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Everyday Media Culture in Africa: Audiences and Users

Wendy Willems, Winston Mano (eds.)

London: Routledge (2017), 260 pp.

"This volume examines the lived experiences of Africans and their interaction with different kinds of media: old and new, state and private, elite and popular, global and national, material and virtual. By offering a comparative, critical and largely qualitative account of audiences and users across ... a range of national contexts in different regions of Africa, the book examines media through the voices and perspectives of those engaging with it rather than reducing audiences and users to numbers and statistics, ready to be exploited as potential target markets or as political constituencies. The critical, qualitative research perspective adopted in this book enables us to gain a better understanding of how African viewers, listeners and users make sense of a range of media forms; what role these play in their everyday lives and what audience and user engagement can tell us about how citizens perceive the state, how they imagine themselves in the wider world and how they relate to each other. The book argues that the experiences of audiences and engagements of users with a range of media—newspapers, radio, television, magazines, internet, mobile phones, social media—are always grounded in particular contexts, worldviews and knowledge systems of life and wisdom: ‘It is akin to the tortoise. The tortoise never leaves its shell behind. It carries it wherever it goes’ (Chivaura 2006: 221). African media audiences and users carry their contexts and cultural repertoires in the same way a tortoise carries its shell. Thus far, the bulk of academic research on media and communication in Africa has addressed the policy and regulatory aspects as well as the relation between media institutions and the state (Willems 2014a). While studies on media, democratization and press freedom are invaluable, the ways in which ordinary people make sense of, and relate to, media in their everyday lives are largely left beyond consideration. As Barber (1997: 357) has pointed out, ‘[w]hat has not yet been sufficiently explored is the possibility that specific African audiences have distinctive, conventional modes and styles of making meaning, just as performers/speakers do. We need to ask how audiences do their work of interpretation’." (Page 4) more

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End of an Era and the Debacle of Cross-Border Media Building Projects in Africa

Sam Phiri

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 9, issue 3 (2017), pp. 401-414

"In the 1990s following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the death of Apartheid in South Africa, several cross-national initiatives were undertaken in Africa to strengthen the role of the media in nascent democracies. Some 30 years later, several of these initiatives are dead while the ... more

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Thirty Rising Media Markets 2016

Anne Austin, Jonathan Barnard, Nicola Hutcheon

London: ZenithOptimedia (2016), 51 pp.

"The markets we do include are a very diverse bunch, from the very closed and politically tightly controlled such as Laos; through a large number of nations on the African continent which have seen a sudden improvement in digital infrastructure thanks to the landing of several new submarine intercon ... more

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Freedom on the Net 2016. Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps Under Pressure
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Sanja Kelly, Mai Truong, Adrian Shahbaz, Madeline Earp (eds.)

Washington, DC; New York: Freedom House (2016), 1021 pp.

"Internet freedom has declined for the sixth consecutive year, with more governments than ever before targeting social media and communication apps as a means of halting the rapid dissemination of information, particularly during antigovernment protests. Public-facing social media platforms like Fac ... more

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African Digital Media Review, Issue 2

African Journalism Studies, volume 37, issue 4 (2016), pp. 1-136

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A Shadow Over Democracy: 2016 IPI/AMI Zambia Press Freedom Mission Report

Steven M. Ellis

Vienna; Nairobi: International Press Institute (IPI); African Media Initiative (AMI) (2016), 23 pp.

"Voters need and deserve to hear a full range of voices as they decide their future and 'The Post' has played a vital role in providing an alternative to government-dominated mass media in Zambia. Unshackling that voice is critical if Zambians are to vote in an atmosphere that can be deemed free and ... more

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The Power of Publics: Competing Imaginaries of the Radio Audience in Kenya and Zambia

Sharath Srinivasan, Stephanie Diepeveen

Cambridge: University of Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (2016), 23 pp.

