Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.2021262
J. Mwaura
ABSTRACT Citizen journalism is the practice of an ordinary person or a group of ordinary people in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news information. These practices have been necessitated by, among other things, increased global digitization. Over the years, citizen journalism has been regarded as illegitimate, unprofessional, unconsolidated, uncoordinated and even ungoverned. This study hopes to contribute to the thin body of literature on citizen journalism in Africa. This ethnographic case research was carried out at Kibera News Network in Nairobi. The study sought to examine the extent to which their practice was consistent with the practice of journalism, how their practice supplemented and complimented the news and information ecosystem within their locality and how their practice is challenging the practice in legacy media. Key findings in this study indicate that although the citizen journalists were not trained journalists, they were aware of the expectations of journalism, their practice contributed to the news and information ecosystem in Kibera and their focus on some of their news and information production challenged the focus of news and information productions on Kibera in legacy media.
{"title":"The Practice of Citizen Journalism at Kibera News Network","authors":"J. Mwaura","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.2021262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.2021262","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Citizen journalism is the practice of an ordinary person or a group of ordinary people in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news information. These practices have been necessitated by, among other things, increased global digitization. Over the years, citizen journalism has been regarded as illegitimate, unprofessional, unconsolidated, uncoordinated and even ungoverned. This study hopes to contribute to the thin body of literature on citizen journalism in Africa. This ethnographic case research was carried out at Kibera News Network in Nairobi. The study sought to examine the extent to which their practice was consistent with the practice of journalism, how their practice supplemented and complimented the news and information ecosystem within their locality and how their practice is challenging the practice in legacy media. Key findings in this study indicate that although the citizen journalists were not trained journalists, they were aware of the expectations of journalism, their practice contributed to the news and information ecosystem in Kibera and their focus on some of their news and information production challenged the focus of news and information productions on Kibera in legacy media.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"31 - 45"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46797814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-10DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1972530
Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey, Anthea Garman
{"title":"Solutions Journalism as a Tool to Erode Polarisation in the Media and Society","authors":"Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey, Anthea Garman","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1972530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1972530","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48982263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-27DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1962635
G. Daniels
It is now becoming a trend, especially in the journalism, media and communications fields, to write textbooks that are both scholarly, that is, based in theory and clearly referenced, but which are...
{"title":"Participatory Journalism in Africa: Digital News Engagement and User Agency in the South","authors":"G. Daniels","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1962635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1962635","url":null,"abstract":"It is now becoming a trend, especially in the journalism, media and communications fields, to write textbooks that are both scholarly, that is, based in theory and clearly referenced, but which are...","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"90 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48980553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1956557
L. Tshuma
ABSTRACT This paper explores the role of photojournalism in mediating Zimbabwe’s crises in the “Second Republic”. It uses the case study of Auntony Zinyange’s photographs to examine the use of photographs to portray the “Second Republic”. While photographs are credited for being “authentic”, “factual” and “record undisputed evidence”, this study, informed by the constructionist approach in photography, argues that photographs are a construct and the vision/reality they bear is selective and coded. Therefore, the study argues that photographs are used to “stipulate” and produce discourses on the Zimbabwean crises in the “Second Republic” with the aim of structuring power relations. Using visual discourse analysis as a method of analysis, which arguably presents a holistic analysis of photographs, the study found that the “Second Republic” is portrayed as having shattered people’s dreams. Resultantly, the country is framed as having changed the driver while the old car has remained the same. Zimbabwe is witnessing a “change without change”.
{"title":"Through the Lens of a Camera: Photojournalism and the Crises of Zimbabwe’s “Second Republic”","authors":"L. Tshuma","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1956557","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1956557","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper explores the role of photojournalism in mediating Zimbabwe’s crises in the “Second Republic”. It uses the case study of Auntony Zinyange’s photographs to examine the use of photographs to portray the “Second Republic”. While photographs are credited for being “authentic”, “factual” and “record undisputed evidence”, this study, informed by the constructionist approach in photography, argues that photographs are a construct and the vision/reality they bear is selective and coded. Therefore, the study argues that photographs are used to “stipulate” and produce discourses on the Zimbabwean crises in the “Second Republic” with the aim of structuring power relations. Using visual discourse analysis as a method of analysis, which arguably presents a holistic analysis of photographs, the study found that the “Second Republic” is portrayed as having shattered people’s dreams. Resultantly, the country is framed as having changed the driver while the old car has remained the same. Zimbabwe is witnessing a “change without change”.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"100 - 112"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49052230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1896162
Gilbert Motsaathebe
volume provide a rich collection of musical texts and careful interpretations of the contribution of musicians to political messaging. Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena should be required reading and studying for students of political communication. It is an outstanding work of scholarship rich in methodological and theoretical examples for all social scientists. It also provides a rich and extended journey into the music and musicians from all African regions. In the process, it demonstrates the enduring political messages in songs of praise and songs of protest that have always animated the political arena of the continent.
