Online Media and Elite Accountability in Africa: The Case of Sahara Reporters and the amaBhungane

Abstract

The study was conducted with the purpose of assessing the role of online media in enforcing accountability and helping citizens understand problems of elite accountability in Africa. The focus was on an online newspaper, Sahara Reporters from Nigeria and amaBhungane, a South African investigative unit that publishes online. Textual analysis was used as an appropriate research methodology to gather data, and elitism and accountability were used as key literature review entries. Critical findings were that both media play a significant role in enforcing elite accountability in these two different contexts, however, their modes of reporting (tabloid and broadsheet) have a significant impact on how their stories are received and whether they have effect. It was discovered that Sahara Reporters follows tabloid reporting while amaBhungane follows broadsheet reporting. The question of whether they achieve their aims of ensuring that there is accountability lies on their ideological differences in reporting.