"With the liberalisation of the airwaves and the rising use of mobile phones since the 2000s, call- and text-in shows have become popular and lively features on broadcast media in Eastern Africa. Amidst expanding possibilities for listeners to speak and contribute to live radio broadcasts, new ways ... of imagining the position of the audience emerge. The audience is not simply comprised of passive listeners of publicly broadcast information, but actively engaged in contributing and reacting to what is aired. Yet the nature and political potential of the ‘audience-public’ is not straightforward. Interactive radio and TV shows are not just introducing specific audience members into the discussion, but who they are, what they represent, their influence and contribution to the space are uncertain. As audience members engage, those who manage and shape the broadcast must imagine, interpret and respond. Each participant in the discussion –whether listening, or involved in the station – producing, hosting, etc. – must come to terms with the nature of the interaction, Who is engaged? How should they respond? What are their reasons for being engaged and how might the introduction of this indeterminate audience-public relate to their intentions? Given the plurality of subjectivities, information, roles and intentions of those involved, the audience and why it matters can be imagined in multiple and competing ways. This paper interrogates how different actors involved in the radio broadcast imagine and respond to audience participation, and how these imaginaries become politically significant. This paper draws predominantly on interview and observation data on the perspectives of station hosts, guests and frequent callers of selected media houses and interactive broadcast shows in Zambia and Kenya. It examines the dynamic, plural and conflicting ways in which the audience is being reconstructed as an active ‘public’. In so doing, it shows the centrality of the imagined audience in the construction of the broadcast as a ‘public’, specifically how the indeterminate audience becomes the basis for competing imaginaries about power, authority and belonging. The political significance of the ‘audience-public’, it is argued, lies in the very fact that multiple and competing imaginaries are at play, which are invested in by actors pursuing diverse ends and thereby create tangible political effects." (Abstract) more

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Media Practitioners and Public Opinions on Interactive Broadcast TV Shows in Africa: Citizen TV (Kenya) and Muvi TV (Zambia)

Okoth Fred Mudhai

Centre of Governance and Human Rights University of Cambridge (2016), 25 pp.

"Interactive TV and radio shows are popular phenomena in Kenya and Zambia. Drawing primarily from interview- and observation based research in TV stations in Kenya and Zambia, this paper examines the role of media practitioners in shaping interactive broadcast programmes, and the nature and possibil ... more

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Let’s be Responsible Citizens! Contesting the Agenda of a Sponsored Call-In Radio Programme

Alastair Fraser

Cambridge: University of Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (2016), 25 pp.

"This working paper considers in detail how the hosts of and listeners to one call-in radio programme in Zambia were influenced by, resisted and co-opted the agendas of the sponsor that paid for its production. It develops a detailed case-study covering fifteen episodes of, ‘Let’s Be Responsible ... more

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The Political Economy of Sponsored Call-In Radio in Zambia

Alastair Fraser

Cambridge: University of Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (2016), 19 pp.

"This working paper provides a context for the assessment of hopes that there might be a transformation in political accountability in Africa as a result of previously powerless and voiceless populations having their agendas strengthened via interactive media. It describes the ways in which many rad ... more

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Television and the Cultivation of Personal Values Among Catholics in Zambia

Moses Hamungole

Leuven: Doctoral Thesis Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen KU Leuven (2015), 499 pp.

"[...] the aims for embarking on this study were (a) for the researcher to understand more about the TV, it’s various genres and audiences preferences; (b) Explore the applicability of cultivation theory to an African TV audience; (c) gather data about important values and value changes, and share ... more

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Freedom on the Net 2015: Privatizing Censorship, Eroding Privacy

Sanja Kelly, Madeline Earp, Laura Reed, Adrian Shahbaz, Mai Truong (eds.)

Washington, DC; New York: Freedom House (2015), 986 pp.

"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fifth consecutive year, with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content. State authorities have also jailed more users for their online writings, wh ... more

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Journalism, Audiences and Diaspora

Ola Ogunyemi (ed.)

Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (2015), xix, 256 pp.

"This collection takes the study of diasporic communication beyond the level of simply praising its existence, to offering critical engagements and analysis with the systems of journalistic production, process and consumption practices as they relate to people who are living outside the borders of t ... more

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Background Paper: Politics and Interactive Media in Zambia

Nalkui Milano, Neo Simutanyi, Alastair Fraser

Cambridge: University of Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (2015), 15 pp.

