Nairobi, May 8 -- This week, Nairobi hosts Africa's premier gathering of media leaders, practitioners and policymakers for the Pan-African Media Summit. With over 300 delegates converging in the Kenyan capital from 12 to 15 May, the event offers a vital platform to confront pressing challenges around information integrity, artificial intelligence and platform regulation.

On April 15 this year, agents of Ethiopia's national intelligence service arrived without a warrant at the home of Million Beyene, managing editor of the respected Addis Standard. He was taken to an undisclosed location, held incommunicado for two weeks, and quietly released on 28 April. His offence? Journalism.

Beyene is far from alone. In Zimbabwe, Gideon Madzikatidze...