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- Volume 1, Issue 3, 2009
Journal of African Media Studies - Volume 1, Issue 3, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 3, 2009
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China in the African mediascape: a critical injection
More LessDeepening Beijing media support in Africa is resulting in an infrastructural realignment reflecting more export of Chinese media technology and technical knowhow; this has been matched by increasing African dependence on such external media intervention. This infrastructural realignment seems to be underpinned by China's dual objective of ideological consolidation and cultural reproduction across Africa, often associated with its soft power. The purpose of this article is to critically analyse the dimension of China's intervention in the African media landscape. At the core of this analysis is an assessment of the type of support that China has been extending to African media institutions since it rekindled its interest in Africa after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Related to the assessment of such Chinese support is the need for a critical-theoretical framework within which Chinese interventions can be studied and analysed in future research, focusing on this Sino-African media interpenetration. This study thus sets out to historically contextualize Chinese support to the African mediascape, arguing that contemporary Chinese media interventions in Africa must be seen as part of China's long history of anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle in its project of national and international identification. The study concludes that current Chinese support to Africa's media takes the tripartite form of infrastructural realignment, ideological expurgation and cultural reproduction. It ends with a call for a critical-theoretical trajectory for understanding Sino-African media relations, suggesting a triangulated theoretical approach that draws on a critical cultural studies tradition. Key to this theoretical project is the need to study China in Africa's mediascape in terms of how its influence will, if at all, reconfigure African media production, representation, identity, consumption and regulation. The setting up of Confucius Institutes in some African countries often with Chinese financial support presents a platform for both theoretical and empirical engagement.
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Xinhua News Agency in Africa
By Xin XinChina's growing economic influence in Africa, and in the sub-Saharan region in particular, has drawn enormous attention around the world, especially in the West. An important but as yet under-studied aspect of China's increasing presence in Africa is related to the question about whether the party-state will exert its ideological influence on local politics and public space through media expansion in this region. Media initiatives associated with the Going abroad project have been in full swing in recent years, in parallel with the growing concern by Chinese authorities about the mismatch between China's strong economic power and weak media influence. This paper focuses on Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua's major forms of intervention in Africa include setting up bureaux, developing news portfolio targeting African audiences, exchanging news with (or selling news wires to) African media subscribers, and providing technical equipment and support as well as training African journalists. The first two forms of intervention have been on top of Xinhua's agenda in recent years and will be the focus of this article. The increasing presence of Xinhua in Africa sheds some light on the debate on media imperialism and international news flows in the context of China's economic rise.
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The lion and the dragon: African experiences in China
More LessTens of thousands of Africans are flocking to Guangzhou, China. They are drawn there by business opportunities, and encouraged by the official discourse of a mutually beneficial Sino-African relationship that permeates China's deepening diplomatic and economic ties with Africa. A new land of opportunity has entered into the imagination of Africa. Yet relations between Chinese and Africans in Guangzhou are deteriorating. Rising racism, police harassment, and an increasingly stringent and corrupt visa system dominated by Chinese middlemen, has made life difficult for even the most successful. A number of Africans now live illegally in Guangzhou, unable or unwilling to return; the costs of getting caught are high. For many, life is not what they had expected. Money is not the sole objective: African evangelicals who see China as a land of potential converts also make the journey. Despite the number of Africans now in Guangzhou, the experiences of these migrants remain largely undocumented.
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How the North pictures the neighbouring South: Portuguese press coverage of the Sahrawi conflict
More LessThis article explores how the media, in a country that used to be a colonial power yet belongs to a relatively peaceful culture, depicts one of the oldest disputes in Africa. Drawing on a three-year analysis of the Portuguese press coverage of the Sahrawi conflict, it also tests some basic foundations of the selective representation of Africa in news reporting: the predominantly one-way traffic of information between the North and the South, as well as a similar imbalance in terms of the nature of the news treatment which tends to focus on negative and deviant issues often portrayed in a highly stereotyped fashion. The study does not corroborate Africa's thinness and invisibility but rather points to the pivotal influence of national context the Portuguese afectio comunitatis combined with a notable sensitivity towards human rights and self-determination issues in the reporting of a given political process.
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Gendered roles, images and behavioural patterns in the soap opera Generations
More LessThis article evaluates gender stereotyping in Generations, South Africa's leading soap opera. Making use of the results of an analysis and survey method, the article examines subtle areas of denigration and other negative connotations in the speech, emotions and habits of the characters that are highlighted as displaying typically male or female behaviour. The article explores whether male and female characters featured in Generations display the same level of positive behavioural patterns, and tries to establish whether the general image of either sex is in any way denigrated or compromised to the benefit of the other with a view to stimulate actions in improving the portrayal of both males and females in popular South African television programmes. The article reveals that whilst both males and females are generally fairly portrayed, males are portrayed as more dominant when compared to their female counterparts. The last part of the article suggests that (1) the research division of Generations should ensure constant viewer feedback; (2) preview sessions should include communication experts, regulation experts and women's lobby groups; (3) Generations should consider having its own in-house guidelines on the portrayal of women, men and children; and (4) the soap opera should consider having more women actively involved as writers, directors and producers.
