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Media and Journalism (African Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2. The field of media studies in Africa has grown disparately, and it has emerged multifaceted and disciplinarily diverse as mass media have become central to cultural productions of all kinds, including music, visual arts, storytelling, and literature, and as social and political life increasingly is intelligible only with reference to its media conduits. This article focuses exclusively on the media studies core: the press, television, radio, and new media in Africa south of the Sahara. It gives particular attention to works that treat media’s historically central function of encouraging and facilitating the gathering and dissemination of news. It especially tries to orient readers to the literature surrounding Africa’s perennial media challenges: infrastructure, audience development, and the frequent contestations within Africa’s new, often weak states over media ownership, control, and freedom. This focus on the media studies core requires leaving out most works on the artistic and other qualities of particular African media, such as film and video, works on African popular culture that are partly about media but ultimately are contributions to understanding social change (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article Popular Culture and the Study of Africa), and social science studies that are only tangentially about media, such as election analyses in political science. Some of the most impressive and still useful studies of media in Africa date from the 1960s, when surveys of the state of the press at the continental and country level formed part of a generally optimistic project of anticipating vectors of growth and identifying strategic social and infrastructural investments for accelerating them. By the 1970s and 1980s media studies in Africa showed signs of stagnation. Descriptive and prescriptive works on media for development touted the long-term advantages of literacy and the immediate promise of radio. Critical studies detailed the implications of authoritarian government control of media of all types. And scholars, both Africans and outsiders, saw cultural imperialism in imported media content. As the field has developed since about 1990, lineaments of these earlier traditions have given way to a body of good work by a still limited number of Africanist media scholars (disproportionately anglophone, with South Africans and Nigerians especially well represented) on several themes that tie media studies to developments in social science and humanities scholarship more generally: media and the state, media and human rights, the agency and creativity of working African journalists, and the many ways that new media, such as cell phones and the Internet, are transforming relationships, culture, work, and news.
  3.  
  4. General Overviews
  5. Writing about communication in general—from oral traditions to mass media to new communication and information technologies—in a continent of great cultural, historical, economic, and political diversity is a challenge, which is why few of these kinds of broad overviews are available. Doob 1961 is unique, an astonishing compendium of anthropological observation, basic psychology, and technology analysis, representative, despite its singularity, of a certain kind of mid-century social science, highly instrumentalist, seeking to unlock doors to African cultural dispositions so that outsiders might accomplish good work there. Bourgault 1995 and Ansu-Kyereman 2005 take the reader on a far-reaching journey from storytelling to contemporary media, with the latter work commenting on digital media. Mytton 1983, appearing twelve years before the more comprehensive work Bourgault 1995, offers a history of mass media beginning in the colonial period and continuing to the early 1980s when many African governments still held tight reign over the media. For Ziegler and Asante 1992, governments hinder the power of African media to build nations and contribute to creating strong African identities. Tudesq 1995 and Tudesq 1998 suggest that African media remain weak not only because of governments, but also because external forces impede countries’ media systems from best meeting the needs of their publics.
  6.  
  7. Ansu-Kyereman, Kwasi. Indigenous Communication in Africa: Concept, Application, and Prospects. Accra: Ghana University Press, 2005.
  8.  
  9. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  10.  
  11. Exploring communication in theory and application, essays consider storytelling, folk or traditional media, songs, and theater for development in African languages as well as the convergence of folk media, mass media, and digital media and training media personnel and the impact of all media forms on democracy.
  12.  
  13. Find this resource:
  14.  
  15.  
  16. Bourgault, Louise M. Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. An introductory history of mass media in Africa. Volume includes chapters on oral traditions as a form of mass media in precolonial Africa, colonial and postcolonial broadcasting, and the press during and after colonialism. Its final chapters treat the relations of contemporary mass media to development discourses and political control.
  21.  
  22. Find this resource:
  23.  
  24.  
  25. Doob, Leonard W. Communication in Africa: A Search for Boundaries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1961.
  26.  
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  28.  
  29. Funded in part by the US Army, this in-depth study reflects Cold War preoccupations with understanding the relationship of interpersonal and mediated communication, attitudes, and behavior as decolonization was beginning. Author attempted to classify the key components of who communicates what to whom and with what effect.
  30.  
  31. Find this resource:
  32.  
  33.  
  34. Mytton, Graham. Mass Communication in Africa. London: Edward Arnold, 1983.
  35.  
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  37.  
  38. A broad history of mass media in Africa from colonial times forward. Less comprehensive than Bourgault 1995, the book is most useful for its case studies of mass media in three countries that in the year of publication showed interesting divergences: Zambia, Tanzania, and Nigeria.
  39.  
  40. Find this resource:
  41.  
  42.  
  43. Tudesq, André-Jean. Feuilles d’Afrique: Étude de la presse de l’Afrique subsaharienne. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1995.
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. This volume is concerned with the development of a newspaper and journal readership in Africa. The author takes pains to survey the history and the state of the press and the press-reading public in anglophone and francophone countries.
  48.  
  49. Find this resource:
  50.  
  51.  
  52. Tudesq, André-Jean. L’espoir et l’illusion: Actions positives et effets pervers des média en Afrique subsaharienne. Talence, France: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine, 1998.
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. The author argues that media in Africa are still relatively undeveloped because market and political forces exterior to Africa dictate many of the conditions, technological and otherwise, under which African media must operate. Nonetheless, analysis of African media, especially radio, offers excellent insight into the preoccupations and concerns of Africans.
  57.  
  58. Find this resource:
  59.  
  60.  
  61. Ziegler, Dhyana, and Molefi K. Asante. Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1992.
  62.  
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  64.  
  65. The book examines how states expand or contract media freedoms of print and electronic news organizations to achieve development goals and create African national identities. The authors conducted some of their own interviews, but much of the book synthesizes others’ research in an attempt to contextualize African media within African cultural systems.
  66.  
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  68.  
  69.  
  70. Anthologies
  71. For many scholars and African media professionals in the 1960s, broadcasting (radio and television) held the promise of uniting new nations through programs listened to, or watched by, audiences in a single official language. But forging national identities via one language proved difficult, and Head 1974 and Wedell 1986 show us why (though it was not the authors’ intention) in these detailed anthologies of radio and television systems across Africa. Broadcasting must be relevant to audiences, must engage their cultural experiences and knowledge, and must be embedded in their history. Ugboajah 1985; Alkali, et al. 1988; and Okigbo and Eribo 2004 point to the same lesson for all media, while Gunner, et al. 2011 further complicates our understanding of broadcasting’s impact on listeners in chapters exploring the relationship of radio and violence, nationalism, and moral authority. Last, Lent 2009, a thoroughly original edited volume on cartoons in Africa, demonstrates the ability of artists and readers to circumvent control over the media, whether government, corporate, or social, and so doing suggest that there is great potential for cultural transcendence in visual media.
  72.  
  73. Alkali, Muhammad Nur, Jerry Domatob, Yahaya Abubakar, and Abubakar Jika, eds. Mass Communication in Africa: A Book of Readings. Enugu, Nigeria: Delta, 1988.
  74.  
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  76.  
  77. A collection of nineteen short studies treating a range of mass media theories and practices as they pertain to Africa, particularly Nigeria. Though somewhat dated, the volume is especially useful for its several chapters on African audience receptivity and reaction to television programming and popular music.
  78.  
  79. Find this resource:
  80.  
  81.  
  82. Gunner, Liz, Dina Ligaga, and Dumisani Moyo, eds. Radio in Africa. Woodbridge, UK: James Currey, 2011.
  83.  
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  85.  
  86. Contributors make provocative and occasionally definitive arguments on several contested subjects: Under what conditions can radio fan the flames of conflict? Does broadcasting convey moral authority more effectively than interpersonal communication? Is talk radio the public sphere in Africa? How does nationalism mix with the cacophony of voices available to anyone with a short-wave radio?
  87.  
  88. Find this resource:
  89.  
  90.  
  91. Head, Sydney W., ed. Broadcasting in Africa: A Continental Survey of Radio and Television. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1974.
  92.  
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  94.  
  95. A comprehensive continent-wide description of radio and television systems, their history, mandates, public reach, training, and regulation. Includes chapters on religious broadcasting, international services to and from African countries, and international funding of broadcast systems. Appendixes on spectrum allocation, languages used, and facilities. A volume that is today most useful as historical background.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99.  
  100. Lent, John A., ed. Cartooning in Africa. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2009.
  101.  
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  103.  
  104. Well illustrated and of value to scholars and students, the volume depicts the wide variety of preoccupations—political and other—of cartoonists in different African countries and the frustrations and occasionally retaliatory reactions of personages and regulatory bodies to this most slyly subversive of media arts.
  105.  
  106. Find this resource:
  107.  
  108.  
  109. Okigbo, Charles C., and Festus Eribo, eds. Development and Communication in Africa. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
  110.  
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  112.  
  113. This edited volume explores how media might promote development from an African perspective. The variety of the chapters—on communication theory, culture, new technologies, US news coverage, and debt—is an excellent feature because the subject is multifaceted but also a poor one because the diffuse themes are not fully interwoven.
  114.  
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  116.  
  117.  
  118. Ugboajah, Frank Okwu, ed. Mass Communication, Culture and Society in West Africa. Munich: Hans Zell, 1985.
  119.  
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  121.  
  122. Essays address the protection of West African cultures from the onslaught of values embedded in news and entertainment from the West. Authors describe the history and development of mass communication, African languages and cultural symbols used in mass media, professional media training, and West African audiences.
  123.  
  124. Find this resource:
  125.  
  126.  
  127. Wedell, George, ed. Making Broadcasting Useful: The African Experience. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1986.
  128.  
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  130.  
  131. Twenty-five chapters on various aspects of radio and television broadcasting, focusing on practical issues such as developing programming with limited budgets, transmission and reception problems, and multilingualism. Much has changed, but the volume remains a useful source as it sets the baseline for understanding subsequent developments in technology, programming, and ownership.
  132.  
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  134.  
  135.  
  136. Journals
  137. Most academic media studies journals publish a range of studies on topics such as the influence of mass communications and new technologies on users, the production or creation of content, the social, political, and legal constraints on media, and so forth. These general media studies journals typically focus on media studies questions in or about the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. However, a few journals—Media, Culture & Society, International Communication Gazette, Media, War & Conflict, Communication, Culture & Critique, and Journalism Practice—are more international in scope and therefore do regularly publish research on media studies and journalism related to Africa, as does the new technologies journal, Telematics and Informatics. The Journal of African Media Studies, and Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies are the two essential journals, and they are among a small handful that are dedicated to publishing research on African media and journalism issues.
