An agenda for researching African media and communication contexts

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed major changes that are ongoing in media systems and structures in all of Africa, including South Africa. In South Africa, these changes are referred to as media transformation, whereas in the rest of the continent they are referred to as media reform. The transformation of the media or media reform also coincides with global media transformations or media reforms. These reforms have been ongoing since the 1980s in Europe and North America, and accelerated in the 1990s in the former Soviet Union, East and Central Europe, Asia, and South and Central America. New information and communication technologies, as well as the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting technologies, have also added new dimensions to communication and media.