According to them, a united Africa could be a global player and such a unity amongst African countries could be achieved if the African media thread on a common path of development and highlight the potentials of the continent.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on  the sidelines of a media seminar in Beijing, the capital of the People"s Republic of China, the reporters expressed disgust that the western media continued to paint gloomy and negative pictures about the African people and the continent.

The 2018 seminar for senior level media executives from English speaking African countries was organised by the Chinese government through the Research and Training Institute of the State Administration of Radio and Television.

On the theme "media cooperation give fresh impetus to the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership", the three-week seminar was attended by 32 Journalists and government officials drawn from Ghana, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone,  Ethiopia, South Sudan, Botwana, Uganda and Kenya.

"We need a strong media network to push our own development agenda as African people with common destiny", says Wakuma Kudama Geleta, the Deputy Editor in-Chief of the Ethiopian Herald Newspaper.

Alhaji Abubarkar Darbo, a Deputy Director at the Gambia Radio and Television Services, observed that Africa had a huge potential in areas of tourism, cultural diversity, and natural resources, and was hopeful that with a strong media institution such potentials and heritage would be unearth, nurtured and tapped for rapid socio-economic development.

He appealed to African Journalists to use their pens to showcase the positive aspects of the continent and guard against negative reports that humiliated the continent and demeaned the African people.

Mr Mohammed Kabba, a Senior Reporter at Awoko Newspaper in Sierra Leone, indicated that African countries had similar cultural values saying "we can easily understand ourselves better if we accept each other and push our own development agenda as a people".

Zipporah Wangari Muthui, a Senior Journalist at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, called for media exchange programmes among African Journalists to network effectively for them to understand each country well and build on relationships as well.

Sylivanus Kamera Musonera, a Journalist at the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency said Rwanda needed the support of the African media in her reconstruction processes.

He said though the genocide in that country slowed down and affected the pace of development, with unity and social cohesion among the people, development was fast growing, and advised the African media to avoid tendencies that could spark the continent into violence and war.

By Dennis Peprah, GNA Special correspondent in Beijing