  138.  
  139. Communication, Culture & Critique. 2008–.
  140.  
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  142.  
  143. Forum for interpretative and qualitative research that focuses on questions of public communication, media practices, textual critique, use of media, and identity formation.
  144.  
  145. Find this resource:
  146.  
  147.  
  148. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies. 1980–.
  149.  
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  151.  
  152. Taking a broad view of journalism that integrates cultural and media studies, the journal specializes in understanding the connection of journalism production and practice, news content, and audiences to globalization, political and economic spheres, and popular culture, particularly in the Global South.
  153.  
  154. Find this resource:
  155.  
  156.  
  157. International Communication Gazette. 2006–.
  158.  
  159. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  160.  
  161. Publishes on all aspects of international communication, including production, audience reception, flow of communication, and content or programming studies. Preceded by Gazette (1955–2005).
  162.  
  163. Find this resource:
  164.  
  165.  
  166. Journal of African Media Studies. 2009–.
  167.  
  168. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  169.  
  170. Focuses on historical and contemporary media studies and communication topics and issues across the African continent by scholars from diverse humanities and social sciences fields.
  171.  
  172. Find this resource:
  173.  
  174.  
  175. Journalism Practice. 2007–.
  176.  
  177. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  178.  
  179. Devoted to the academic study of the journalism profession, ethics, policy, training, and history.
  180.  
  181. Find this resource:
  182.  
  183.  
  184. Media, Culture & Society. 1979–.
  185.  
  186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. An international journal of research on mass media and new media technologies grounded in their cultural, economic, and political contexts.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192.  
  193. Media, War & Conflict. 2008–.
  194.  
  195. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  196.  
  197. Multidisciplinary journal on the study of mediated conflict, violence, terrorism, and human rights abuses, historical and contemporary.
  198.  
  199. Find this resource:
  200.  
  201.  
  202. Telematics and Informatics. 1984–.
  203.  
  204. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  205.  
  206. Multidisciplinary journal examining the cultural, economic, and political impacts and challenges of new information and communication technologies worldwide.
  207.  
  208. Find this resource:
  209.  
  210.  
  211. Precolonial, Colonial, and Early Independence-Era Media
  212. Studies of mass media in colonial Africa have been relatively few and essentially none have appeared on the precolonial period. Of works on colonial Africa, most valuable to historians probably will be Ainslie 1966 and Kitchen 1956, which both include a good deal of primary information, such as lists of colonial newspapers, their dates, circulation, and publishers. Both of these volumes, like much writing on Africa produced during the late 1950s and early 1960s, look both back and forward, trying to identify in the investments of colonial governments and colonial private enterprises a basis for optimism about independent Africa’s future. During the independence period, Barton 1966 put together a guide to understanding journalism as a career, and for that purpose it is dated, but it remains a useful study of journalism practice in a formative period. Hachten 1971 provides both institutional history and an analysis of how print and broadcast journalists work across Africa. Janas 1991, Jones-Quartey 1975, Kasoma 1986, and several essays in Kaul 2006 are comprehensive media histories of particular countries, highly attentive to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  213.  
  214. Ainslie, Rosalynde. The Press in Africa: Communications Past and Present. London: Victor Gollancz, 1966.
  215.  
  216. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  217.  
  218. A comprehensive history of the press in colonial Africa, extending into the first few years of the independence period. The author surveys the history of newspapers and magazines region by region and, in some cases, country by country. Following these chapters are some general, Africa-wide chapters on radio, television, news agencies, and press freedoms.
  219.  
  220. Find this resource:
  221.  
  222.  
  223. Barton, Frank. The Press in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishing, 1966.
  224.  
  225. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  226.  
  227. This slim volume chronicles the professional life and concerns of journalists in independent Africa. Explored are questions about what a journalist does, career opportunities, training and qualifications, working for a private or government media, and the business side of journalism.
  228.  
  229. Find this resource:
  230.  
  231.  
  232. Hachten, William A. Muffled Drums: The News Media in Africa. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1971.
  233.  
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235.  
  236. This classic study surveys news media as institutions: their creation, practices, and relations with government. Based on observations and interviews, the author emphasizes the production of news and public information over effects on audiences. About half the book is devoted to case studies. Appendixes provide interesting historical information.
  237.  
  238. Find this resource:
  239.  
  240.  
  241. Janas, Justyna. History of the Mass Media in Ethiopia. Studies of the Department of African Languages and Cultures. Warsaw, Poland: Warsaw University Institute of Oriental Studies, 1991.
  242.  
  243. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  244.  
  245. Divided into three main sections—the press, radio, and television—this volume surveys 20th-century mass media outlets, listing and commenting briefly on each. Also included are very brief accounts of news agencies in Ethiopia and the legal environment of mass media in the country from the 1930s through the 1980s.
  246.  
  247. Find this resource:
  248.  
  249.  
  250. Jones-Quartey, K. A. B. History, Politics, and Early Press in Ghana: The Fictions and the Facts. Accra, Ghana: Assembly Press, 1975.
  251.  
  252. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  253.  
  254. An engaging short, descriptive history of the press in Ghana from the early 1800s to 1887, based on primary sources. Begins with the British colonial newspaper in Sierra Leone and then examines colonial and early Ghanaian newspapers and journalists. Interesting appendixes on sources and archival materials.
  255.  
  256. Find this resource:
  257.  
  258.  
  259. Kasoma, Francis Peter. The Press in Zambia: The Development, Role, and Control of National Newspapers in Zambia, 1906–1983. Lusaka, Zambia: Multimedia, 1986.
  260.  
  261. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  262.  
  263. A thorough description of press history from the start of the colonial period. Examines the white-settler press, the colonial government press, privately owned black newspapers, the religious press, and post-independence newspapers operated by the Zambian government. Also addressed is the struggle of the press for freedom from colonial and postcolonial government control.
  264.  
  265. Find this resource:
  266.  
  267.  
  268. Kaul, Chandrika, ed. Media and the British Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
  269.  
  270. DOI: 10.1057/9780230205147Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271.  
  272. Several of the fifteen essays in this volume focus on the press in colonial Africa, particularly on questions of press freedom in southern Africa. Even the general essays on imperial communications systems and censorship in the empire and essays on Asian colonies have important insights for studies of African media.
  273.  
  274. Find this resource:
  275.  
  276.  
  277. Kitchen, Helen. The Press in Africa. Washington, DC: Ruth Sloan Associates, 1956.
  278.  
  279. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  280.  
  281. Published at the end of the colonial period, this volume was astutely conceived. Now of value to scholars interested in the African press of the 1950s. Chapters describe the state of print media, with intelligent commentary on racial, ethnic, sectional, religious, and other tensions the author believes the press reveals or hides.
  282.  
  283. Find this resource:
  284.  
  285.  
  286. Media Planning and Policy Documents of Historical Interest
  287. Critics of development efforts in Africa have shown over and over that the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were a period when experts, outsider and insider, produced endless and mostly unrealized planning documents in just about every sector, including mass media. Ng’wanakilala 1981 (on Tanzania), Dingamsangde 1974 (on Chad), and UNESCO 1973 (on Senegal) are examples of this kind of work at the country scale. The great investments and Afrocentric orientation toward African mass media development of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during this period is a history that still needs to be written in English. UNESCO 1962 and UNESCO 1981 are examples of the rich internally produced literature at the disposal of those interested in UNESCO’s mass media work in Africa, while Yondou 1997 provides a portion, in French, of the history that we await. While consultants produced planning documents, journalists and scholars occasionally gave attention to realities on the ground. Janas 1991 shows for Ethiopia how media history can inform our understanding of present practice.
  288.  
  289. Dingamsangde, Oscar Valentin. Les média d’information en République du Tchad. Papers and Documents of the ICI, Series F: No. 8, Monographs. Ottawa, ON: Institute for International Cooperation, 1974.
  290.  
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  292.  
  293. Volume commences with the national legal and administrative structures that controlled and regulated the press and radio, proceeds to analyze the ideology and politics of media and the challenges of creating a national discourse in a country where media are weak and reach limited populations.
  294.  
  295. Find this resource:
  296.  
  297.  
  298. Janas, Justyna. History of the Mass Media in Ethiopia. Studies of the Department of African Languages and Cultures. Warsaw, Poland: Warsaw University Institute of Oriental Studies, 1991.
  299.  
  300. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  301.  
  302. Divided into three main sections—the press, radio, and television—this volume surveys 20th-century mass media outlets, listing and commenting briefly on each. Also included are very brief accounts of news agencies in Ethiopia and the legal environment of mass media in the country from the 1930s through the 1980s.
  303.  
  304. Find this resource:
  305.  
  306.  
  307. Ng’wanakilala, Nkwabi. Mass Communication and Development of Socialism in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House, 1981.
  308.  
  309. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  310.  
  311. Dedicated to “the masses” and notably sympathetic to the project of Tanzanian socialism, this book chronicles the history and practice of mass communication during the country’s first twenty years of independence, paying close attention to content and usage of the state-owned newspaper and radio station and the then-nascent television system.
  312.  
  313. Find this resource:
  314.  
  315.  
  316. UNESCO. Developing Information Media in Africa: Press, Radio, Film, Television. Reports and Papers on Mass Communication, No. 37. Paris: UNESCO, 1962.
  317.  
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319.  
  320. The 1962 Meeting of Experts on Development of Information Media in Africa assessed the state of mass communications and developed recommendations that would form the basis for media policymaking in Africa for two decades. This volume reports the main points of the discussion and recommendations. Includes an annex listing the participants.
  321.  
  322. Find this resource:
  323.  
  324.  
  325. UNESCO. Mass Media in an African Context: An Evaluation of Senegal’s Pilot Project. Reports and Papers on Mass Communication, No. 69. Paris: UNESCO, 1973.
  326.  
  327. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  328.  
  329. Beginning in 1964 and continuing until 1971, UNESCO organized and largely funded a project in Senegal to bring radio, television, and locally produced documentary film to the masses of the Senegalese population who until then had had little or no exposure to these media. This report chronicles all aspects of the project.