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Regional identity and the politics of belonging in the consumption of Zimbabwe's vernacular tabloid newspaper, uMthunywa in Bulawayo
More LessThis article is a qualitative study of the consumption of uMthunywa, a Zimbabwean state-controlled tabloid newspaper. It focuses on its Bulawayo readers, who constitute the bulk of the paper's readership and particularly explores the meanings and relevance of its content to their everyday lives. The study establishes that the paper constitutes a forceful alternative mediated sphere that cements a regional identity and accommodates feelings of belonging among a readership that feels disenfranchised and neglected by the power bloc. The newspaper has (re) kindled a relationship with readers through its use of the vernacular language, isiNdebele, and the coverage of community issues that resonate with the readers' everyday lives.
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Muslim minorities and media access in a predominantly Christian city: The case of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
More LessMedia use by religious leaders and their adherents has become one of the major issues defining religious praxis in the contemporary world. In Nigeria, this has become accentuated by the upsurge of Pentecostalism and the overriding presence of its preachers and healers on the country's airwaves. There are a hundred and one preachers, healers, counsellors, exorcists and singers identified with this burgeoning Christian movement who buy air time on national, local and private radio and television stations to proclaim their message. Some also pay for newspaper space to publish their messages. The most notable figures among them are: Tunde Bakare of the Later Rain Assembly, Chris Oyakilome of Christ Embassy, Matthews Ashimolowo of Kingsway International Christian Centre, Enoch Adeboye of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Mike Okoonkwo of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, David Oyedepo of the Faith Tabernacle, Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya of The Fountain of Life Church. Due to the huge profits they are bringing to the media industry, the Pentecostal movement has become a major force in the implementation of the country's media policies. It is easy for them to bend some of the media rules and get away with it. This dominance infringes the principle of equal access to all religious organisations that is enshrined in the Broadcasting Code promulgated by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission. Against the backdrop of this Pentecostal dominance, this article examines the problem of media access by the country's minority religious groups. A religious group could be in the minority in terms of overall size, or the number of its adherents in a given locality. We can thus have Christian minorities in Muslim dominated Northern Nigeria, and Muslim minorities in Christian dominated Southern-Nigeria. The major questions this paper asks are: How do religious minorities in Nigeria live with their perceived exclusion from the media, and are they adopting any discernable strategies to make their presence felt? To answer these questions, a social survey involving the use of questionnaires and interviews was conducted among Muslims living in the Christian-dominated Southern city of Port-Harcourt. The paper reflects on how the Muslim minorities in the city feel about their access to the state's broadcast media. This exercise provides new perspectives on how the media can mitigate or exacerbate religious differences in the country.
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Book Reviews
Authors: Katrien Pype, Maria Way, Suzanne Franks and David KerrMobile Phones. The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa, Mirjam de Bruijn, Francis Nyamnjoh, & Inge Brinkman (eds), (2009) Bamenda/Leiden: Langaa/African Studies Centre, 173 pages, ISBN: 9956-558-53-2, Paperback 19.95
African Media, African Children: Nordicom Yearbook 2008, Pecora Norma, Enyonam Osei-Hwere and Ulla Carlsson (eds), (2008) Published by The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, Gothenburg, Sweden: University of Gothenburg/Nordicom, ISSN 1651-6028; ISBN 978-91-89471-68-9; 243 pages. Price: SEK 240, 25
Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, Richard Dowden, (2008) London: Portobello Books, (576pp) ISBN 978-1-84627-154-0, Hardback 25.00 Paperback(2009) 9.99
Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature, James Currey, (2008) Johannesburg: Wits University Press; Athens: Ohio University Press; Ibadan: HEBN; Nairobi: EAEP, Harare: Weaver Press; Dar Es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota, ISBN 978-1-84701-503-7 & ISBN 978-1-84701-502-0, 19.95
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Films out of Africa
More LessThe article argues that fiction films from and about Africa may play an important role in increasing global audiences' knowledge of Africa. The article explores both the potential and the challenges of such films when it comes to create broader perspectives of the African continent. It argues that there is a general need for film producers with African knowledge. The discussion has direct bearing on debates about how Africa is represented in the media of the so-called global north.
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