{"title":"African language digital media and communication","authors":"Gilbert Motsaathebe","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1896162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1896162","url":null,"abstract":"volume provide a rich collection of musical texts and careful interpretations of the contribution of musicians to political messaging. Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena should be required reading and studying for students of political communication. It is an outstanding work of scholarship rich in methodological and theoretical examples for all social scientists. It also provides a rich and extended journey into the music and musicians from all African regions. In the process, it demonstrates the enduring political messages in songs of praise and songs of protest that have always animated the political arena of the continent.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"132 - 135"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41869051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-07-01DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1933559
N. Brodie
ABSTRACT Most female homicides are perpetrated by an intimate partner, but this is not reflected in news media coverage of the murders of women, which tends to focus on killings committed by family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, and strangers. Nearly 60% of South African media coverage of female homicide profiles non-intimate killings. This study looks at multiple-year news coverage of 284 incidents of non-intimate femicide that took place in South Africa between 2012 and 2013, and compares narrative content and news frames used to report non-intimate femicides with those frames most commonly found in media coverage of intimate partner violence. This analysis reveals conspicuous differences between how the “problem” of femicide is reported and understood depending on the status of the victim and her relationship with the perpetrator, and how this distorts the reality of who is at risk of becoming a victim and who is to be feared as a perpetrator.
{"title":"Ideal Victims and Familiar Strangers: Non-Intimate Femicide in South African News Media","authors":"N. Brodie","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1933559","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1933559","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Most female homicides are perpetrated by an intimate partner, but this is not reflected in news media coverage of the murders of women, which tends to focus on killings committed by family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, and strangers. Nearly 60% of South African media coverage of female homicide profiles non-intimate killings. This study looks at multiple-year news coverage of 284 incidents of non-intimate femicide that took place in South Africa between 2012 and 2013, and compares narrative content and news frames used to report non-intimate femicides with those frames most commonly found in media coverage of intimate partner violence. This analysis reveals conspicuous differences between how the “problem” of femicide is reported and understood depending on the status of the victim and her relationship with the perpetrator, and how this distorts the reality of who is at risk of becoming a victim and who is to be feared as a perpetrator.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"82 - 99"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1933559","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41948997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-14DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1929368
Gregory Gondwe, Robert A. White
ABSTRACT This study explores the state of data-driven journalism practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims at examining journalists’ perceptions of data-driven journalism in Zambia and Tanzania as it attempts to redefine and demystify the concept. We base our hypotheses on the notion that most journalists in Zambia and Tanzania perceive data journalism as a field that cannot be defined outside quantitative methods—approaches mostly emphasized by western scholarship. Our cross-national survey findings suggest that journalists from Zambia and Tanzania do not consider themselves as data journalists even when they practice it. This is because of the lack of advanced computer-assisted reporting equipment and the dwindling skills in advanced quantitative methods that are mostly accompanied by statistical software. Findings also suggest that female journalists showed more scepticism of data journalism practice, leading to fewer women with interest in pursuing data journalism in Zambia and Tanzania
{"title":"Data Journalism Practice in Sub-Saharan African Media Systems: A Cross-National Survey of Journalists’ Perceptions in Zambia and Tanzania","authors":"Gregory Gondwe, Robert A. White","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1929368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1929368","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explores the state of data-driven journalism practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims at examining journalists’ perceptions of data-driven journalism in Zambia and Tanzania as it attempts to redefine and demystify the concept. We base our hypotheses on the notion that most journalists in Zambia and Tanzania perceive data journalism as a field that cannot be defined outside quantitative methods—approaches mostly emphasized by western scholarship. Our cross-national survey findings suggest that journalists from Zambia and Tanzania do not consider themselves as data journalists even when they practice it. This is because of the lack of advanced computer-assisted reporting equipment and the dwindling skills in advanced quantitative methods that are mostly accompanied by statistical software. Findings also suggest that female journalists showed more scepticism of data journalism practice, leading to fewer women with interest in pursuing data journalism in Zambia and Tanzania","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"43 1","pages":"21 - 36"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1929368","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44655642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-08DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783
R. Boughen
ABSTRACT How does Chinese central media represent Africa through its environmental news? This article argues that the way in which Chinese central media organisations have reported environmental issues across the African continent has altered from a reactive “charm defensive” towards the promotion of a developmental model: “Ecological Civilisation”. Based on a critical discourse analysis of headline African news published by the Xinhua News Agency, this research illustrates the emergence of this new, unexpected turn in Chinese representations of Africa, as well as highlighting the coherencies and tensions within this discourse. Questioning why this change in the emphasis of content has occurred, it investigates explanations at the macro-, mezzo-, and micro-levels of analysis, concluding that the evidence indicates that Xinhua’s content remains closely linked to the soft power goals of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the presence of risk discourses in some reports indicates that the hegemonic discourse is altering. This could potentially be the result of Xinhua’s own commercial objectives in Africa, or of the subjectivities of individual Xinhua journalists seeping into reports. This research provides significant contributions to an understanding of Chinese soft power in Africa, the ecology of Chinese media in Africa, and the development of environmental discourses.