  330.  
  331. Find this resource:
  332.  
  333.  
  334. UNESCO. Rural Journalism in Africa. Reports and Papers on Mass Communication, No. 88. Paris: UNESCO, 1981.
  335.  
  336. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  337.  
  338. The effort to establish rudimentary newspapers and magazines for a rural readership in the 1960s and 1970s, often in African languages, is a neglected chapter in the history of many of the newly independent African states. This 1981 report surveys rural press efforts country by country and discusses the many challenges inhering in these efforts.
  339.  
  340. Find this resource:
  341.  
  342.  
  343. Yondou, Serge Eric. L’UNESCO et la communication dans les pays en développement: Le cas des pays de l’Afrique centrale. Villeneuve d’Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires de Septentrion, 1997.
  344.  
  345. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  346.  
  347. An institutional history of UNESCO’s involvement in communication for development. This book discusses the lineaments of the New World Information and Communication Order controversy of the late 1970s and 1980s and UNESCO’s development-oriented communications work.
  348.  
  349. Find this resource:
  350.  
  351.  
  352. Media Ownership, Funding, and Operations
  353. State ownership of mass media was common though far from universal until the 1990s, when World Bank structural adjustment policies and the general neoliberal turn led to widespread media privatization even in countries where no tradition of media independence had existed before (see Media Democratization, Deregulation, and Privatization). As Mukhongo 2010 shows, ownership most definitely affects reporting. Regardless of ownership, journalism production requires revenue. Adjovi 2012 examines contemporary media funding formulas in francophone Africa, while Moyo and Chuma 2010 and Olorunnisola and Tomaselli 2011 do some of the same for anglophone southern Africa (while also considering the political dimensions of media privatization). What are the implications for news when certain kinds of reporting are fundable while others are not? Ngomba 2010 looks at the particular case of government support of development journalism in Cameroon, but the general problem he outlines—in a resource-poor country news outlets will cover stories that pay—is a fundamental one across the continent.
  354.  
  355. Adjovi, Emmanuel V. “The Media Economy in French-Speaking Africa: When Fragmentation Threatens Survival.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 33 (2012): 30–43.
  356.  
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  358.  
  359. In an era of minimal media growth in francophone Africa, this article looks at the relationship of countries’ socioeconomic contexts and funding models for supporting news media operations, mostly advertising and state subsidies.
  360.  
  361. Find this resource:
  362.  
  363.  
  364. Alozie, Emmanuel C. Marketing in Developing Countries: Nigerian Advertising in a Global and Technological Economy. New York: Routledge, 2009.
  365.  
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  367.  
  368. Half the book examines, in rather scattershot fashion, Africa’s place in the global political economy of advertising. The author’s account of the organization of the advertising industry in Nigeria is useful but brief. He also presents his own content analysis research on more than five hundred Nigerian advertisements and the values they promote.
  369.  
  370. Find this resource:
  371.  
  372.  
  373. Moyo, Dumisani, and Wallace Chuma, eds. Media Policy in a Changing Southern Africa: Critical Reflections on Media Reforms in the Global Age. Pretoria, South Africa: UNISA Press, 2010.
  374.  
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  376.  
  377. Chapters survey policy reforms since 2000 intended to further open media—print, broadcast, and new technologies—to diverse political and economic interests. The volume is of value to scholars and students seeking an account of policies that worked in the past and new trends for individual countries and with respect to regions.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381.  
  382. Mukhongo, Lusike Lynete. “Can the Media in Africa Shape Africa’s Political Future?” Journal of African Media Studies 2 (2010): 339–352.
  383.  
  384. DOI: 10.1386/jams2.3.339_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  385.  
  386. The author looks at how ownership combines with laws and informal practices to influence political reporting and accountability in several countries. Most interesting are the discussions of the relationship between vernacular-language radio stations and the ethnicization of national politics.
  387.  
  388. Find this resource:
  389.  
  390.  
  391. Ngomba, Teke. “Re-visiting the Contending Frontiers of Development Journalism in Africa: Of Official Dogma and Journalists’ Rejection in Cameroon.” Journal of Development Communication 21 (2010): 63–76.
  392.  
  393. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  394.  
  395. A review article revisiting the debates that dominated large swathes of the African media literature from the 1960s into the 1980s about government mandates for, and subsidy of, reporting for development purposes.
  396.  
  397. Find this resource:
  398.  
  399.  
  400. Olorunnisola, Anthony, and Keyan G. Tomaselli, eds. Political Economy of Media Transformation in South Africa. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2011.
  401.  
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403.  
  404. A collection of theoretically informed studies. Several of the studies focus on media ownership changes under neoliberal economic policies and in light of black economic empowerment laws, while others concentrate on media discourses of political transformation and portrayals of race and the nation in various media in the post-apartheid era.
  405.  
  406. Find this resource:
  407.  
  408.  
  409. Journalism Practice, Training, and Ethics
  410. How are African journalists trained, how do they understand their working lives, and what are the moral and ethical bounds of journalism practice in Africa? A few recent studies, such as Hasty 2005, Ekdale 2013, and Zuiderveld 2011, have taken an explicitly ethnographic approach to journalism practice, and the insights provided by their ethnographic subjects are an argument for more work of this kind. Fair 2013 focuses on in-service journalism training in Liberia (in general we lack good accounts of journalism education in Africa) and chronicles how national cleavages and tensions affect reporters and their sense of what should and should not go into their written work. Most studies in African media ethics are more general and prescriptive, however, as can be seen in Kasoma 1994, Phiri 2010, Tettey 2006, and Wasserman 2013. As valuable as these general treatments are, the field of African media ethics needs more ethnographic and even autobiographical work to expose the day-to-day pressures on journalists attempting to adhere to professional standards and ethical practices in a work environment that militates in so many ways against them.
  411.  
  412. Ekdale, Brian. “‘I Wish They Knew That We Are Doing This for Them’: Participation and Resistance in African Community Journalism.” Journalism Practice 8 (2013): 181–196.
  413.  
  414. DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2013.859833Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415.  
  416. Article examines community video-journalism initiatives in Kibera, an impoverished district of Nairobi. While the journalists saw themselves as producing news useful to the community, residents were doubtful of their efforts, believing that the journalists represented international donor interests rather than those of the community.
  417.  
  418. Find this resource:
  419.  
  420.  
  421. Fair, Jo Ellen. “Democratization by Boilerplate: National Media, International Norms, and Sovereign Nation Building in Post-war Liberia.” In Global Media Ethics: Problems and Perspectives. Edited by Stephen J. A. Ward, 146–168. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
  422.  
  423. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  424.  
  425. Looking at media training programs in Liberia, this study addresses ethical tensions between global democratization advocacy, including free press practices, and the rights and obligations of Liberians to write their own history in their own idiom.
  426.  
  427. Find this resource:
  428.  
  429.  
  430. Hasty, Jennifer. The Press and Political Culture in Ghana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
  431.  
  432. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  433.  
  434. An ethnography of journalists working in two parallel but contrasting worlds: state-owned and privately owned newspapers. Practices, constraints, agendas, and styles of reporters and their editors, and how these differences shape the national political culture and the practice of politics, are detailed. Well suited for undergraduates; equally useful to specialists.
  435.  
  436. Find this resource:
  437.  
  438.  
  439. Kasoma, Francis P., ed. Journalism Ethics in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: ACCE, 1994.
  440.  
  441. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  442.  
  443. Though the many changes in the news industry date this volume, the essays retain their importance as a window into the ethical issues and challenges identified as most problematic for working journalists, for whom the book was intended to be used as a practical guide or instructional manual.
  444.  
  445. Find this resource:
  446.  
  447.  
  448. Phiri, Isaac. “Globalization and Media Ethics in Africa: The Case of Zambia.” Communicare 29 (2010): 58–74.
  449.  
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451.  
  452. Essay argues for the integration of global media ethics with indigenous cultural values to assist African news organizations in the professionalization of journalistic practice and standards.
  453.  
  454. Find this resource:
  455.  
  456.  
  457. Tettey, Wisdom J. “The Politics of Media Accountability in Africa: An Examination of Mechanisms and Institutions.” International Communication Gazette 68 (2006): 229–248.
  458.  
  459. DOI: 10.1177/1748048506063763Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  460.  
  461. This article considers state mechanisms for ensuring media accountability and concludes that in many African countries these mechanisms amount to abuse of press freedom. The author argues for stronger self-imposed accuracy and accountability standards in the African press.
  462.  
  463. Find this resource:
  464.  
  465.  
  466. Wasserman, Herman. “Media Ethics in a New Democracy: South African Perspectives on Freedom, Dignity, and Citizenship.” In Global Media Ethics: Problems and Perspectives. Edited by Stephen J. A. Ward, 126–145. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
  467.  
  468. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  469.  
  470. The author juxtaposes the right to freedom of expression with criticisms that the media have not contributed to the sense of human dignity of South Africans in a post-apartheid era in which global media conglomerates are buying the country’s media, diminishing local expression.
  471.  
  472. Find this resource:
  473.  
  474.  
  475. Zuiderveld, Maria. “‘Hitting the Glass Ceiling’: Gender and Media Management in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of African Media Studies 3 (2011): 401–415.
  476.  
  477. DOI: 10.1386/jams.3.3.401_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  478.  
  479. The author’s starting point is the unsurprising observation that men still primarily occupy newsrooms in Africa. This interesting, but limited, study describes the professional lives of five women working in editorial leadership positions in four countries and suggests that women are often viewed positively in the newsroom.
  480.  
  481. Find this resource:
  482.  
  483.  
  484. Media Audiences
  485. What audiences—the listening, viewing, and reading publics—of Africa like, what they consume or use, why they choose to do so, and what they get from media are still relatively understudied subjects. Mytton 1974 surveys audience preferences across media: radio, television, and newspapers. But his is an unusual study in that way. Because of the time and difficulty gathering audience information, most research examines one medium. For example, Lyons 1990a and Lyons 1990b illustrate early work on understanding Nigerian television audiences. Chapters by scholars in Fardon and Furniss 2000 and Spitulnik 2009 address ways that African audiences creatively use radio to inform themselves, to connect with friends and family, and to define themselves in relation to others and the nation. Exploring the connection among power, politics, and the nation, Mabweazara and Strelitz 2009 questions readers of a tabloid newspaper about their understanding of news.
