Abstract
This chapter uses a content analysis of headlines and the “African news” sections of national newspapers of five African states, one from each of the five subregions, and a focus group discussion with six Nigerian journalists to contextualize the role of the African media in (un)shaping perception about the continent. The chapter argues that the bleak picture of the continent that the African media peddles through its overwhelming emphasis on negative news and subjective reportage of the activities of African governments to its national and international publics serve largely to water the seeds of internal discord and Afro-pessimism. It can therefore be argued that the African mass media has continued to contribute to the pessimistic imaging of Africa through its one-sided reportage of the continent. This has far-reaching consequences for not only democratic sustenance but also Africa’s human and economic development. The chapter suggests that in view of the power that communication wields over matters of political and economic development and the media’s role in this equation, the African mass media needs to awaken to the obligation of partnering with government to set and nurture societal goals and aspirations, articulating a shared vision of progress for both the state and the continent.
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Notes
- 1.
This does not mean only the private media focusses on a one-sided reportage of government in Africa. However, due to the influence of ownership, privately owned media agendas are controlled by owners in the same way state-owned media are controlled by the government of the day. Issues of profit, ethnicity, racism, corruption, and professionalism tend to affect the private media’s agenda and thus make them more likely to swing against the government of the day depending on the issues at stake for owners (see Isike and Uzodike 2009).
- 2.
According to Guy Berger, “to the extent that a government is in an adversarial relationship with the press, it does of course have the right to fight—hopefully with civilized methods. It can ‘try to withhold information, have secret meetings, to distort information for its advantage, to have its favorite reporters and reward them in various ways, to deal in disinformation and other propagandistic techniques, to subpoena journalists, and restrict their activities in various ways’ (Dennis and Merril 1991: 23). Not all these methods are quite by ‘gentlemen’s rules’ and some could well rebound to government disadvantage” (http://guyberger.ru.ac.za/fulltext/arniston.htm, accessed 10 April, 2007).
- 3.
Dr. Rueben Abati, Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian in Nigeria who later became a Media Advisor to the Nigerian president (2011–2015) alluded to this when he said that “the media should be both a watchdog and a collaborator with government in the service of democracy, through a commitment to the truth” (Daily Sun, 5 March, 2006).
- 4.
Emdon (1998) in Duncan and Seleoane, Media and Democracy in South Africa articulated the role of community media in development.
- 5.
There are a number of factors that actually constrain the African media’s commitment to an African-centered reportage. Some of these include particular issues around ownership, unfriendly socioeconomic environment which fuel corruption, shoddy journalism, pack journalism, and unprofessionalism as well as repressive and intolerant governments in the continent (see Hachten 1993; Chiyamwaka 2008; Isike and Uzodike 2009).
- 6.
President Mbeki criticized the African media during the first African Editors Conference held in South Africa in 2003, for being poorly informed about the AU and NEPAD. What emerged from the editors’ exchange with Mbeki was awareness that of the need to understand and engage with the AU. At the same time, they stressed that the AU also needed to help ensure press freedom if it wanted to succeed in promoting democracy and development (Sowetan, April 14, 2003).
- 7.
This fact comes out clearly from the data and report of the APRM process in KZN which analysis both authors were part of in April 2006.
- 8.
Stevenson (1993) in grappling with the communication/development nexus in the African context posited that both the mass media and telecommunications have some modest utility in traditional development programmes. This reinforced the argument that communication is a modest tool of development and not necessarily a magic wand for social change.
- 9.
Popular American TV host, Opray Winfrey revealed that over 40 million Americans live below the poverty line during one of her “Opray Winfrey Show” 24 April 2006.
- 10.
Most of the newspapers did not have archives so we had to resort to a daily examination of the news headlines. Even when they had an operational archive, they did not go beyond 1 month. This is what informed the study period of 1 month which was an acceptable timeframe of study because newspapers do not change their policies on a monthly basis. The choices of specific months in 2007 and 2016 were informed by when our research assistants were available to collect the data.
- 11.
- 12.
Apart from The Champion, 4 Nigerian newspapers surveyed did not have sources for their African news. It was therefore assumed that these newspapers either had correspondents in the African countries they were reporting on, or got the “news” through pack journalism. The second option was the case in quite a few of the papers as the same news (word for word) was reported in other African newspapers who acknowledged their sources, usually from foreign press agencies. While the phenomenon of pack journalism from the West does not serve African interests well, lifting and reporting news as if it was yours is unethical.
- 13.
Both authors happened to be in Nigeria (Isike in 2007 and Omotoso in 2016) when the first and final drafts, respectively, were written, and having used the opportunity to conduct the first FGD in 2007, the authors decided to use the opportunity of Omotoso being in Nigeria to do a second FGD in 2016.
- 14.
Although this is why the media is often regarded as a “watchdog,” and as scholars may argue that what government does right is obvious to the public and may not be necessary to report unlike what it does wrong which is easily and frequently hidden by the regime, this still goes against the main argument we make about balancing reporting and media for development.
- 15.
It may be argued that this increase results from the increase in the wrongdoings of government or from the freedom and support enjoyed by the media as granted by government and not from the perceived maliciousness or self-destructiveness of the African media.
- 16.
This is probably due to increased media clamp down by the DRC government.
- 17.
Indeed, the agenda-setting power of the media can be employed to serve national interests. Agenda setting was first described as the ability of the media to direct people’s attention towards certain issues, thereby enforcing upon them what is important or non-important. McCombs and Shaw (1972) establish a causal relationship between the issues the media focus on and the opinions of undecided voters in the United States. As the media set the agenda regarding what issues are salient, people begin to form opinions and to discuss these issues. In this way, the media can define issues and shape the perceptions that underpin and steer political discourse and action. Therefore, media coverage launches certain issues into national importance, attracts public attention, and instigates action. See also Shaw and McCombs (1977).
- 18.
The first statement was made by Hamza Musa Makarfi, a seasoned journalist, currently a senior correspondent in Nasarawa state, Nigeria, in an interview with Shuaibu of Daily Sun. Makarfi is a pioneer of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in the state and had worked with seven press secretaries, five state governors, and a deputy governor in both Nasarawa and Plateau states. The second was by Baffour Ankomah a seasoned journalist with over 25 years media experience in both Ghana and Britain. He was editor of The Pioneer, the oldest existing newspaper in Ghana in the 1980s, and since 1999 he has been editor of the New African, a London-based magazine that reimages Africa before the world.
- 19.
See Omotoso (2013) who used the roles of actors in political communication to holistically assess political communication in Africa, presenting the idea of African political communication and applying African philosophical ideas to political communication for functional leadership.
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Acknowledgement
We appreciate the efforts of our research students Nthando Buthelezi, Ayodele Fakeye, Mandisa Kunene, and Lawal Layiwola in data gathering for the chapter.
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Isike, C.A., Omotoso, S.A. (2017). Reporting Africa: The Role of the Media in (Un)Shaping Democratic Agenda. In: Olukotun, A., Omotoso, S. (eds) Political Communication in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48631-4_13
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