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Shifting African Narratives
  • ISSN: 2040-199X
  • E-ISSN: 1751-7974
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Abstract

The issue of African narratives has attracted significant attention in traditional media studies. On social media in general, and on Facebook in particular, little is known about these narratives. This study addresses the public’s concerns about African narratives on social media by meeting the demand for empirical data on African narratives from an alternative media perspective in Africa. The study follows these debates on Facebook, which are frequently used to raise public awareness and sway public opinion on important issues. The study used thematic content analysis to determine the most prevalent themes covered in the selected posts as well as the sentiments expressed in the comments. To make sense of the data, the study applied critical alternative media theory. The study revealed that topical issues about politics and international affairs, domestic conflict and death, sports and health dominated the media, and sentiments in the comments viewed Africans as a solution to Africa’s problems. Furthermore, the study established that negative stories elicited negative responses, and Africans regarded other African countries as crucial to the continent’s growth. As a result, the study shows that Facebook has evolved into an essential platform for media to share alternative African narratives.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • 2021–22 Africa No Filter Academic Fellows Program
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Intellect Ltd.
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The CC BY licence permits commercial and noncommercial reuse. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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2023-08-17
2026-04-19

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Unveiling African narratives on Facebook: Media posts and audience engagement
Journal of African Media Studies 15, 199 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00100_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00100_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00100_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): African story; alternative media; critical media theory; main stream media; portrayal; social media

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