Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1939748
Danford Zirugo
ABSTRACT Motivated by a 2014 Constitutional Court opinion that under Zimbabwe’s new constitution of 2013, freedom of expression might have to be considered as subordinate to human dignity, the study analyses the implications of this on journalistic practice. The study argues that such a move would undermine watchdog journalism, thereby limiting people’s freedom of expression right to receive information. This is based on a textual analysis of Zimbabwe’s freedom of expression jurisprudence, which shows that currently the odds are in favour of protecting the reputation of those in power. Thus, subordinating freedom of expression to human dignity might mean worsening an already bad situation.
{"title":"Subordinating Freedom of Expression to Human Dignity: Promoting or Undermining Journalism—A Case of Zimbabwe","authors":"Danford Zirugo","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1939748","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1939748","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Motivated by a 2014 Constitutional Court opinion that under Zimbabwe’s new constitution of 2013, freedom of expression might have to be considered as subordinate to human dignity, the study analyses the implications of this on journalistic practice. The study argues that such a move would undermine watchdog journalism, thereby limiting people’s freedom of expression right to receive information. This is based on a textual analysis of Zimbabwe’s freedom of expression jurisprudence, which shows that currently the odds are in favour of protecting the reputation of those in power. Thus, subordinating freedom of expression to human dignity might mean worsening an already bad situation.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"43 - 58"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1939748","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45743064","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 : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1972532
Peter Cunliffe-Jones
While misinformation has been recognised as a problem in Africa and around the world, from ancient Egypt into modern times (Darnton 2017; Posetti and Matthews 2018), concern about the effects it may have has grown sharply since political upheavals in the Global North in 2016. Harm caused by false information goes beyond the field of politics. Misinformation has been identified as provoking vigilante violence and civil unrest in countries such as Ethiopia (Nur 2019) and Nigeria (Adegoke 2018), leading to the use of ineffective and dangerous medical treatments for Ebola (Ogala and Ibeh 2014), malaria (Faive Le-Cadre 2019), and coronavirus disease 2019 (Busari and Adebayo 2020) and harms to mental health (Kulundu 2019), businesses (Ghana Fact 2019) and much more. As the public have shown their own concern (Wasserman and Madrid-Morales 2018), so the number of statements made by political leaders has increased. “In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like ours, fake news is a time bomb. And in recent weeks, many anarchists have been doing everything possible to detonate the bomb”, Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters in 2018, calling for public vigilance (Okakwu 2018). At the same time, Senegal’s President Macky Sall made a speech demanding that the education ministry develop a media literacy strategy to “counter ‘fake news’ and other false information” (Cissé 2018). In two research papers published in June 2021, seven colleagues and I examined the two primary responses taken: (i) the introduction of new, or stricter, laws against “false information” published or broadcast on traditional and social media and (ii) promises of teaching “media literacy” in state-run schools. This article sets out the findings of these papers; the failure of the current policies to meet their stated aim of reducing the harm caused and proposes alternative responses that could reduce harm without restricting legitimate media and political debate.
{"title":"How Government Responses to Misinformation in Africa Restrict Freedom of Expression and Do Little to Tackle the Problem","authors":"Peter Cunliffe-Jones","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1972532","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1972532","url":null,"abstract":"While misinformation has been recognised as a problem in Africa and around the world, from ancient Egypt into modern times (Darnton 2017; Posetti and Matthews 2018), concern about the effects it may have has grown sharply since political upheavals in the Global North in 2016. Harm caused by false information goes beyond the field of politics. Misinformation has been identified as provoking vigilante violence and civil unrest in countries such as Ethiopia (Nur 2019) and Nigeria (Adegoke 2018), leading to the use of ineffective and dangerous medical treatments for Ebola (Ogala and Ibeh 2014), malaria (Faive Le-Cadre 2019), and coronavirus disease 2019 (Busari and Adebayo 2020) and harms to mental health (Kulundu 2019), businesses (Ghana Fact 2019) and much more. As the public have shown their own concern (Wasserman and Madrid-Morales 2018), so the number of statements made by political leaders has increased. “In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like ours, fake news is a time bomb. And in recent weeks, many anarchists have been doing everything possible to detonate the bomb”, Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters in 2018, calling for public vigilance (Okakwu 2018). At the same time, Senegal’s President Macky Sall made a speech demanding that the education ministry develop a media literacy strategy to “counter ‘fake news’ and other false information” (Cissé 2018). In two research papers published in June 2021, seven colleagues and I examined the two primary responses taken: (i) the introduction of new, or stricter, laws against “false information” published or broadcast on traditional and social media and (ii) promises of teaching “media literacy” in state-run schools. This article sets out the findings of these papers; the failure of the current policies to meet their stated aim of reducing the harm caused and proposes alternative responses that could reduce harm without restricting legitimate media and political debate.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"121 - 125"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45051945","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 : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1954429
I. Glenn
In June 2006, I saw somebody with an interesting name tag at the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Dresden. “Are you the Elihu Katz?” I asked and he replied, without missi...