{"title":"Ecological Civilisation Discourse in Xinhua’s African Newswires: Towards a Greener Agency?","authors":"R. Boughen","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT How does Chinese central media represent Africa through its environmental news? This article argues that the way in which Chinese central media organisations have reported environmental issues across the African continent has altered from a reactive “charm defensive” towards the promotion of a developmental model: “Ecological Civilisation”. Based on a critical discourse analysis of headline African news published by the Xinhua News Agency, this research illustrates the emergence of this new, unexpected turn in Chinese representations of Africa, as well as highlighting the coherencies and tensions within this discourse. Questioning why this change in the emphasis of content has occurred, it investigates explanations at the macro-, mezzo-, and micro-levels of analysis, concluding that the evidence indicates that Xinhua’s content remains closely linked to the soft power goals of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the presence of risk discourses in some reports indicates that the hegemonic discourse is altering. This could potentially be the result of Xinhua’s own commercial objectives in Africa, or of the subjectivities of individual Xinhua journalists seeping into reports. This research provides significant contributions to an understanding of Chinese soft power in Africa, the ecology of Chinese media in Africa, and the development of environmental discourses.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"67 - 81"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1927783","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44423035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-25DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1886963
A. Olorunnisola, Jennifer Castoe, Giana Han
ABSTRACT We located the emergence of South Africa’s Daily Sun against the background of colonisation of the print media and the more recent economic embeddedness of Black and alternative media in duopolistic domains. Our analyses found historical marginalisation and contemporary remarginalisation of majority Black readers useful. For theoretical frame, we relied on normative influences that make the centre more newsworthy than the periphery and some citizens outcast from the public sphere. We inferred and concluded that the Daily Sun—with all its real and perceived shortcomings—capitalised on a sectoral gap by focusing on “unknown” and abandoned citizen-readers. Its accomplishments, when not negated by criticism of its White ownership, was in the ability to demarginalise and decolonise poor Black working-class readers. Our submission included implications for theory.
{"title":"Fighting for the Man in the Blue Overalls—Daily Sun as a Project in Demarginalisation","authors":"A. Olorunnisola, Jennifer Castoe, Giana Han","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1886963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886963","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT We located the emergence of South Africa’s Daily Sun against the background of colonisation of the print media and the more recent economic embeddedness of Black and alternative media in duopolistic domains. Our analyses found historical marginalisation and contemporary remarginalisation of majority Black readers useful. For theoretical frame, we relied on normative influences that make the centre more newsworthy than the periphery and some citizens outcast from the public sphere. We inferred and concluded that the Daily Sun—with all its real and perceived shortcomings—capitalised on a sectoral gap by focusing on “unknown” and abandoned citizen-readers. Its accomplishments, when not negated by criticism of its White ownership, was in the ability to demarginalise and decolonise poor Black working-class readers. Our submission included implications for theory.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"17 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886963","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47703269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-19DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1919727
David Katiambo
ABSTRACT The news media attention to environmental crime varies; often, it is given to non-contested crimes with ideal victims. This bias is worsened by the fact that many environmental harms are committed by powerful offenders with influence over the mainstream media. Yet despite the ability of social media to contest mainstream truths, in-depth study has not been done in relation to environmental crime reporting by the two competing channels. This article analyses the contest between mainstream media and Facebook over discursive deletion of criminal responsibility for environmental crimes. To provide empirical evidence, pre-trial media coverage of a burst embankment dam is used as a case study. Through Critical Discourse Analysis, the study examines recontextualisation, a strategy for deleting environmental crimes by reporting them in the language of natural disasters. The approach is used to compare three leading newspapers in Kenya with the oppositional reading from Facebook comments. The findings demonstrate the ability of Facebook to act as a site for alternative voices in Kenya and indicts the newspapers for prioritising elite discourse that can obscure environmental crimes.
{"title":"Natural Disaster or Crime? The Struggle between Mainstream Media and Facebook in Discursive Deletion of Responsibility from Environmental Crimes","authors":"David Katiambo","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1919727","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1919727","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The news media attention to environmental crime varies; often, it is given to non-contested crimes with ideal victims. This bias is worsened by the fact that many environmental harms are committed by powerful offenders with influence over the mainstream media. Yet despite the ability of social media to contest mainstream truths, in-depth study has not been done in relation to environmental crime reporting by the two competing channels. This article analyses the contest between mainstream media and Facebook over discursive deletion of criminal responsibility for environmental crimes. To provide empirical evidence, pre-trial media coverage of a burst embankment dam is used as a case study. Through Critical Discourse Analysis, the study examines recontextualisation, a strategy for deleting environmental crimes by reporting them in the language of natural disasters. The approach is used to compare three leading newspapers in Kenya with the oppositional reading from Facebook comments. The findings demonstrate the ability of Facebook to act as a site for alternative voices in Kenya and indicts the newspapers for prioritising elite discourse that can obscure environmental crimes.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"51 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1919727","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41837148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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