  486.  
  487. Fardon, Richard, and Graham Furniss, eds. African Broadcast Cultures: Radio in Transition. Oxford: James Currey, 2000.
  488.  
  489. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  490.  
  491. Using case studies, scholars and a handful of professional broadcasters survey the popular culture import of radio across Africa in sixteen essays. The volume is important because, otherwise, little attention has been given to radio content, audience, and audience reaction to content in Africa.
  492.  
  493. Find this resource:
  494.  
  495.  
  496. Lyons, Andrew P. “The Television and the Shrine: Towards a Theoretical Model for the Study of Mass Communications in Nigeria.” Visual Anthropology 3 (1990a): 429–456.
  497.  
  498. DOI: 10.1080/08949468.1990.9966542Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  499.  
  500. The author argues that to understand the production, distribution, and consumption of mass media in Africa—here Nigeria in the early 1980s—researchers must address how the everyday world is conceived of and lived in locally, accounting for cultural differences in which the ancestral shrine and television coexist.
  501.  
  502. Find this resource:
  503.  
  504.  
  505. Lyons, Harriet D. “Television in Contemporary Urban Life: Benin City, Nigeria.” Visual Anthropology 3 (1990b): 411–428.
  506.  
  507. DOI: 10.1080/08949468.1990.9966541Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  508.  
  509. Relying on field data collected in the early 1980s, Lyons investigates the impact of television on family life, including private living patterns and challenges to domestic authority seen in the content of programs and as discussed by viewers; influence of radio, popular literature, and the press also described.
  510.  
  511. Find this resource:
  512.  
  513.  
  514. Mabweazara, Hayes Mawindi, and Larry Nathan Strelitz. “Investigating the Popularity of the Zimbabwean Tabloid Newspaper uMthunywa: A Reception Studies of Bulawayo Readers.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 30 (2009): 113–133.
  515.  
  516. DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2009.9653398Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  517.  
  518. Analyzing the content of a popular state-owned vernacular-language tabloid, the authors, using in-depth interviews, ask readers to tell them what content resonated most. The authors discover that the tabloid’s use of local language allows readers, many politically and economically marginalized, to create alternative understandings, often substantively different from content.
  519.  
  520. Find this resource:
  521.  
  522.  
  523. Mytton, Graham. Listening, Looking, and Learning: Report on a National Mass Media Audience Survey in Zambia, 1970–1973. Lusaka: University of Zambia, Institute for African Studies, 1974.
  524.  
  525. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  526.  
  527. This data-rich report offers a comprehensive view of the habits and preferences of newspaper readers, radio listeners, and television viewers in Zambia during the early 1970s. This study tackles the fraught question of broadcast programming in the multitude of national languages and the capacity of populations to understand various languages.
  528.  
  529. Find this resource:
  530.  
  531.  
  532. Spitulnik, Debra. “Personal News and the Price of Public Service.” In The Anthropology of News and Journalism: Global Perspectives. Edited by S. Elizabeth Bird, 182–199. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.
  533.  
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535.  
  536. In an engaging chapter, the author examines how Zambians during the 1980s—when state broadcasting was being transformed from a public service model to commercial—used radio in highly personalized ways to communicate to friends and family across the nation and, in doing so, conceiving of Zambia as a nation.
  537.  
  538. Find this resource:
  539.  
  540.  
  541. Media and the State from the Late 1980s to the Present
  542. From the late 1980s onward, African mass media, particularly in relationship to news reporting, whether print or broadcast, went through significant changes. Democracy was the watchword, though the extent to which democratic openings applied to media varied across the continent. Hyden, et al. 2002, an edited volume, reflects a certain optimism that democratic reform at the state level would extend to media, allowing journalists to report more deeply and critically. But the book is also realistic about the willingness of elites in government or society to endorse a wholly independent press. Likewise, Nyamnjoh 2005 pursues the question of how best to reform African news media so that they might serve democracy better. The author’s work importantly adds to the discussion in his examination of how international actors influenced the decisions of states on media ownership and regulation as well as local cultural barriers. Ocwich 2010, Rønning 2009, and contributors in Wasserman 2011 demonstrate that the relationship between state and media in Africa, even while undergoing democratically inspired reform, has been rife with tensions over the degree and pace of change and who ultimately can participate.
  543.  
  544. Hyden, Goran, Michael Leslie, and Folu Ogudimu, eds. Media and Democracy in Africa. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2002.
  545.  
  546. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547.  
  548. Contributors look at the liberalization of media, reform of state-owned media, new patterns of media ownership and finance, changes to media law, and new media technology. The recurring theme linking chapters is how media strengthen their position in society to better inform and represent the interests of Africans.
  549.  
  550. Find this resource:
  551.  
  552.  
  553. Nyamnjoh, Francis B. Africa’s Media: Democracy and the Politics of Belonging. London: Zed Books, 2005.
  554.  
  555. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  556.  
  557. A clearly presented examination of how international politics, media systems, political traditions, and cultural realities impede the development of journalism as a pillar of independent criticism. While two-thirds of the book draws on the author’s research in Cameroon, he deftly uses this material to draw general lessons on African media.
  558.  
  559. Find this resource:
  560.  
  561.  
  562. Ocwich, Denis. “Public Journalism in Africa: Trends, Opportunities, and Rationale.” Journal of African Media Studies 2 (2010): 241–254.
  563.  
  564. DOI: 10.1386/jams.2.2.241_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  565.  
  566. A comparison of public journalism practices in other world regions with those in Africa. Study suggests that community radio historically and currently holds the best promise for participatory, democratic, or development-oriented journalism.
  567.  
  568. Find this resource:
  569.  
  570.  
  571. Rønning, Helge. “The Politics of Corruption and the Media in Africa.” Journal of African Media Studies 1 (2009): 155–171.
  572.  
  573. DOI: 10.1386/jams.1.1.155_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  574.  
  575. Addressing an understudied topic, the article examines news coverage and investigation of corruption and whether journalism serves as a deterrent to individual-level and systemic corruption.
  576.  
  577. Find this resource:
  578.  
  579.  
  580. Wasserman, Herman, ed. Popular Media, Democracy, and Development in Africa. London and New York: Routledge, 2011.
  581.  
  582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583.  
  584. Contributors examine how talk radio, television entertainment, news, street posters, music, phones, movies, and the Internet contribute to democracy and political participation. Divided into four sections—theories of popular media, their use for development and democracy, audience reception, and global and local media interactions—the volume offers new empirically grounded insights.
  585.  
  586. Find this resource:
  587.  
  588.  
  589. State Control of Media, Censorship, and Media Freedom
  590. One of the key tensions between state and media is the extent to which the state exerts control over the media, particularly over reporting. As democratic reforms swept through many countries in Africa from the late 1980s forward, media and governments have debated and, in some instances, have been locked in real conflict, sometimes deadly, about just how far the news media can go in reporting on government, development, and society. Ogbondah 1994 and Ogbondah 2003 recount in brutal detail the open repression of the press by Nigeria’s military regimes. Faringer 1991, Zaffiro 2002, de la Brosse and Frère 2012, Sanon 2003, and Eribo and Jong-Ebot 1997, too, look at the measures that colonial governments, then independent governments across the continent, used and continue to use to intimidate media. Eribo and Jong-Ebot 1997, Sanon 2003, de la Brosse and Frère 2012, and Wasserman 2013 carry the discussion further as they explore the tension between international demands for media freedom and actual practices in various African countries. Wasserman 2013, an edited volume, offers a comparison of press freedom in Africa with other regions and countries.
  591.  
  592. de la Brosse, Renaud, and Marie-Soleil Frère. “Media Regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Trends and Stakes in French-Speaking Countries.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 33 (2012): 74–92.
  593.  
  594. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  595.  
  596. An overview of media regulation policies in francophone Africa, contrasting state need to control media, particularly broadcast, and international and domestic pressures to allow greater freedom of expression.
  597.  
  598. Find this resource:
  599.  
  600.  
  601. Eribo, Festus, and William Jong-Ebot. Press Freedom and Communication in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1997.
  602.  
  603. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  604.  
  605. Chapters chart government-press relations in anglophone, francophone, lusophone, and Arabic-speaking countries. They show the continuity and refinement of strategies of intimidation and control over the press and freedom of expression from the colonial era to the postcolonial, even as governments bend to international pressures to permit privately owned and operated media.
  606.  
  607. Find this resource:
  608.  
  609.  
  610. Faringer, Gunilla L. Press Freedom in Africa. New York: Praeger, 1991.
  611.  
  612. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  613.  
  614. This often-cited book is not about press freedom in Africa but about three countries. Press freedom is never defined. The book rests its thin analysis on the assumptions that the Western press is objective, adversarial, and free, and that, as such, it should serve as a model for the African press.
  615.  
  616. Find this resource:
  617.  
  618.  
  619. Ogbondah, Chris W. Military Regimes and the Press in Nigeria, 1966–1993: Human Rights and National Development. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994.
  620.  
  621. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  622.  
  623. A history of press freedom and state control of the press in Nigeria under military rule and its aftermath. Nigeria’s proud history of a vibrant and—until 1966—free press makes the story of the stifling of the press by successive military governments both poignant and a cautionary lesson.
  624.  
  625. Find this resource:
  626.  
  627.  
  628. Ogbondah, Chris W. State-Press Relations in Nigeria, 1993–1998. Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum, 2003.
  629.  
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631.  
  632. Volume chronicles the state’s suppression of the press from the time of General Sani Abacha’s palace coup until his death. It is a successor volume to Ogbondah 1994 on state-press relations under Nigeria’s previous five military dictatorships, none of which matched the Abacha regime for cruel persecution of journalists.
  633.  
  634. Find this resource:
  635.  
  636.  
  637. Sanon, Victor. La liberté de presse dans les nouvelles démocraties d’Afrique de l’ouest sahelienne: Enjeux et limites. Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2003.
  638.  
  639. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  640.  
  641. This important volume compares press freedom in three countries, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, historically and under the more-or-less democratic governments of the 1990s and 2000s, with particular attention in the final part to judicial, political, and cultural limits to a functioning free press in each country.
  642.  
  643. Find this resource:
  644.  
  645.  
  646. Wasserman, Herman, ed. Press Freedom in Africa: Comparative Perspectives. London: Routledge, 2013.
  647.  