{"title":"Journalism, the Coming of Television, and the New South Africa","authors":"I. Glenn","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1954429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1954429","url":null,"abstract":"In June 2006, I saw somebody with an interesting name tag at the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Dresden. “Are you the Elihu Katz?” I asked and he replied, without missi...","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"114 - 116"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1954429","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48183948","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 : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1942116
W. F. Mohammed
ABSTRACT Although there is scant audience research in media studies, audiences continue to be key drivers in the political economy of media in Africa and elsewhere. The study explores the dynamics of indigenous language news audiences’ listening habits, how their information-seeking habits are shaped by personal values and the ways in which their participation in civic engagement reinforces their media consumption habits. The study focuses on Dagbanli and Gonja news audiences living in Ghana’s Northern and Savannah Regions. The objective of the study is to explore the way that Dagbanli and Gonja news audiences use the news they receive by parsing out these uses within this sociocultural context. Through in-depth interviews, the listening habits and civic engagements of news audiences are brought to the fore. Through a uses and gratifications approach, I argue that indigenous language news audiences are active agentive consumers whose habits are shaped by contextual factors, personal and social values. The findings of the study demonstrate that the news shapes the political behaviour and voting decisions of audiences. The study also finds that many audiences use the news as an avenue for learning more about education, agriculture, the environment and pervading conversations in the public sphere.
{"title":"Pɔhim Zuɣu: Understanding Indigenous Language News Audiences in Ghana","authors":"W. F. Mohammed","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1942116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1942116","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Although there is scant audience research in media studies, audiences continue to be key drivers in the political economy of media in Africa and elsewhere. The study explores the dynamics of indigenous language news audiences’ listening habits, how their information-seeking habits are shaped by personal values and the ways in which their participation in civic engagement reinforces their media consumption habits. The study focuses on Dagbanli and Gonja news audiences living in Ghana’s Northern and Savannah Regions. The objective of the study is to explore the way that Dagbanli and Gonja news audiences use the news they receive by parsing out these uses within this sociocultural context. Through in-depth interviews, the listening habits and civic engagements of news audiences are brought to the fore. Through a uses and gratifications approach, I argue that indigenous language news audiences are active agentive consumers whose habits are shaped by contextual factors, personal and social values. The findings of the study demonstrate that the news shapes the political behaviour and voting decisions of audiences. The study also finds that many audiences use the news as an avenue for learning more about education, agriculture, the environment and pervading conversations in the public sphere.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"77 - 93"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1942116","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45823304","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 : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1987061
W. Chuma
It has been four decades since this journal—then known as Equid Novi—made its debut on what was then a nascent field of journalism and communication studies in South Africa. By all accounts, the 1980s were tumultuous moments in the country’s political economy, and naturally journalism played key roles mediating these, for the better or worse. Within the academy, the disciplines of journalism, communication science and to a lesser extent fields of study such as media studies were fairly burgeoning, and were characterised by the political and ideological chasms and contestations between the English and Afrikaans institutions in which they were located. Against this background, Equid Novi presented itself as a platform for intellectual debate and “sparring”, not just within academe, but also between the researchers and journalism practitioners. No such platform existed at the time. Over the years, and with South Africa’s reintegration into the African and global political economy post-1994, the journal grew to become one of the leading spaces for research within media studies broadly, increasingly attracting both established and emerging researchers from across the African continent (including the MENA region). In this anniversary issue, we carry an interesting mix of research articles and commentaries that range from reflections on the history of journalism and media studies/communication studies in South Africa, the current debates on decolonisation of journalism, the current scourge of disinformation, the politics of media policy and regulation, and so on. Keyan Tomaselli’s autoethnography on the South African Communication Association (Sacomm) offers a critical reflection not just on the history of what has grown to become Southern Africa’s biggest annual gathering of media and communication researchers, but also the development of natural links between an academic journal of standing and an academic disciplinary association. As one of the key figures in the history of the discipline of communication studies in South Africa, Tomaselli’s personal recollection provides an invaluable window through which present and future students and scholars of South African and African media and communication studies catch a glimpse of the historical contestations, fissures and debates that shaped the development of the discipline. At the same time—and importantly so—Tomaselli is careful to declare his subjectivities, characterising his account as being “like being a fly in the soup” rather than pretending to be the proverbial, objective “fly on the wall”.
