In the Shadow of the Global North
Journalism in Postcolonial Africa

This book focuses on the underexplored journalistic representations created by African journalists reporting on African countries.

J. Siguru Wahutu (Author)

9781009431958, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 November 2024

232 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2 cm, 0.49 kg

'The significance of the book is its attempt to understand why African journalists frame and present their continent in the same way as the Global North journalists and news organizations. The postulation that underpins this discussion is that journalism practiced in Africa is rooted in the Global North journalism culture and practice. This journalism is characterized by the marginalization of African voices. The argument is that a different kind of journalism - or simply put, African journalism - could provide something different, particularly in how African issues are framed and presented.' Albert Sharra, African Studies Review

In the Shadow of the Global North unpacks the historical, cultural, and institutional forces that organize and circulate journalistic narratives in Africa to show that something complex is unfolding in the postcolonial context of global journalistic landscapes, especially the relationships between cosmopolitan and national journalistic fields. Departing from the typical discourse about journalistic depictions of Africa, j. Siguru Wahutu turns our focus to the underexplored journalistic representations created by African journalists reporting on African countries. In assessing news narratives and the social context within which journalists construct these narratives, Wahutu captures not only the marginalization of African narratives by African journalists but opens up an important conversation about what it means to be an African journalist, an African news organization, and African in the postcolony.

1. Why Study African Media?
2. What is African Journalism?
3. Habitus in the Postcolony
4. African Journalism Fields
5. Africans at the Margins
6. Framing an African Atrocity
7. 'That Is Lazy Journalism'
8. Lessons Learned
Appendix A: Methodological Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]