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The Africa Desk Live, the weekly two-hour live public affairs program produced by MORE, reached viewers in 30 countries across North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean in a single week in August. The program has spent nothing on advertising.

"Fifteen conversations in, that reach was built by people forwarding a clip to somebody who needed to see it," host and MORE founder Semantics King Jr. wrote in The Desk Dispatch, the program's monthly newsletter.

By the end of August, the program had nearly 10,000 followers across its platforms, most of them on Facebook, and had hosted 32 guests since launch. Its largest audiences are in the United States, followed by Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana and South Africa.

One country each week

The program is working through all 54 African countries, one each Saturday, in a series called 54 Conversations. Hour 1 is a conversation about the featured country. Hour 2 turns to the diaspora and community development, often featuring organizations based in Minnesota.

The series follows published rules. Hour 1 carries two guests, one woman and one man. The program does not book government officials in Hour 1, and it pays no honoraria to any guest. When a government is the subject of criticism, the program asks for comment in writing and promises to read any reply on air in full and unaltered.

A standing right of reply, and a public corrections record

In August the program added a standing right of reply offer to every government on the continent: one representative, the only guest for a full hour, on a date of their choosing, with questions in advance if they want them. The offer does not expire.

It also formalized its corrections policy. Errors made on air are read aloud at the top of the next broadcast and recorded permanently in The Desk Dispatch.

MORE, the Media Organization for Representation and Empowerment, is a Minnesota 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Underwriting carries no editorial influence, under MORE's adopted Editorial Independence and Underwriting Policy.