"This background paper provides an overview of the history and context of interactive media and public opinion in Zambia. It is prepared as part of Politics and Interactive Media in Africa (PiMA) - a collaborative study involving the University of Cambridge, University of Nairobi and University of Z ... more

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Women in Politics and Media: Perspectives from Nations in Transition

Maria Raicheva-Stover, Elza Ibroscheva (eds.)

New York; London: Bloomsbury Academic (2014), xiv, 334 pp.

"This is the first collection to de-Westernize the scholarship on women, politics and media by: 1) highlighting the latest research on countries and regions that have not been ‘the usual suspects’; 2) featuring a diverse group of scholars, many of non-Western origin; 3) giving voice through pers ... more

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Women and ICT in Africa and the Middle East: Changing Selves, Changing Societies

Ineke Buskens, Anne Webb (eds.)

London: Zed Books (2014), 338 pp.

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Action for Transparency: Tackling Corruption and Mismanagement of Government Funds in Zambia and Uganda. A Baseline Study

Will Attfield et al.

Kalmar; London: Fojo Media Institute; InterMedia (2014), 39 pp.

"The purpose of the study is to provide baseline data and research-driven recommendations to help inform and later evaluate the impact of ‘Action for Transparency’. Action for Transparency is a three-year, media-for-development programme, managed by Fojo and its partners and funded by the Swedis ... more

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African Media Barometer: Zambia 2013

Windhoek; Lusaka: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) (2014), 75 pp.

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Freedom on the Net 2014. Tightening the Net: Governments Expand Online Controls

Sanja Kelly, Madeline Earp, Laura Reed, Adrian Shahbaz, Mai Truong (eds.)

Washington, DC; New York: Freedom House (2014), 986 pp.

"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fourth consecutive year, with a growing number of countries introducing online censorship and monitoring practices that are simultaneously more aggressive and more sophisticated in their targeting of individual users. In a departure from the pa ... more

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Interactive Media Audiences in Africa: A Comparison of Four Constituencies in Kenya and Zambia

Nalukui Milapo, Neo Simutanyi, Alastair Fraser

Cambridge: University of Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights (2014), 89 pp.

"To better understand who participates in media-driven public discussion and opinion-making, this working paper presents the results of a randomised household survey implemented in four constituencies in Kenya and Zambia, one urban and one rural constituency in each country. The survey was conducted ... as part of Politics and Interactive Media in Africa (PiMA), a collaborative research project analysing the nature and political implications of expressions of public opinion in broadcast media in Kenya and Zambia, via new information and communication technologies (ICT) such as mobile phones. This paper presents descriptive survey results that are the basis of a deeper comparative analysis of drivers of listenership and participation in interactive broadcast media shows, also published in the PiMA Working Paper series. Nevertheless, a few results are highlighted here. The survey reveals that level of radio listenership of interactive shows in the two Kenyan constituencies is high, particularly in Kenya, ranging between 80-90%, whereas in Zambia listenership levels range between 40-60%, contrasting with listenership to radio shows generally (70-85%). Radio listeners tend to listen to all types of shows, from politics and development shows to social/cultural and music/entertainment shows. Yet country differences in interactive show listenership are not reflected in the levels of participation in interactive radio shows. Both in Kenya and in Zambia, roughly 20% of the total population have participated at one time or another in interactive shows. However, contrasting with listenership, participation tends to be more segmented across types of shows. Rural and urban constituencies show an inverse pattern of participation in Kenya and Zambia, with higher levels of participation in the urban sample from Zambia (21% versus 12% in the rural), and the rural sample from Kenya (21% versus 19% in the urban). Across the four sites, male and more educated listeners are more likely to engage interactive shows. Three to four times more men engage in interactive shows than women. Of the women who participate in interactive shows, they tend to be younger, single, more educated and wealthier compared with those who do not participate. Calling in to the studio is the most frequent form of engagement in radio shows, especially in rural areas. SMS is more popular in urban constituencies, particularly in Kenya. Only 10% of those who have participated in interactive media shows have ever used social media to communicate with stations. Across all sites, the main barriers to participation identified are cost and expectations of not getting through." (Abstract and introduction, page 4) more

Freedom on the Net 2016. Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps Under Pressure Top Insights

Freedom on the Net 2016. Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps Under Pressure
Top Insights