  648. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  649.  
  650. This nine-chapter volume primarily discusses press freedom in South Africa, with one chapter devoted to Ethiopia and another comparing India and South Africa. Two other chapters integrate examples from elsewhere in Africa. The volume is useful to scholars and students for whom South Africa serves as an exemplar to understand broader press freedom concerns.
  651.  
  652. Find this resource:
  653.  
  654.  
  655. Zaffiro, James. Media and Democracy in Zimbabwe, 1931–2002. Colorado Springs, CO: International Academic, 2002.
  656.  
  657. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. Though a general survey of mass media and politics in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe during the pre-independence and early independence periods, most of the author’s attention goes to the politics of state control over broadcast media, especially radio, over the course of the seventy-year period he treats.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663.  
  664. Media Opposition to the State
  665. State control over the media, particularly news media, has allowed governments and ruling parties to exert their authority, often unchecked by a press cowed through force and weakened by laws. Yet even in times of extreme pressure on the news media to conform or else, journalists and ordinary Africans have discovered ways of subverting control to oppose the state. In Liberia, Press 2009 records how reporters and peace activists opposed the regimes of Samuel K. Doe and Charles Taylor. In South Africa, Switzer 1997 takes us through eighty years of alternative press history, chronicling how journalists in African, Asian, and colored communities worked to oppose successive governments. Davis 2013 adds to our understanding of media used against the apartheid state in work on the use of radio inside and outside of the country by the African National Congress. Similarly, Heuva 2001 recounts the alternative press in Namibia and its efforts to aid in the struggle for independence from South Africa. Today, media still engage in struggles against the state control or interference with media operations. In post-apartheid, post-transition South Africa, both Daniels 2012 and Wasserman 2010 consider how the press (mainstream and tabloid) refuses to practice journalism in a subservient manner and the ensuing political tensions with old political allies. Finally, in Malawi, where media have long been tightly controlled, Englund 2011 observes the ways that ordinary people use a state-sponsored radio program to detail and fight against the local injustices they experience.
  666.  
  667. Daniels, Glenda. Fight for Democracy: The ANC and the Media in South Africa. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2012.
  668.  
  669. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  670.  
  671. An important critical analysis of the country’s most powerful political party. The author argues that the African National Congress mistakenly assumes that working journalists are in the thrall of corporate media owners, failing to grasp the professional obligations of journalists to maintain independence from both party politics and corporate media.
  672.  
  673. Find this resource:
  674.  
  675.  
  676. Davis, Steve. “The ANC: From Freedom Radio to Radio Freedom.” In Southern African Liberation Struggles: New Local, Regional and Global Perspectives. Edited by Hilary Sapire and Chris Saunders, 117–141. Claremont, South Africa: UCT Press, 2013.
  677.  
  678. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  679.  
  680. A history of the use of radio by the African National Congress in the South African freedom struggle from the 1960s until the 1990s, including radio broadcasting inside South Africa and broadcasting to South Africa by exiles based in neighboring countries.
  681.  
  682. Find this resource:
  683.  
  684.  
  685. Englund, Harri. Human Rights and African Airwaves: Mediating Equality on the Chichewa Radio. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011.
  686.  
  687. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  688.  
  689. An innovative ethnography of the production and reception of a popular Malawian news program. The daily bulletins air stories submitted by ordinary Malawians on state radio. Through selection and framing, the program’s producers manage to comment critically on official human rights and pro-democracy discourses of international organizations and national politicians.
  690.  
  691. Find this resource:
  692.  
  693.  
  694. Heuva, William. Media and Resistance Politics: The Alternative Press in Namibia, 1960–1990. Basel Namibia Series 6. Basel, Switzerland: P. Schettwein, 2001.
  695.  
  696. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  697.  
  698. This book chronicles the development of Namibia’s alternative press to promote and argue the case for independence from South Africa after thirty years of rule. The author is most interested in the organization of alternative press production, circulation, and content, and less in audience reception and press impact.
  699.  
  700. Find this resource:
  701.  
  702.  
  703. Press, Robert M. “Candles in the Wind: Resisting Repression in Liberia, 1979–2003.” Africa Today 55 (2009): 2–22.
  704.  
  705. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  706.  
  707. A rich study detailing how Liberians staged peaceful resistance and advocated for human rights during two violent regimes. Author discusses alliances between peace activists and the local press in opposing repression.
  708.  
  709. Find this resource:
  710.  
  711.  
  712. Switzer, Les, ed. South Africa’s Alternative Press: Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880s–1960s. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  713.  
  714. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  715.  
  716. A significant contribution to research on alternative presses. Essays examine the work of journalists from African, Asian, and colored communities and from communist and labor movements to depose an oppressive government and social system. Chapters detail how publications began, their strategies to survive, and their impact on the communities they served.
  717.  
  718. Find this resource:
  719.  
  720.  
  721. Wasserman, Herman. Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story! Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.
  722.  
  723. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  724.  
  725. This engaging study chronicles the rise of the tabloid press in the post-apartheid era. The author demonstrates that the tabloid press fills a void left by an elitist press out of touch with the concerns of marginalized black South Africans, who struggle to find their place in the new order.
  726.  
  727. Find this resource:
  728.  
  729.  
  730. Media Democratization, Deregulation, and Privatization
  731. Many African states moved toward democratic governance models beginning in the late 1980s and governments, acceding to international and domestic pressures, also started the process of democratizing the media. What that actual democratization looked like on the ground varied significantly by country. But in general it was supposed to involved fewer controls over news media (see also Media and the State from the Late 1980s to the Present and State Control of Media, Censorship, and Media Freedom), the opening or liberalization of print and broadcast media to private or commercial ownership, and fewer regulations and laws inhibiting the flow of news and entertainment across borders. Land 1992, Silla 1994, Heath 2001, Fair 2003, and chapters in Olorunnisola 2009 explore the strategies used by states and broadcasters to adapt domestic broadcasting to new global broadcasting environments. Of course, broadcast liberalization met with various resistances, sometimes from those concerned about protecting national interests or cultural values, as Fair 2003 and Loum 2003 describe. But sometimes the strongest opposition to reforms came from government. Heath 1992, Miescher 1999, and Olorunnisola 2009 point out that governments can fear and scuttle the very reforms they advocate.
  732.  
  733. Fair, Jo Ellen. “Francophonie and the National Airwaves: A History of Television in Senegal.” In Planet TV: A Global Television Reader. Edited by Lisa Parks and Shanti Kumar, 189–210. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
  734.  
  735. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  736.  
  737. Based on archival materials, interviews, and observations, the chapter recounts television’s introduction (in 1964 and 1972) and the liberalization of broadcasting, particularly the opening of television to French interests in the 1990s. Suggests that while television was not a strong force for cultural nationalism, it served to advance global francophonie.
  738.  
  739. Find this resource:
  740.  
  741.  
  742. Heath, Carla W. “Structural Changes in Kenya’s Broadcasting System: A Manifestation of Presidential Authoritarianism.” International Communication Gazette 50 (1992): 37–51.
  743.  
  744. DOI: 10.1177/001654929205000103Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  745.  
  746. In a study that analyzes government documents and press accounts, Heath suggests that Kenya’s president strategically restructured the television system with the intent of enhancing his image. Instead, the addition of a second channel undermined presidential authority as it served as a new venue for political debate.
  747.  
  748. Find this resource:
  749.  
  750.  
  751. Heath, Carla W. “Regional Radio: A Response by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to Democratization and Competition.” Canadian Journal of Communication 26 (2001): 89–106.
  752.  
  753. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  754.  
  755. Chronicled is the response of state-owned and operated radio to expand and enhance its programming as it sought to compete with the opening of six private radio stations in the 1990s. The article examines both state and private stations and their efforts to maximize listenership.
  756.  
  757. Find this resource:
  758.  
  759.  
  760. Land, Mitchell. “Ivoirien Television, Willing Vector of Cultural Imperialism.” Howard Journal of Communication 4 (1992): 10–27.
  761.  
  762. DOI: 10.1080/10646179209359762Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  763.  
  764. A paper representing a common thread in African media studies during the 1970s and 1980s: Imported programming amounted to cultural imperialism and among the complicit parties were some African leaders, such as Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who accepted cultural imperialism as a price to pay for modernization.
  765.  
  766. Find this resource:
  767.  
  768.  
  769. Loum, Ndiaga. Les médias et l’état au Sénégal: L’impossible autonomie. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003.
  770.  
  771. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  772.  
  773. An account of the politics of state-media relations in Senegal, especially of the connections and tensions between the state and independent multimedia companies. The author’s discussion of Islam in the context of cultural limits of the capacity of the state and newly privatized media to control discourses is especially useful.
  774.  
  775. Find this resource:
  776.  
  777.  
  778. Miescher, Giorgio. The Political Significance of the Press and Public Radio (NBC) in Post-colonial Namibia. Basler Afrika Bibliographien Working Paper No. 2. Basel, Switzerland: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 1999.
  779.  
  780. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  781.  
  782. In an era of media reform, the author observes practical limitations and political constraints imposed on journalists and on the free exchange of political ideas. Despite the country’s constitutional guarantee of media freedom and the supposed autonomy of broadcasting, the study finds that state television followed the government’s lead on political questions.
  783.  
  784. Find this resource:
  785.  
  786.  
  787. Olorunnisola, Anthony A., ed. Media and Communications Industries in Nigeria: Impacts of Neoliberal Reforms between 1999 and 2007. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2009.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. Contributors assess the impact of neoliberal economic reforms and the return of Nigeria to democratic governance on the growth and development of Nigeria’s communication sector. Highlighted in the book are discussions of mobile phones, landline phones, community radio, broadcast policy, and the advertising industry.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Silla, Mactar. Le paria du village planétaire; ou l’Afrique à l’heure de la télévision mondiale. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines du Sénégal, 1994.
  797.  
  798. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  799.  
  800. The author, a broadcast professional, offers brief but informative discussions of the commercial need and technological ability of African broadcasters to participate in the global media market, broadcast liberalization and financing, piracy, and strategies to maintain and build local audiences.
  801.  
  802. Find this resource:
  803.  
  804.  
