The Scramble for African Media: The British Government, Reuters, and Thomson in the 1960s

Abstract

With the wave of independence in Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the British government sought not only to maintain influence in former colonies but also to expand it in the rest of the continent. One lever of influence was news media. The British government encouraged and subsidized London-based media to expand in Africa to block the Soviets, forestall competitors, and preserve British influence in a classic example of media imperialism. The Reuters news agency used a secret subsidy to greatly expand its Africa coverage and sign up new national governments as clients. Anglo-Canadian newspaper millionaire Roy Thomson, who sought a peerage, cooperated closely with the government as he invested heavily in African newspapers and television systems and journalism training.