{"title":"African Journalism Studies: Mapping four Decades of African Journalism and Media Research","authors":"W. Chuma","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1987061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1987061","url":null,"abstract":"It has been four decades since this journal—then known as Equid Novi—made its debut on what was then a nascent field of journalism and communication studies in South Africa. By all accounts, the 1980s were tumultuous moments in the country’s political economy, and naturally journalism played key roles mediating these, for the better or worse. Within the academy, the disciplines of journalism, communication science and to a lesser extent fields of study such as media studies were fairly burgeoning, and were characterised by the political and ideological chasms and contestations between the English and Afrikaans institutions in which they were located. Against this background, Equid Novi presented itself as a platform for intellectual debate and “sparring”, not just within academe, but also between the researchers and journalism practitioners. No such platform existed at the time. Over the years, and with South Africa’s reintegration into the African and global political economy post-1994, the journal grew to become one of the leading spaces for research within media studies broadly, increasingly attracting both established and emerging researchers from across the African continent (including the MENA region). In this anniversary issue, we carry an interesting mix of research articles and commentaries that range from reflections on the history of journalism and media studies/communication studies in South Africa, the current debates on decolonisation of journalism, the current scourge of disinformation, the politics of media policy and regulation, and so on. Keyan Tomaselli’s autoethnography on the South African Communication Association (Sacomm) offers a critical reflection not just on the history of what has grown to become Southern Africa’s biggest annual gathering of media and communication researchers, but also the development of natural links between an academic journal of standing and an academic disciplinary association. As one of the key figures in the history of the discipline of communication studies in South Africa, Tomaselli’s personal recollection provides an invaluable window through which present and future students and scholars of South African and African media and communication studies catch a glimpse of the historical contestations, fissures and debates that shaped the development of the discipline. At the same time—and importantly so—Tomaselli is careful to declare his subjectivities, characterising his account as being “like being a fly in the soup” rather than pretending to be the proverbial, objective “fly on the wall”.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"1 - 3"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47717535","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 : 2021-03-09DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1884580
G. A. Wahab
ABSTRACT Past communication mediation studies have shown positive relationships between news uses and citizens’ political attitudes, but understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship is limited because they often do not take into account the diverse affordances of the media uses and the environment it triggers effects. Using a national Afrobarometer survey (N = 2,400) in Ghana, the present study examined the relationship between news uses and a variety of citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Based on a series of regression analysis, findings showed that online news uses consistently predicted all levels of citizens’ political attitudes while traditional news uses were only associated with citizens’ levels of presidential trust and confidence. When partisan differences were further examined, results showed that only online media uses by ruling party members exhibited direct effects on trust in president and democratic satisfaction. However, in all, traditional media news uses based on ruling party support and no party members exhibited indirect effects on political attitudes. Oppositional party members showed no effect.