  805. Media, Changing Electoral Politics, and Discourses of Democracy
  806. African states went back and forth in expanding and contracting the freedom of media—their ownership, operation, and content—throughout the 1990s and 2000s news as media continued to claim and push their rightful role as one of the guarantors of democratic society. Frère 2000, Tshionza Mata T. 1996, Jone 2005, and Wittmann 2008 examine the movement of countries toward democracy and media contributions to it. The results, they note, are mixed. Indeed, in Zimbabwe, the results are disastrous, as contributors to Melber 2004 show. The government of Zimbabwe has all but squeezed the life out of the public sphere. In Namibia, Strand 2011 details how some topics are so charged (same-sex relations) that state-owned media refuse to cover them. Banda 1997 and Nwokeafor and Langmia 2013, an anthology, provide solid discussions of how media educate voters on election issues and the media’s impact on voters’ perceptions of whether free and fair elections occurred.
  807.  
  808. Banda, Fackson. Elections and the Press in Zambia: The Case of the 1996 Polls. Lusaka: Zambia Independent Media, 1997.
  809.  
  810. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  811.  
  812. A brief study of all aspects of press involvement in the Zambian election of 1996: the state’s policies toward the press and press freedoms, campaign coverage in the press, media effects on voting behavior, and the differences among various state-controlled and private outlets in their election reporting.
  813.  
  814. Find this resource:
  815.  
  816.  
  817. Frère, Marie-Soleil. Presse et démocratie en Afrique francophone: Les mots et les maux de la transition au Bénin et au Niger. Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2000.
  818.  
  819. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  820.  
  821. A lengthy analysis of emerging press freedoms and discourses of a free press and democracy in two countries that underwent transitions to democracy and media privatization during the 1990s.
  822.  
  823. Find this resource:
  824.  
  825.  
  826. Jone, Claudio. Press and Democratic Transition in Mozambique, 1990–2000. IFAS Working Paper Series. Johannesburg: Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud, 2005.
  827.  
  828. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  829.  
  830. A history of the efforts of journalists to establish a free press and report on politics in Mozambique during its transition to democracy in the 1990s, mainly in dozens of press outlets but also on radio. Translated from the original French, sometimes awkwardly, but a useful primer on the press during this period.
  831.  
  832. Find this resource:
  833.  
  834.  
  835. Melber, Henning, ed. Media, Public Discourse, and Political Contestation in Zimbabwe. Current African Issues No. 27. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2004.
  836.  
  837. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  838.  
  839. Essays by three scholars on media repression in Zimbabwe, including some discussion of historical continuities in the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe state’s treatment of media. Includes an especially good bibliography of particular interest to those studying democracy and state-press relations in the country.
  840.  
  841. Find this resource:
  842.  
  843.  
  844. Nwokeafor, Cosmas Uchenna, and Kehbuma Langmia, eds. Media Role in African Changing Electoral Process: A Political Communication Perspective. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2013.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. In twelve chapters, with several country-specific case studies, the authors address the ways that radio, television, and particularly new media have an impact on voters’ perceptions of free and fair elections, help to educate the public about issues of significance, and build cultures of good governance and transparency.
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Strand, Cecilia. “State-Sanctioned Discrimination and Media Discourses on Homosexuality in Namibia.” Journal of African Media Studies 3 (2011): 57–72.
  854.  
  855. DOI: 10.1386/jams.3.1.57_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  856.  
  857. Using content analysis of state-controlled newspapers and other documents, the author concludes that state-owned newspapers doomed the inclusion of a key provision of the nation’s HIV/AIDS policy dealing progressively with same-sex relations. As such, the author says that LGBT Namibians must rely on independent media for promotion and advancement of their rights.
  858.  
  859. Find this resource:
  860.  
  861.  
  862. Tshionza Mata T., Georges. Les médias au Zaïre: S’aligner ou se libérer? Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996.
  863.  
  864. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  865.  
  866. A Congolese journalist reflects on the state of the press, the profession of journalism, and state-press relations during the highly controlled first twenty-five years of Mobutu’s rule, and then during the democratization/coalition-government/privatized press phase from 1990. He asks whether democratic progress achieved during the early 1990s might be reclaimed.
  867.  
  868. Find this resource:
  869.  
  870.  
  871. Wittmann, Frank. “Politics, Religion, and the Media: The Transformation of the Public Sphere in Senegal.” Media, Culture & Society 30 (2008): 479–494.
  872.  
  873. DOI: 10.1177/016344370809117WSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  874.  
  875. Surveys the history of the media and explores the competition for media influence and domination of various political, religious, and economic elites who vie for social control in Senegal. The author identifies an important paradox: Media are important to democratization but competition for influence in the media sector has hurt democracy.
  876.  
  877. Find this resource:
  878.  
  879.  
  880. Media in Conflict Zones and Post-conflict Societies
  881. Since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, scholars have begun to examine the circumstances under which mass media and new media might foment violence, limit it, or end it in conflict zones around the world. Frère 2007 studies media and conflict in the context of Central Africa. Bock 2012 is interested in the way that media of all forms might be used to stop violence or prevent it, and contributors to Musa and Domatob 2011 suggest the importance of media in societies transitioning from cultures of violence to democracy.
  882.  
  883. Bock, Joseph G. The Technology of Nonviolence: Social Media and Violence Prevention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.
  884.  
  885. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  886.  
  887. Book includes case studies from around the world on the uses of new social media to prevent violence. Two important chapters examine African cases, one on post-election violence reporting and prevention after the December 2008 Kenya elections, the other on the Conflict Early Warning program in the Horn of Arica.
  888.  
  889. Find this resource:
  890.  
  891.  
  892. Frère, Marie-Soleil. The Media and Conflicts in Central Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2007.
  893.  
  894. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  895.  
  896. A contribution to our understanding of how local media may or may not foment violence, the way media may help in the peace process, and how they may offer ordinary people a forum for discussing their needs and preoccupations in a post-conflict society. Case studies of conflicts in nine Central African countries are featured.
  897.  
  898. Find this resource:
  899.  
  900.  
  901. Musa, Bala A., and Jerry Komia Domatob, eds. Communication, Culture, and Human Rights in Africa. Communication, Society, and Change Series 1. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2011.
  902.  
  903. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  904.  
  905. A useful collection of studies in several countries on the interplay of communication and human rights particularly in post-conflict societies. While several of the studies focus on interpersonal communications, most are on media and political expression in countries where it is challenged. Media and national reconciliation efforts are also examined.
  906.  
  907. Find this resource:
  908.  
  909.  
  910. Media and the Rwandan Genocide
  911. From popular journalistic accounts to movies, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTML) has come to symbolize the horrifying linkage between mass media and genocidal violence. The idea that listening to hate radio—RTML—caused Rwandans to kill was widely believed to be true in the immediate aftermath of the genocide. Two early studies, Chrétien 1995 and Article 19 1996, produced the first reports widely exploring media operations in Rwanda before, during, and after the 1994 genocide. (Article 19 is an international human rights organization that promotes free expression.) Kellow and Steeves 1998 presents a more conventional understanding of powerful media effects before and during the genocide. Scholars began to look at the relationship between hate media and violence in a more nuanced way as more information became available. Thompson 2007, an anthology, is an example. Straus 2007 provides the most penetrating, critical examination of any supposed causal relationship between Rwanda’s media and genocide, and it largely debunks the notion of direct causality.
  912.  
  913. Article 19. Broadcasting Genocide: Censorship, Propaganda, and State-Sponsored Violence in Rwanda, 1990–1994. London: Article 19, 1996.
  914.  
  915. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  916.  
  917. With meticulous detail—though not necessarily correct in hindsight—this report analyzes incitement and state-sponsored violence, suppression of information before and during the genocide, why international law could not be used to stop “hate radio,” and recommendations for the indictment of journalists for crimes against humanity.
  918.  
  919. Find this resource:
  920.  
  921.  
  922. Chrétien, Jean-Pierre. Rwanda: Les médias du génocide. Paris: Éditions Karthala, 1995.
  923.  
  924. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  925.  
  926. An early, yet thorough, account of the role of mass media, including government-controlled newspapers and radio, in inciting the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Subsequent work has provided greater nuance to the argument that radio was of central importance in inciting violence.
  927.  
  928. Find this resource:
  929.  
  930.  
  931. Kellow, Christine, and Leslie H. Steeves. “The Role of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide.” Journal of Communication 48 (1998): 107–128.
  932.  
  933. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02762.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  934.  
  935. The authors suggest that in years prior to the genocide Rwandans were dependent on government sources for news and information and vulnerable to government propagandizing. They conclude that when the genocide began Rwandans were primed for violence.
  936.  
  937. Find this resource:
  938.  
  939.  
  940. Straus, Scott. “What Is the Relationship between Hate Radio and Violence? Rethinking Rwanda’s ‘Radio Machete.’” Politics and Society 35 (2007): 609–637.
  941.  
  942. DOI: 10.1177/0032329207308181Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  943.  
  944. Much scholarship assumes a causal link between radio broadcasts and the genocide. In a careful analysis of exposure, timing, and content of broadcasts, supplemented with interviews of perpetrators, the author finds that radio’s influence was conditional and must be situated in the larger context of violence. A groundbreaking study.
  945.  
  946. Find this resource:
  947.  
  948.  
  949. Thompson, Allan, ed. The Media and the Rwanda Genocide. London: Pluto Press, 2007.
  950.  
  951. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  952.  
  953. Thirty-five essays by scholars and journalists on all aspects of media and the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The major sections of the book effectively summarize its themes: hate media in Rwanda, international media coverage of the genocide, the journalism-as-genocide media trial, and after the genocide and the way forward.
  954.  
  955. Find this resource:
  956.  
  957.  
  958. Other Country Studies of Media and Conflict
  959. Outside of Rwanda, scholars also have looked at how media may incite violence or may be used for peacekeeping, transitions to democracy, and national reconciliation. Théroux-Bénoni and Babi 2008 makes a compelling case countering the assumed direct linkage between media and violence, arguing that in Côte d’Ivoire factions purposefully used media to advance their political agendas. The power of radio, television, or print to influence conflict extends to new media and social media. Cooley and Jones 2013 examine the complicated misuse of Twitter in Somalia to respond to and avert a humanitarian crisis. O’Mahony and Fair 2012 detail how social media also can be used for cynical purposes. This article explores how two infamous soldiers used social media in post-conflict Liberia to reinvent their images for an international audience in an attempt to form a new power base at home. But once violence ends, the question of the impact of media remains. Gadzekpo 2005 investigates the close relationship of journalists and military regimes that became apparent during Ghana’s national reconciliation hearings (see also Musa and Domatob 2011, cited under Media in Conflict Zones and Post-conflict Societies). M’bayo 2013, too, evaluates the interaction of news organizations with the state and news coverage of post-conflict Sierra Leone’s transition to democracy. Following the 2007 election violence in Kenya, Tully 2013 assesses one of the country’s media-for-peace initiatives, documenting in rich detail the reactions of Kenyans to other Kenyans in describing their experiences during this period.
