• Rethinking Media Policy in Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa: The Challenge of Community Media

    Author(s):
    PATRICK EDEM OKON
    Editor(s):
    Jyotirmaya Patnaik (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, Digital Humanists, Feminist Humanities, Information Ecosystems
    Subject(s):
    Communities, Journalism, Mass media and war, Political participation, Communication
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Community media, alternative journalism, rethinking, media policy, access, Community, Media and conflict, Activism
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/d40g-7x51
    Abstract:
    This article draws on the challenges confronting community media in South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria to propose a ‘rethink’ in media policy conception and the political processes for policy-making. It suggests an ‘ethical-political’ policy model as best suited to the contribution of community media towards sophistication in media policy discourse in the twenty-first century. The article locates community media within the conceptual framework of ‘alternative journalism’ and the scholarly debates about ‘shapers’ of media policy decisions. The empirical data are drawn from oral interviews conducted between 2011 and 2014. The study concludes, firstly, that African governments and media regulators need to quickly redress the pressures on community media to improve their effectiveness as policy activists. Secondly, the challenge of community media to media policy requires a revision of the conceptual, social, and political frameworks for media policy-making along the ‘ethical-political’ logic to make them more integrative and sophisticated. And thirdly, the contribution of community media requires greater public and academic acknowledgement. These issues are considered from the sociological and philosophical perspectives and only in relation to community press and broadcasting media.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.15655/mw/2017/v8i2/49013
    Publisher:
    Media Watch
    Pub. Date:
    2018-3-12
    Journal:
    Media Watch
    Volume:
    8
    Issue:
    2
    Page Range:
    270 - 286
    ISSN:
    2249-8818,0976-0911
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
    Share this:

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf rethinking-media-policy-in-anglophone-sub-saharan-africa.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 296

    Back to Deposits