{"title":"Partisanship, News Use, and Political Attitudes in Ghana: An Application of the Communication Mediation Model","authors":"G. A. Wahab","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1884580","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1884580","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Past communication mediation studies have shown positive relationships between news uses and citizens’ political attitudes, but understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship is limited because they often do not take into account the diverse affordances of the media uses and the environment it triggers effects. Using a national Afrobarometer survey (N = 2,400) in Ghana, the present study examined the relationship between news uses and a variety of citizens’ political attitudes and how such relationships are affected by partisanship. Based on a series of regression analysis, findings showed that online news uses consistently predicted all levels of citizens’ political attitudes while traditional news uses were only associated with citizens’ levels of presidential trust and confidence. When partisan differences were further examined, results showed that only online media uses by ruling party members exhibited direct effects on trust in president and democratic satisfaction. However, in all, traditional media news uses based on ruling party support and no party members exhibited indirect effects on political attitudes. Oppositional party members showed no effect.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"113 - 130"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1884580","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44422177","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 : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1896156
Teddy Mungwari
{"title":"Journalism, democracy, and human rights in Zimbabwe","authors":"Teddy Mungwari","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1896156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1896156","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"128 - 129"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1896156","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43744539","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 : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1886962
Chidiebere A. Nwachukwu, I. Ajaero, J. Ugwuoke, Nkiru C. Odikpo
ABSTRACT The conflict between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria has been going on for many years, resulting in huge loss of lives and resources, and the media have expectedly been covering the conflict. This study investigated how Nigerian newspapers covered the conflict with a view to finding out if there is ethnic othering in the reportage. A total of three Nigerian newspapers (The Punch, The Sun and Leadership) were purposively selected and studied for a period of seven months (1 January 2018–31 July 2018). About 598 online copies of newspaper articles were content-analysed, with the code sheet as the instrument for data collection. The result was analysed quantitatively, using tables and percentages and supplemented with qualitative analysis using verbal quotes. Findings showed that the newspapers gave adequate coverage of the issue with the straight news format as the most used, while the dominant voices heard in the news reports were those of the Government and victims/residents. The results also showed that there is ethnic othering in the newspapers as reports indicated that the terms “herdsmen” and “Fulani herdsmen” were used interchangeably, with labels like “Fulani terrorists”, ‘Rampaging/marauding Fulani herdsmen”, “killer Fulani herdsmen”, among others.
{"title":"Is There Ethnic Othering in Newspapers’ Coverage of Farmers/Herders Conflict in Nigeria?","authors":"Chidiebere A. Nwachukwu, I. Ajaero, J. Ugwuoke, Nkiru C. Odikpo","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1886962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886962","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The conflict between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria has been going on for many years, resulting in huge loss of lives and resources, and the media have expectedly been covering the conflict. This study investigated how Nigerian newspapers covered the conflict with a view to finding out if there is ethnic othering in the reportage. A total of three Nigerian newspapers (The Punch, The Sun and Leadership) were purposively selected and studied for a period of seven months (1 January 2018–31 July 2018). About 598 online copies of newspaper articles were content-analysed, with the code sheet as the instrument for data collection. The result was analysed quantitatively, using tables and percentages and supplemented with qualitative analysis using verbal quotes. Findings showed that the newspapers gave adequate coverage of the issue with the straight news format as the most used, while the dominant voices heard in the news reports were those of the Government and victims/residents. The results also showed that there is ethnic othering in the newspapers as reports indicated that the terms “herdsmen” and “Fulani herdsmen” were used interchangeably, with labels like “Fulani terrorists”, ‘Rampaging/marauding Fulani herdsmen”, “killer Fulani herdsmen”, among others.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"56 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886962","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49495645","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 : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1886961
Chikaire Wilfred Williams Ezeru
ABSTRACT Who reports Africa in the British press? This longitudinal study is aimed at addressing the issue. It applied content analysis methodology, the use of four British national newspapers and a sample duration that spanned between 1992 and 2017. It uncovered that Western journalists consistently dominated the reportage of Africa without any exception throughout the sample period. Apart from Western journalists, other journalists or sources involved in the media coverage—African local journalists, Afro-Western journalists, joint journalists, and news agencies’ African reports were insignificantly used. Also, this study further revealed that the use of news agencies’ African reports had a continuous decline from 1997 to 2017. Therefore, the domination of the British press coverage of Africa over the years by Western journalists results in the portrayal of Africa from an imbalanced single prism of Westernised perspective, thereby resulting in the poor coverage of Africa and the spread of further ignorance of the continent to the global audience, which hampers both tourism and Western business investments to Africa. This study concludes that who reports Africa in the UK press is embedded in neo-colonialism, white hegemony, and inequality.
