Pretoria - The Board of the Turquoise Harmony Institute has awarded this year’s prestigious Ubuntu Media Award to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s Ubuntu Radio.
The station is South Africa’s first government-run, 24-hour, online radio station.
The Turquoise Harmony Institute is an independent, non-profit NGO aimed at promoting inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue and tolerance among people at grassroots level in South Africa.
According to the institute, Ubuntu Radio is a “visionary concept and idea, which has become an important tool of DIRCO’s public diplomacy, which is to promote and communicate South Africa’s foreign policy and disseminate information about South Africa across the world”.
Since its inception in October 2013, Ubuntu Radio has been steadily positioning itself as an authority when it comes to "telling the African story by Africans from an African perspective” and continues to grow its listenership and reach.
Ubuntu Radio aims to provide informative, accurate and interesting news and views from the continent and beyond. As a government online radio station, it also aims to provide foreign policy news to a South African and global audience. The programming mix of news, talk, arts, culture and music are designed to promote the African story.
The station has recently launched an Ubuntu Radio application for mobile devices (Blackberry & Android phones, etc) on its website www.ubunturadio.com and is currently receiving downloads from countries such as China, USA, UK, France, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Canada, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, amongst others.
“This is confirmation of the level of interest in South Africa’s foreign policy and global activities,” said the department on Monday. – SAnews.gov.za
