The Managing Director of Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International, Sir Munir Shams, has extended his profound appreciation to African journalists who covered the UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Islamic Conference, Jalsa Salana, held from July 25th to 27th at the Oakland Farm in Alton, Hampshire, for three days.
The African journalists, 19, were drawn from state broadcasters such as Voice of Nigeria (VON), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), TVC Communications (Nigeria), Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (Ghana), Cameroon Radio and Television (Cameroon), Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (Sierra Leone,) Liberia National Television (Liberia), Gambia Radio and Television Service (Gambia), Ivory Coast, Kenya Television Network (Kenya), Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (Uganda), Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (Tanzania), Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (Malawi), and a social media influencer from Rwanda, Ibn Luqman Miraj.
The African media organisations churned out news reports, analysis and multimedia productions on the three-day activities of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Islamic Conference through their media channels to viewers, listeners and netizens within the continent and globally.
Cooperation
Sir Munir Shams, Managing Director, MTA International, used the opportunity to extend cooperation to the media channels for collaborations on exchange programmes and training for the mutual benefits of both parties and the general interests of the target audience in Africa and globally.
Representatives of the media organisations at the Jalsa Salana equally expressed satisfaction with the events, resources, logistics and hospitality of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, UK.
The media team, led by Umar Shafi, Director of MTA Africa, provided the needed support for the effective coverage of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Islamic Conference. There were daily briefings and coordination of events coverage of the lectures, exhibitions and special interviews for the African Journalists. The media schedules were top-notch, and multimedia support was made available at the International Media Centre.
MTA Africa has collaborated with state and private broadcasters in Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia on programme exchange and training. It recently donated computers to the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.
It has 11 broadcast studios in Africa as part of the MTA International network and produces content for the African continent from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius and Tanzania.
Seven languages of broadcast are available across two channels, MTA Africa 1 and MTA Africa 2, inaugurated by the World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V, on 1 August 2016. The languages of broadcast are English, French, Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Twi and English Creole.
MTA International started its transmission in January 1992, weekly, moved to regular daily 12-hour transmission in January 1994 and capped it with a 24-hour global transmission in
1996 on free-to-air, website and multimedia platforms. Its website is www.mta.tv, supported by the Mobil App on Android Google Play and the App Store for programmes ranging from spiritual to secular content.