{"title":"The Continued Domination of Western Journalists in Global African News Telling: The Imperatives and Implications","authors":"Chikaire Wilfred Williams Ezeru","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1886961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886961","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Who reports Africa in the British press? This longitudinal study is aimed at addressing the issue. It applied content analysis methodology, the use of four British national newspapers and a sample duration that spanned between 1992 and 2017. It uncovered that Western journalists consistently dominated the reportage of Africa without any exception throughout the sample period. Apart from Western journalists, other journalists or sources involved in the media coverage—African local journalists, Afro-Western journalists, joint journalists, and news agencies’ African reports were insignificantly used. Also, this study further revealed that the use of news agencies’ African reports had a continuous decline from 1997 to 2017. Therefore, the domination of the British press coverage of Africa over the years by Western journalists results in the portrayal of Africa from an imbalanced single prism of Westernised perspective, thereby resulting in the poor coverage of Africa and the spread of further ignorance of the continent to the global audience, which hampers both tourism and Western business investments to Africa. This study concludes that who reports Africa in the UK press is embedded in neo-colonialism, white hegemony, and inequality.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"36 - 55"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1886961","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41382278","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 : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2021.1887908
Iurii Melnyk
ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to present the media images of the United States and China in Africa, based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of opinion journalism in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The rationale of the research is dictated by the rivalry for Africa between China and the USA and the need to measure the success of each side at the media level. All the opinion articles in the top five newspapers in each of these two African countries, with references to China or the USA, during the calendar year 2017 have been counted and classified from the point of view of the presence of positive, neutral or negative assessments about China and the USA. The results show that compared to the USA, China has a significantly better image in both African countries. The USA less clearly loses the competition with China in terms of values, sociopolitical and cultural patterns, but more clearly in the assessments of its actual activities in Africa. The quantitative results indicate that in the positive assessments of China, there is no significant contrast between the Zimbabwean (mainly state-controlled) and the Kenyan press. In contrast, the share of the articles with negative assessments of the USA in Zimbabwe (76 per cent) and Kenya (47 per cent) differ substantially. These results correlate quite well with the statements of previous researchers regarding the successes of Chinese soft power and the high expectation for the China model, as well as the recent decline of the image of the USA internationally.
{"title":"The Image of China and the United States of America in Selected African Media","authors":"Iurii Melnyk","doi":"10.1080/23743670.2021.1887908","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2021.1887908","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to present the media images of the United States and China in Africa, based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of opinion journalism in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The rationale of the research is dictated by the rivalry for Africa between China and the USA and the need to measure the success of each side at the media level. All the opinion articles in the top five newspapers in each of these two African countries, with references to China or the USA, during the calendar year 2017 have been counted and classified from the point of view of the presence of positive, neutral or negative assessments about China and the USA. The results show that compared to the USA, China has a significantly better image in both African countries. The USA less clearly loses the competition with China in terms of values, sociopolitical and cultural patterns, but more clearly in the assessments of its actual activities in Africa. The quantitative results indicate that in the positive assessments of China, there is no significant contrast between the Zimbabwean (mainly state-controlled) and the Kenyan press. In contrast, the share of the articles with negative assessments of the USA in Zimbabwe (76 per cent) and Kenya (47 per cent) differ substantially. These results correlate quite well with the statements of previous researchers regarding the successes of Chinese soft power and the high expectation for the China model, as well as the recent decline of the image of the USA internationally.","PeriodicalId":54049,"journal":{"name":"African Journalism Studies","volume":"42 1","pages":"75 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23743670.2021.1887908","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45310211","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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