Journal of African Media Studies - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2016

A recurring idea in the criticism of African cinema has been that the films frequently deploy the narrative techniques of the griot, the storyteller of West African tradition. In particular, Manthia Diawara (1989, 1992) alerted us to the inscription of the oral narrator within the visual discourse of particular African films, while other critics have considered how the films recall the narrative forms of traditional oral tales. However, these critics’ exclusive attention to the visual track and/or narrative form overlooks another inscription of the griot – an inscription that exists at the level of music. Examining music and image relationships in an aesthetically diverse set of African films, this article demonstrates how griot inscription emerges as a major variable, modulating between music and image within and between texts. This propels music, and the griot, to a status of primary importance in terms of understanding the ways in which the films explore and reappropriate notions of ‘African-ness’ while negotiating the tensions of address generated when oral forms of narrative meet the industrial form of cinema.

This article explores the events leading to the closure of the Zimbabwe Mirror Newspapers Group (ZMNG) in 2007. It narrates how the state in Zimbabwe, through its intelligence arm, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), covertly took over the privately owned newspaper stable, publishers of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, leading to the organization’s demise. The article is informed by critical political economy theory, particularly the Propaganda Model and the concept of Social Control in the newsroom, linking Mirrorgate to the narrative of media control by the state in Zimbabwe. Interviews were conducted with key personnel – former Mirror staff members – to collect data. Archival newspaper reports were also analysed to trace the development of Mirrorgate and its consequences on the Mirror’s performance as a media entity. The article also benefits from experiential data accumulated through observation by the author as a former Mirror employee. The article shows that the Mirror takeover by the state had debilitating consequences on the organization’s performance, and can be attributed as the major reason behind the newspaper stable’s eventual collapse. The article also speculates on the possible reasons why the state could have taken over the newspaper company, particularly to manipulate public opinion during a time of political strife.

This article challenges the traditional role ascribed by liberal and developmental media theory that journalists should either be watchdogs or developmental journalists but not both at the same time. As part of the South African leg of the Worlds of Journalism (WJS) project this article argues that it is indeed possible that the media can fulfil both roles. Utilizing the WJS 2014 questionnaire and based on a provincial face-to-face (n=37) and a national electronic survey (n=371) the results from the WJS South African project show a potential new trend in the way South African journalists see their role. This article reports in the main on the background to the face-to-face survey, while utilizing data from the national survey reported on elsewhere. Data analysis showed when both roles were compared to one another it was apparent that the watchdog and developmental roles were statistically significantly related to one another.

Botswana’s government as one of the celebrated postcolonial democracies in Southern Africa continues to have the state owning and controlling the media – in particular, broadcast media. The history of government-owned and controlled media in Botswana can be understood through colonial lenses – it stands out as a product of historical entanglements with the influence of apartheid South Africa’s role, and the invention of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) hegemony. These were further mitigated by other factors that include the sections of Information and Broadcasting’s own internal politics and growth, and, within the geopolitical prism, the Cold War period. This article focuses on the history of radio in Botswana showing its multiple origins and the conflicting visions as to the role and nature of broadcasting in the colony and postcolony. We posit that the aims of modernization, nationalism, national identity and public versus government ownership all had their place in the establishment of radio in the country. Further, we argue that the powerful presence of a coercive and quite overbearing neighbour, South Africa with its South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and a paternalist British voice alongside an anxious postcolonial government, all shaped the eventual identity of Radio Botswana.

Communication technology such as the mobile phone often presents a double-edged sword in romantic relationships. While the mobile phone can enhance the quality of communication, it can simultaneously become a source of conflict. The dialectic framework of Communication Privacy Management presents a nuanced lens from which to investigate the rules for the use of the mobile phone in the dyad of romantic relationships. This study sought to investigate mobile phone usage rules that are negotiated by South African adolescents and young adults in their romantic relationships and the factors that influence the negotiation. The study specifically focused on rules around mobile privacy management. Findings from survey data indicate that the negotiation of mobile phone usage rules is a crucial part of the health of young adult relationships. Variables of gender and length of relationship were important factors in the rule development process. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed.

The Internet and Democracy Building in Lusophone African Countries, S. Salgado (2014) Surrey, England: Ashgate, 185 pp., ISBN: 9781409436560, h/bk, £60