France Médias Monde, the parent company of RFI and France 24, has launched ZOA, a new digital news channel aimed at a young African audience. Built by young African journalists, the platform focuses on feature‑style stories and deliberately excludes politics, covering health, sports, society, culture and entrepreneurship.
The newsroom is based in Dakar, Senegal, within the France Médias Monde hub. It occupies an open‑plan office where a team of ten journalists from five African countries collaborates. ZOA also works with a network of correspondents in eleven countries to stay close to the people and their stories.
Content is distributed on major social platforms—WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram—in the form of videos, photos and infographics. Some videos have already attracted over 800,000 views within a fortnight, resonating with viewers by showcasing ordinary Africans doing extraordinary things. Sections such as Citizen Initiatives, Heritage and Health provide a unique perspective on daily life across the continent.
Editor‑in‑chief Kaourou Magassa stresses editorial independence. Although RFI and France 24 supply technical and financial support, ZOA maintains its own distinctive style and selects topics autonomously. Its mission is to amplify the voices of young Francophone Africans through fact‑based reporting, giving a platform to stories that are often overlooked.
As a new player in the digital news landscape, ZOA is poised to influence how young Africans consume news and information. With its commitment to independence and rigorous reporting, the channel is well positioned to offer a fresh, nuanced view of the African continent and to become an important platform for emerging African voices.
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