  960.  
  961. Cooley, Skye, and Amy Jones. “A Forgotten Tweet: Somalia and Social Media.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 34 (2013): 68–82.
  962.  
  963. DOI: 10.1080/02560054.2013.767425Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  964.  
  965. Many studies have explored the power of social media to rally populations and advance recovery during and after humanitarian crises, but social media do not always work this way. This article explores a case of social media limitation and failure: crisis response messages on Twitter from Somalia-based government sources.
  966.  
  967. Find this resource:
  968.  
  969.  
  970. Gadzekpo, Audrey. “Ghana: Media Complicity in Human Rights Violations.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 26 (2005): 33–45.
  971.  
  972. DOI: 10.3368/ajs.26.1.33Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  973.  
  974. Drawing on interviews conducted during the National Reconciliation Commission’s hearings in the early 2000s, the author explores the private and state media’s complicity in supporting unconstitutional regimes and how governments ensured journalists would conform.
  975.  
  976. Find this resource:
  977.  
  978.  
  979. Kalyango, Yusuf, Jr., and Fred Vultee. “Public Attitudes toward Media Control and Incitement of Conflicts in Eastern Africa.” Media, War & Conflict 5 (2012): 119–137.
  980.  
  981. DOI: 10.1177/1750635212440920Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  982.  
  983. Using surveys to gauge public opinion in Ethiopia and Rwanda, the authors examine the credibility of government-owned and privately owned media in their coverage of conflict and people’s perceptions of the media’s contribution to tensions. Also examined is the trustworthiness of state media in leading post-conflict reconciliation efforts.
  984.  
  985. Find this resource:
  986.  
  987.  
  988. M’bayo, Ritchard Tamba. “Media and State Governance in a Post-conflict Society: The Case of Sierra Leone.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 34 (2013): 35–53.
  989.  
  990. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  991.  
  992. The author conducts a qualitative content analysis of print and online news to assess the performance of news reporting on key political issues during the transition to a democracy.
  993.  
  994. Find this resource:
  995.  
  996.  
  997. O’Mahony, Geraldine, and Jo Ellen Fair. “From Lords of War to Leaders in Society: How Former Liberian Warlords Have Used ‘Old’ and ‘New” Media to Self-Reframe.” Media, War & Conflict 5 (2012): 37–50.
  998.  
  999. DOI: 10.1177/1750635211434363Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1000.  
  1001. This article examines how two former rebels in post-conflict Liberia used both the press and social media to distance themselves from their violent pasts as they moved to reshape their images in the present to enable them to move into new spheres of public power.
  1002.  
  1003. Find this resource:
  1004.  
  1005.  
  1006. Théroux-Bénoni, Lori-Anne, and Agbi Auguste Babi. “À propos du rôle des média dans le conflit ivoirien.” In Frontières el la citoyenneté et violence politique en Côte d’Ivoire. Edited by Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo and Ebrima Sall, 199–217. Dakar, Senegal: Conseil pour le Développement de la Recherche Économique et Social en Afrique, 2008.
  1007.  
  1008. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1009.  
  1010. During and after the violence in Côte d’Ivoire, national and international observers accused the country’s mass media of fanning the flames of violence and even of fomenting it. The author rejects this simplified view of media influence and explores the complicating and accompanying factors that led factions in the conflict to use mass media to forward their agendas.
  1011.  
  1012. Find this resource:
  1013.  
  1014.  
  1015. Tully, Melissa. “Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation through Recognition: Assessing an Integrated Peace Media Strategy in Kenya.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 41 (2013): 1–19.
  1016.  
  1017. DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2013.861604Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1018.  
  1019. An evaluation of a media-for-peace project following 2007 election violence in Kenya. Study assesses a national talk show, open-air screenings of the program, workshops held in areas where violence occurred, and internal documents of the sponsoring foundation. Effective contribution to media and conflict resolution studies, with recommendations for scholars and practitioners.
  1020.  
  1021. Find this resource:
  1022.  
  1023.  
  1024. New Media Technologies
  1025. New media or information and communication technologies (ICTs) refer to communication technologies that allow a user to access content (for example, a website) at anytime and anywhere on a digital device such as a mobile phone, computer, or tablet. These media differ from mass media—film, broadcast, and print—in that they are predicated on users being able to create their own content, share it, give feedback to others, and participate in a virtual community. Social media do the same but users also are always participants, interacting and collaborating. Though Africa remains for now the least connected region digitally, new media connectivity, especially among young people in urban areas, is rapidly increasing. Gyamfi 2005 and Chéneau-Loquay 2000 are important contributions on strategies for closing the connectivity gap between Africa and other regions. For many, such a gap must be closed so that ICTs might be deployed for development projects. Alemna and Sam 2006 and Stanbridge and Ljunggren 2003 explore new media’s potential in this regard. African journalists, too, see the potential for new media to change how they do their reporting. Nassanga, et al. 2013 and Mabweazara, et al. 2014 look at the promise and constraints of reporting news for audiences using new digital technologies. Akoh and Ahiabenu 2012 focuses on improving election coverage in ten countries by having journalists and ordinary people report their observations via social media and new media, especially phones.
  1026.  
  1027. Akoh, Ben, and Kwami Ahiabenu. “A Journey through Ten Countries.” Journalism Practice 6 (2012): 349–365.
  1028.  
  1029. DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2012.663598Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1030.  
  1031. Article highlights the work of the African Election Project to enhance election coverage through localized reporting using mobile phones, social media, and other information technologies. Also chronicled are the difficulties both ordinary people and journalists encounter when reporting on elections in tense circumstances. Useful to scholars and professionals.
  1032.  
  1033. Find this resource:
  1034.  
  1035.  
  1036. Alemna, A. A., and Joel Sam. “Critical Issues in Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development in Ghana.” Information Development 22 (2006): 236–241.
  1037.  
  1038. DOI: 10.1177/026666690607481Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1039.  
  1040. This article assesses how new information and communication technologies can aid in development in rural Ghana, including in health, agriculture, education, and small business development given limited access to technologies and low literacy rates.
  1041.  
  1042. Find this resource:
  1043.  
  1044.  
  1045. Chéneau-Loquay, Annie, ed. Enjeux des technologies de la communication en Afrique: Du téléphone à Internet. Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2000.
  1046.  
  1047. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1048.  
  1049. A collection of essays and research reports produced during the 1990s on the challenges of technology limitations in African communications.
  1050.  
  1051. Find this resource:
  1052.  
  1053.  
  1054. Gyamfi, Alexander. “Closing the Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: Meeting the Challenges of the Information Age.” Information Development 21 (2005): 22–30.
  1055.  
  1056. DOI: 10.1177/0266666905051910Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1057.  
  1058. A strategy planning paper suggesting ways to close the “digital divide” between Africa and the rest of the world, including infrastructure provision, content development, and targeted literacy campaigns.
  1059.  
  1060. Find this resource:
  1061.  
  1062.  
  1063. Mabweazara, Hayes Mawindi, Okoth Fred Mudhai, and Jason Whittaker, eds. Online Journalism in Africa: Trends, Practices, and Emerging Cultures. New York: Routledge, 2014.
  1064.  
  1065. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1066.  
  1067. An important, new contribution to understanding how journalists think and work. Chapters, all based on in-depth case studies, consider the challenges and constraints of gathering and packaging information for audiences who go to new media to find news and participate in producing and shaping news.
  1068.  
  1069. Find this resource:
  1070.  
  1071.  
  1072. Nassanga, Goretti Linda, Linje Manyozo, and Claudia Lopes. “ICTs and Radio in Africa: How the Uptake of ICTs Has Influenced the Newsroom Culture among Community Radio Journalists.” Telematics and Informatics 30 (2013): 258–266.
  1073.  
  1074. DOI: 10.1016/j.yele.2012.04.005Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1075.  
  1076. Article investigates how new information technologies, especially mobile phones and the Internet, influence newsroom cultures among community radio journalists. The work is based on case studies in Mozambique, Uganda, and Mali and argues that while community radio benefits from new technologies, limited access to ICTs constrains their potential for improving reporting.
  1077.  
  1078. Find this resource:
  1079.  
  1080.  
  1081. Stanbridge, Roland, and Maria Ljunggren. African Media and ICT4D: Documentary Evidence. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Economic Commission for Africa, 2003.
  1082.  
  1083. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1084.  
  1085. “ICT4D” is Information Technology for Development. This well-produced volume looks optimistically to the development of an African information society. It is rich in statistics and survey results on all aspects of information technology and includes detailed, data-rich country reports on several countries.
  1086.  
  1087. Find this resource:
  1088.  
  1089.  
  1090. Access and Use of New Media
  1091. The issues of access and use of new media are closely entwined. ICTs, new media, or social media can be of value only if users can find, access, and afford to use them. A fascinating study of Internet cafés in Ghana, Burrell 2012 offers readers a fine account of how youth use and think about new media as they connect online. Similarly, de Bruijn, et al. 2009 and Hahn and Kibora 2008 are interested in how Africans use mobile phones, not simply to make calls, but how they imbue mobile phones with particular social values. Mabweazara 2013 and Nassanga 2009 explore questions of media convergence. Both studies draw attention to the ways that African radio listeners access news reports through the Internet or mobile phones. For Nassanga 2009 this media convergence allows East Africans to have more opportunity to comment on what they hear, while for Mabweazara, new media give Zimbabweans access to censored news.
  1092.  
  1093. Burrell, Jenna. Invisible Users: Youth in the Internet Cafés of Urban Ghana. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.
  1094.  
  1095. DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017367.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1096.  
  1097. A superb ethnography of young Internet café users in Ghana. The book is at its best in its sections that detail contemporary youth culture in urban Ghana, the way youth navigate between direct and mediated online friendships, online deception (including 419 scams and gender swapping), rumors about the Internet, and the roughing out of online moral codes. Useful to specialists and undergraduates alike.
