Citation

Soola EO. Int. J. Aft. Stud. 2010; (1): 25-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, EuroJournals Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The paper articulates the critical importance of contextualizing media and democracy in Africa's political and cultural traditions, the early political history of Africa, its colonial past, the misplaced optimism that heralded its passing and the code of misgovernance that has blighted its political landscape ever since. The authoritarian, the libertarian, the democratic-participant and the social responsibility theories provide the theoretical anchor for the paper. The paper highlights Africa’s entrenched political and cultural traditions that promote human rights in general, and freedom of expression in particular. Africa's political history, the paper observes, is replete with copious evidence of systemic structural deficiencies which are traceable to the haphazard balkanization of its territories. The paper argues that aberrant military interruptions and their attendant brute force, the continent’s multi-ethnic, multi¬cultural and multi-linguistic configuration, serve to undermine both the trust network and the emergence of strong, capable and enduring polities.Though the media constituted a formidable ally in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, and sacrificially fought the military to a standstill, they have played the mute on certain issues of grave continental, and indeed, global concerns. This includes the Rwandan genocide and the on-going massacre in Darfur, leaving foreign media to seize the initiative of keeping the world posted on the infamy. The paper concludes on the note that African media can no longer be content with serving as watchdog but must also act as goad to stem Africa's perilous slide into authoritarianism.