7, 2022

Le Journal de l'Afrique: How does Africa XXI work compared to other media?

Rémi Carayol: We launched, rather discreetly, Afrique XXI in September 2021. As we do not do news, dispatches, and we offer a different perspective, we wanted, before promoting the newspaper, to have a base of items to offer. Africa XXI, these are analyzes, insights and different angles. For example, we do not deal with the Europe-Africa summit like the other newspapers, we come back to the history of relations between the Old Continent and Africa.

At Afrique XXI, we defend values: it is a left-wing media, which does not advocate objectivity but which does not derogate from one point: intellectual honesty.

Why use reader funding?

Afrique XXI is completely independent, whereas the media currently devoted to Africa are either Jeune Afrique, which belongs to a family and lives off its contracts with States or with advertisers, or RFI, France 24 and the others which are public media.

Afrique XXI is an association, does not broadcast advertisements. At our launch, we benefited from the aid of Orient XXI, and the Emergence grant. We need funds to pay journalists and precarious researchers who publish on our site.

After the fundraising campaign, we will launch regular appeals for donations on our site. We don't know how our business model will evolve, but whatever happens, we will remain independent, especially from advertising.

But you remain a French media devoted to Africa…

We advocate the emancipation of peoples, promote social struggles, talk about relations between the continent and other powers. We are not an African media but a French one, and we assume it even if we have a critical look at “Françafrique”.

We try to have as many African authors as possible, but that does not make us an African magazine. We simply want to be as close as possible to the reality of the continent.

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To donate to Africa XXI, click here.