  1098.  
  1099. Find this resource:
  1100.  
  1101.  
  1102. de Bruijn, Mariam, Francis Nyamnjoh, and Inge Brinkman, eds. Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa, 2009.
  1103.  
  1104. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1105.  
  1106. Case studies from six countries on Africans’ use of mobile phones make up this well-grounded empirical collection. Contributors are interested in how Africans’ use of phones transforms society and themselves. Good political, economic, cultural, and technological context to understanding the importance of the mobile phone to users and society.
  1107.  
  1108. Find this resource:
  1109.  
  1110.  
  1111. Hahn, Hans Peter, and Ludovic Kibora. “The Domestication of the Mobile Phone: Oral Society and New ICT in Burkina Faso.” Journal of Modern African Studies 46 (2008): 87–109.
  1112.  
  1113. DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X07003084Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1114.  
  1115. Mobile phone use has expanded rapidly in Burkina Faso, as elsewhere in Africa. Users have “domesticated” mobile phone technology not only by bringing phones into daily practical use, but also by making them valued, appropriated material objects invoking, pride, status, and envy.
  1116.  
  1117. Find this resource:
  1118.  
  1119.  
  1120. Mabweazara, Hayes Mawindi. “‘Pirate’ Radio, Convergence, and Reception in Zimbabwe.” Telematics and Informatics 30 (2013): 232–241.
  1121.  
  1122. DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2012.02.007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1123.  
  1124. A rare study of external radio broadcasts into Africa and their reception. Author explores the ability of Zimbabweans to access the Internet and mobile phones to listen to news broadcasts.
  1125.  
  1126. Find this resource:
  1127.  
  1128.  
  1129. Nassanga, Goretti Linda. “An Assessment of the Changing Community Media Parameters in East Africa.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 30 (2009): 42–57.
  1130.  
  1131. DOI: 10.3368/ajs.30.1.42Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1132.  
  1133. Article highlights the way that African radio listeners participate in public debates over local, national, and international issues by using mobile phones to call in, text, and send e-mail messages.
  1134.  
  1135. Find this resource:
  1136.  
  1137.  
  1138. New Media and Mobilization
  1139. Whether mass media or new media, media of any form are popularly thought to possess great power in swaying the way that people think or act. Bosch 2013; Olorunnisola and Martin 2013; Ekine 2010; and Mudhai, et al. 2009 question this popular claim. Each work provides different pieces to the puzzle of how and why some new media campaigns manage to mobilize Africans for social change or democratic participation and others fail. Bailard 2012 looks at a specific case of media effects, that is the Internet’s impact on Tanzanian voters’ perception of electoral fairness. Mano 2010, too, asks about the relationship of online journalism and a corrupted political culture in Zimbabwe. Finally, Manyozo 2009 reports on using radio, supplemented by new media platforms, to engage rural community members in discussions about poverty.
  1140.  
  1141. Bailard, Catie Snow. “A Field Experiment on the Internet’s Effect in an African Election: Savvier Citizens, Disaffected Voters, or Both?” Journal of Communication 62 (2012): 330–344.
  1142.  
  1143. DOI: 10.1111/j.460-2466.2012.01632.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1144.  
  1145. The study reported here employed a randomized field experiment to determine whether and how the Internet influenced perceptions of electoral fairness in the 2010 Tanzanian presidential election. It finds that Internet usage was associated with doubts about the fairness of the election and the recount.
  1146.  
  1147. Find this resource:
  1148.  
  1149.  
  1150. Bosch, Tanja. “Youth, Facebook, and Politics in South Africa.” Journal of African Media Studies 5 (2013): 119–130.
  1151.  
  1152. DOI: 10.1386/jams.5.2.119_1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1153.  
  1154. Anchored in research on the twin declines of political participation and political news consumption, the author addresses how Facebook is used to pique political interest and engagement. The study suggests that youth do participate in politics through social media but at the margins of the mainstream public sphere.
  1155.  
  1156. Find this resource:
  1157.  
  1158.  
  1159. Ekine, Sokari, ed. SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa. Cape Town: Pambazuka, 2010.
  1160.  
  1161. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1162.  
  1163. Essays written by activists and mobile platform developers document how their organizations have used mobile phone technologies for social change from monitoring elections and human rights abuses to closing the gender gap and encouraging political participation. The contributors address why some projects and campaigns succeed and others fail.
  1164.  
  1165. Find this resource:
  1166.  
  1167.  
  1168. Mano, Winston. “Between Citizen and Vigilante Journalism: ZimDaily’s Fair Deal Campaign and the Zimbabwe Crisis.” Communicare 29 (2010): 57–70.
  1169.  
  1170. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1171.  
  1172. As new online citizen journalism gives citizens opportunities to comment and produce their own news, “vigilante journalists,” defined as vindictive and reckless actors, also are employing it. In the case examined here, the “vigilante journalists” are anti-government activists and their “victims” are ruling party officials and family members.
  1173.  
  1174. Find this resource:
  1175.  
  1176.  
  1177. Manyozo, Linje. “Mobilizing Rural and Community Radio in Africa.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 30 (2009): 1–23.
  1178.  
  1179. DOI: 10.3368/ajs.30.1.1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1180.  
  1181. Study surveys the challenges of using community radio and multimedia platforms to bring about civic engagement around poverty reduction in rural areas.
  1182.  
  1183. Find this resource:
  1184.  
  1185.  
  1186. Mudhai, Fred Okoth, Wisdom J. Tettey, and Fackson Banda, eds. African Media and the Digital Public Sphere. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
  1187.  
  1188. DOI: 10.1057/9780230621756Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1189.  
  1190. A solid and wide-ranging collection of essays on the use of new communication technologies to mobilize democratic participation and enhance democratic institutions across the continent. Case studies set in a number of countries on topics that include e-government, popular music, gender equality, diaspora, and conflict.
  1191.  
  1192. Find this resource:
  1193.  
  1194.  
  1195. Olorunnisola, Anthony A., and Brandie L. Martin. “Influences of Media on Social Movements: Problematizing Hyperbolic Inferences about Impacts.” Telematics and Informatics 30 (2013): 275–288.
  1196.  
  1197. DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2012.02.005Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1198.  
  1199. Spanning thirty-five years and four social movements, this study compares the kinds of claims made in the popular press about the power of traditional mass media and new or social media to effect social and political change.
  1200.  
  1201. Find this resource:
  1202.  
  1203.  
  1204. Mass Media and Identity
  1205. More and more Africans have access to, and integrate, mass media and new media into their everyday lives, and, thus, the question of media influence on people, cultures, languages, values, and nations become all the more salient. Much research in North America and Europe concentrates on surveys and experiments to measure how media act on media users or audiences. By contrast, research on Africans’ engagement and use of media tends to ask more interesting questions about identity, personal or group expressions, and relationships to media. The broadest of these works is Njogu and Middleton 2009. Hadland, et al. 2008 and Zegeye and Harris 2003 are edited volumes that offer essays from a South African perspective. Authors featured in Wachanga 2011 contribute field research on audience expectations and experience with popular culture and new technologies in the shaping of identities. In much narrower, but completely intriguing studies, Schulz 2012 looks at media use for purposes of Islamic moral renewal in Mali, and Talmor 2013 addresses sexuality in post-apartheid South African media productions.
  1206.  
  1207. Hadland, Adrian, Eric Louw, Simphiwe Sesanti, and Herman Wasserman, eds. Power, Politics, and Identity in South African Media. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council, 2008.
  1208.  
  1209. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1210.  
  1211. Essays ask the question about what has changed or remained constant in South African understanding of identities more than ten years after apartheid. Looking at print journalism, broadcasting, and new media, the authors explore national, gender, racial, and class identities.
  1212.  
  1213. Find this resource:
  1214.  
  1215.  
  1216. Njogu, Kimani, and John Middleton, eds. Media and Identity in Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.
  1217.  
  1218. DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748635221.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1219.  
  1220. Anthropologists, historians, and literature scholars contribute most of the essays, bringing fresh disciplinary perspectives to the question of how both global and local media are reshaping identities—religious, ethnic, national, intellectual, class, health, and other—across Africa. All media are considered, including oral traditions, books, newspapers, magazines, clothing, museums, film, and broadcast and digital media.
  1221.  
  1222. Find this resource:
  1223.  
  1224.  
  1225. Schulz, Dorothea E. Muslims and New Media in West Africa: Pathways to God. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.
  1226.  
  1227. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1228.  
  1229. A rich ethnography of Islamic moral renewal in urban areas of southern Mali. The author explores how Muslims who advocate for moral reform use radio, television, video, and other new media to challenge and reshape public debate on the values, practices, and requirements of Islam and in doing so create new moral communities. Best suited for specialists or in graduate student seminars.
  1230.  
  1231. Find this resource:
  1232.  
  1233.  
  1234. Talmor, Ruti. “‘From the Margins You Push So That the Center Implodes’: Queer Media in South Africa.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 19 (2013): 383–403.
  1235.  
  1236. DOI: 10.1215/10642684-2074548Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1237.  
  1238. The author provides an overview of queer media production and reception in South Africa, focusing on the work of two lesbian media makers. This far-reaching article details the tensions between local and global queer politics and generational divides over sexuality and identity as represented in television and film.
  1239.  
  1240. Find this resource:
  1241.  
  1242.  
  1243. Wachanga, D. Ndirangu, ed. Cultural Identity and New Communication Technologies: Political, Ethnic, and Ideological Implications. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2011.
  1244.  
  1245. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-591-9Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1246.  
  1247. Authors in this anthology examine how users of new media, as well as audiences of popular culture, adopt and adapt media to their own needs, shaping the media and their messages to understand and contend with domestic and global challenges. Emphasis is on media in eastern and southern Africa.
  1248.  
  1249. Find this resource:
  1250.  
  1251.  
  1252. Zegeye, Abebe, and Richard L. Harris, eds. Media, Identity, and the Public Sphere in Post-Apartheid South Africa. International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology 88. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2003.
  1253.  
  1254. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1255.  
  1256. Nine essays by leading media scholars on media and identity in contemporary South Africa, about half concerned with how mass media comment upon and affect South African public policy, the other half on how media reflect and help form social and cultural identities.
  1257.  
  1258. Find this resource:
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