Journal of African Media Studies - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2020

This article is about the political communication strategies of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), a political party in Cameroon which fought for the independence of the country. We particularly focus on the communication channels used by the UPC to transmit political messages, in a context marked by severe administrative repression and restrictions of freedom of press and expression. Theoretically, our article relies on the concept of media system. Methodologically, we use text analysis to map the choices of the UPC. The period of analysis ranges from 1948 when the UPC was created to 1956 when the party was banned by the colonial authorities. The results show that the political communication strategy of the UPC mainly gave preference to letter writing to mobilize the masses. In addition, the UPC owned several newspapers to cover its activities and criticize the French colonial administration in Cameroon.

There is growing academic scholarship on indigenous language media in Africa. The scholarship has mostly tended to focus on the content and political economy of indigenous language newspapers. The scholarship also suggests that much needs to be done in inculcating indigenous languages and indigenous language journalism in journalism education. Grounded in decoloniality, this article explores journalism training practices in selected institutions of higher learning in Zimbabwe. The intention is to unravel the absence or existence of training for indigenous journalism and perceptions of lecturers and attitudes of students towards indigenous language media and journalism. The article also seeks to establish whether there are any attempts to de-westernize journalism, media and communication studies. Methodologically, in-depth interviews were used to gather data from lecturers and students of journalism and media studies at colleges and universities in Zimbabwe. Findings show that the colleges surveyed do not offer any indigenous media journalism-specific modules or subjects. The lecturers, who include programme designers in some cases, have a low regard for indigenous language media. This, the article concludes, will have a knock-on effect on journalism students’ and journalists’ misgivings towards a career in indigenous language media.

Despite widespread condemnation of assaults on journalists in Ghana and elsewhere in the past, there is increasing evidence of brutality against journalists. When perpetrators of such assaults go unpunished, it fosters a culture of impunity. The article throws searchlight on incidences of assaults on journalists and the ambivalent attitude of the public and/or state agencies towards media freedom. Incidences of assaults and intimidations of journalists in Ghana were reviewed to ignite renewed discourse on the issue, and inform measures on the safety and protection and general development of media. Theoretically, the article is framed along lines of thoughts on concepts of narrative in which there is ‘struggle over narrative’. Major lines of narratives on assaults against journalists are expressed by state functionaries, citizens and the media in competing fashions. Each narrative has ‘competing truth’, which arguably carries for each entity a force of the true and rightful position on the safety of journalists. The article concludes that persistent advocacy by Ghana Journalists Association and media partners can make a difference in influencing positive steps on assaults on journalists.

China Central Television (CCTV) launched its first media centre in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2012 and is one of the main actors in the ‘China’s media go global’ campaign. CCTV-Africa’s reporting style has previously been engaged by media practitioners and academics in terms of its discursive practices. In 2014, a new paradigm studying the journalistic practice of Chinese media in Africa emerged. It has been argued that the journalistic approach deployed by Chinese media in Africa, especially CCTV-Africa, is more constructive than simply positive. This article aims to provide a structural analysis on the role of international news in mediating and reinforcing the ‘harmony of interest’ of transnational elite groups with empirical findings from the case study of CCTV-Africa and its constructive approach of journalism. The findings of this research show that the ‘constructiveness’ of CCTV-Africa is marked with the ‘non-interference’ diplomatic strategy of China in Africa which minimalizes the political involvement of China in local conflicts by reducing investigation on causes and emphasizing solutions. Simultaneously, it also produces an apolitical context which encourages economic development in African societies to cater to the grander politics of China in Africa.