The three journalisms of Africa
Does it make sense to speak of a journalism philosophy unique to Africa? Indeed, several scholars believe so, and have argued strongly for a distinct ‘Journalism of Africa’. In this address, I take a retrospective look at 50 years of African media studies and identify major efforts to formulate unique African journalism philosophies. I argue that the efforts constitute three main streams: journalism for social change; communal journalism; and journalism based on oral discourse. The three streams are in tension between each other because they take different approaches to cultural essentialism and media interventionism. On this basis, I propose a model which seeks to explain why all three models are at odds with ‘Western’ libertarian journalism. The paradox, nevertheless, is that despite some strong calls for a unique African journalism model, in actual practice, journalism across Africa appears to have much in common with journalism elsewhere on the globe.
Published in Paper presented at the 3rd conference of the East African Communication Association (EACA), Nairobi, Kenya, 2013
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