Can the media in Africa shape Africa's political future?

Abstract

This article seeks to make an assessment of the media's role in shaping the political destiny of Africa as a continent. It looks at how the media responds to political crisis and its role in shaping Africa's political future with emphasis on three main issues: control and censorship of media, political economy of media and ethnicization of national politics in African countries. With reference to control and censorship of media, the focus is on how control and censorship of the media affect political reporting. The article further discusses how the political economy of the media influences its relationship with the government and how this impacts on its role in enhancing political accountability. The article then looks at the ethnicization of national politics and whether the proliferation of vernacular stations is to blame for increasing ethnicization of national politics in African countries such as Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Kenya.