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- Description:
- This paper critically reviews the history of journalism education in Africa, and the controversies surrounding it. The authors reckon that dependency theorists have argued about the inappropriateness of Western models and professional standards for Third World journalism. However, in spite of this rhetoric, many Third World schools of journalism and practitioners tend to follow the Western approaches. Of these approaches, the American practical orientation seems to appeal most to those who teach, sponsor, or practice journalism in the Third World.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- This study looks into the concept of democracy as it is understood within the African context and the role which the mass media could play in promoting and sustaining it. It argues that, given Africa's colonial experience and its history of struggle for human dignity and liberation, the appropriate role for the mass media must be to sustain this struggle. Accordingly, their relevance must be seen in relation to the extent to which they promote the developmental and democratic aspirations of the majority of the people. And, as such, training of African media practitioners must be predicated on the necessity to give them clear orientation for the achievement of these goals. Finally, the professional status of journalists and of the journalism profession must be acknowledged by political authorities and policy makers; journalists must be appropriately renumerated and their profession upgraded within the hierarchy of national priorities.
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- The impact of the information superhighway on journalism education in Africa is addressed by the author. The theme of this paper is that the communal approach should be used in solving moral problems in journalism. The individualism and divisionism that permeate the practise of journalism in Africa today should be discarded since they are not only unAfrican but also professionally unhealthy. The article asserts that African journalism would have an inbuilt self-correcting mechanism that facilitates journalists counselling one another. It is submitted herein that world journalism, equally beset with divisionist and selfish approaches to the practice of ethical journalism, could learn from Africa the value of journalistic solidarity and common problem-solving. The article ends with a note that the world needs journalism with a human face.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- This paper highlights the need fora new ideology of professionalism in the face of the social and political realities of the Third World. It calls for a reassessment of the role of journalists, and the function of journalism and journalism education in Africa. It argues that proficiency in the receptive and expressive language skills should be made an integral part of journalism education and neither relegated to the syllabuses of other departments which have a variety of objectives of their own, nor left to develop by chance. Language, the vital tool of journalists, has to be utilized in newer and subtler ways in contemporary communication environments.
- Date Issued:
- 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- The news selection process of African-American newspaper editors in terms of news about Africa, was evaluated by addressing two research questions: (i) How do African-American newspaper editors decide which African news to publish? (ii) What influences their decision about the quantity and quality of coverage? A two-page questionnaire was mailed to African-American newspaper editors in 1991 and 1992. The study hypothesized that editors' perceptions of a foreign news event had a direct and significant impact on the way they process the news stories they receive daily. The study reveals that gatekeeping practices of African-American newspaper editors were basically similar to those of other western editors. This was not surprising given the similarity in their education, environment and newsroom socialization. The African-American newspaper editors are distinct, however, in subject matter of reporting. African-American newspaper editors think though, that positive involvement of the United States in the affairs of African countries would positively influence the education of the American public about the heritage of African-Americans. The reporting and issues in African-American newspapers were also investigated.
- Date Issued:
- 1994-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- The contention of this paper is that it is possible, though demanding, to develop a new type of journalism which would lead to the democratization of public communication. Based on the normative framework of the ultimate dignity of the human being, the paper argues that the African mass media are an aberration from the African democratic tradition. It observes that the conventional rules applied in the selection and management of news are obstacles to democracy. It ends by suggesting some ways in which the situation may be changed to allow for the development of a more democratic form of journalism.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review