Over the past two decades, the media in the newly established nations of Black Africa, similar to elsewhere in the Third World, have been described in terms of development journalisma rubric that academics and journalists have found convenient to describe the special situation of the media in these societies. By its very name, development journalism recognizes the reality of underdevelopment and includes two general foci: counteracting the dependency relationship of colonialism and promoting the supercession of the traditional, tribal-based societies by institutions supporting the new nation state. Development journalism implies that development is a valid social goal and, furthermore, that the media have a contribution to make towards it. Indeed, the media are expected to actively pursue this role. . This paper reviews the evolving context of development journalism, the various rationales and rhetoric attached to it, and presents a summary of its current health.It must be noted at the start that Black Africa is not a homogeneous entity but exhibits a wide variety of social, political and economic situations.
Expectations of development journalismThe expectations of African development journalism were articulated by Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, a leading Pan-Africanist, who saw the media as a revolutionary tool of African liberation from the fetters of colonialism and imperialism.' The media were an extensiona significant extension -of the government and its policies of social, economic and cultural development. In Nkrumah's view, the struggle between the weak and underdeveloped African continent and the advanced industrialised states gave a revolutionary mission to the African mass media. Nkrumah insisted:...our Revolutionary African Press must carry our Revolutionary purpose. This is to establish a progressive political and economic system upon our continent that will free men from want and every form of social injustice and enable them to work out their social and cultural destinies in peace and by guest on July 28, 2015 gaz.sagepub.com Downloaded from
The first universities were established in ancient Africa in places such as Timbuctoo, Goa and Ethiopia. In contemporary Africa, the Islamic Al-Azar University is the oldest academy.
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