This study explores the perceptions of academics and practitioners regarding the impact of journalism studies research and education on journalistic practice in Africa. Drawing on social constructivism theory, the study advances a journalist–academic knowledge exchange (JAKE) framework to assess the extent and perceived relevance of engagements between journalism studies academics and practitioners. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 19 journalists and journalism academics from Eswatini, Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia. Regarding the extent to which collaborations occur, the engagement spectrum ranges from limited awareness to practical and meaningful integration. Regarding the collaborations between educational institutions and journalistic organisations, our study found the significance of knowledge exchange agreements and sustained engagement, as opposed to informal, one-time interactions at the level of individual journalists and academics. In addressing the alignment of journalism studies research and education with the needs of professional journalism, our study underscores the importance of mutual recognition and knowledge exchange. Respondents believed that through accessible and applicable knowledge sharing, such as creating a forum for both parties to disseminate and engage with academic research, stakeholders can move beyond power dynamics and cultivate more equitable collaborations.

It is generally agreed that the media have played and continue to play a major role in the efforts against HIV and AIDS. The literature shows that the media have not only informed the public but also circulated ideas that frame the pandemic in particular ways. The aim of this study was to uncover such ideas by examining how Sesotho newspapers represented HIV and AIDS between 1986 and 2015. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis, the study focused on the ideologies encoded in dehumanising metaphors. The findings reveal that the main ideological function of these metaphors has been to promote stigma against those affected by the pandemic. The findings show that the newspapers used a variety of metaphors to achieve this goal, including those with the source domains of “dirt,” “plants” and “animals.” Although the use of these metaphors gradually declined over time, their long-lasting influence remains evident, as stigma continues to be a major barrier to HIV prevention, treatment and care in Lesotho. These findings suggest that value-free reporting can help to mitigate stigma and support effective HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment efforts.

Some studies report that top-down COVID-19 communication interventions failed to address local structural challenges, such as stigma and lack of access to media forms, which led to communicative marginalisation among resource-limited communities. This article explores how the community radio medium could facilitate host community members’ participation in COVID-19 communication interventions amid these local structural factors. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. The researchers collected qualitative data using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis revealed that Radio Peace, the selected community radio station for this research, employed participatory COVID-19 communication strategies to address barriers to listeners’ involvement in its COVID-19 interventions, such as stigma and lack of media access. This study found that community radio allows host community members to articulate their health communication needs and engage with structural barriers influencing their involvement in the station’s COVID-19 communication interventions. However, the study identified barriers to community members’ access to and participation in community radio’s COVID-19 communication interventions, including indecorous language during on-air discourses. We suggest integrating trusted voices, such as local religious leaders and COVID-19 survivors, into community radio’s COVID-19 communication interventions to address stigma.

Since its release in 2006, Survivor South Africa, a franchise of the global Survivor reality television format, has run for multiple seasons featuring South African “castaways” who compete in supposedly wild foreign locales. Survivor SA: Immunity Island (2021), the eighth season of the show, offers a novel opportunity to examine how the colonial discourses of exoticism and otherness central to the Survivor franchise are adapted to a local context. The season was unexpectedly relocated from the Philippine Island of Palawan to the South African Wild Coast due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. This marked the first time the show was shot domestically. Through a close textual analysis of the season’s premiere episode, I explore how the cultural specificity of the Wild Coast is erased in order to construct it as exotic and “other” from the South African nation. By layering a national reality television gameshow over an imagined wild colonial past, the show brings two versions of South Africa into tension: a contemporary nation state and a romanticised past framed by myths of primitivism. This spatial and temporal dislocation brings attention to the erasures and inconsistencies required in order to produce Survivor’s colonial adventure fantasy for contemporary audiences.

In this study, I discuss the prevalence of mental health conditions in Nigerian Afrobeats artistes and social problems plaguing the music industry in Nigeria. Drawing upon the ordeals of some hip-hop artistes in the country, I argue that conflictual relationships between music artistes and their support groups or record labels may trigger mental health problems in the artistes. I examine what Nigerian Afrobeats artistes go through in the course of their career development, how they respond to stardom and the challenges accompanying their career growth. Borrowing insights from phenomenology, I equally investigate hermeneutic themes in the songs of Omah Lay and MohBad with the aim of exploring their lifeworld and the lived experience of what it means to become depressed in the context of Nigerian Afrobeats subculture. I consider the specific stories the artistes tell to foreground the subtext of mental health issues, just as I interrogate some ontological questions raised in their songs. Seven songs in Omah Lay’s Boy Alone album and eight of MohBad’s singles are critically analysed to focalise their phenomenality in terms of content, intentional object and prominent isolated phenomenal themes. A hypothesis underlying the relationship between the artistes and their music is generated, helping to claim that the artistes under study used music to reflect life struggles, explore memories and raise critical questions on mortality and existential dread.

On November 10, 1995 the Nigerian military regime executed author and political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in spite of widespread international condemnation. This study examines American and British elite press coverage of Saro-Wiwa’s activism for the environment of the Niger Delta, the Ogoni people and the role Shell Oil played. Based on framing and content analysis, I argue that coverage was mostly episodic and revolved around Saro-Wiwa himself. His activism brought a modest increase of coverage that dissipated after his death. However, this study reveals differences in reporting between the American and British press, especially concerning the role of Shell Oil.

Like many media and communication initiatives for development and social change that are highly global in nature, the social impact of expanding the broadcast footprint of the Paralympic Games to regions such as sub-Saharan Africa is often simply assumed, and the markers of success are underpinned by a reach-centric logic. In this paper, we explore whether and how the Paralympics can become a platform for social change. Informed by findings from a four-year participatory action research project, this paper analyses experimentation with different communication for social change approaches related to para sport and the Paralympics, with a focus on Malawi. The Paralympics presents a unique context for analysing communication for social change, as it involves collaboration between non-profit and commercial stakeholders. We advance and operationalise the concept of “communication for localisation,” combined with an ecological approach to communication, to draw attention to the agency of local actors in interpreting global media content. We highlight four moments of “making” that demonstrate practices of localisation and interpretation that are important for grounding the Paralympics within local contexts in meaningful and impactful ways.

Academic inquiry into uncivil discourses has provided valuable insights into the phenomenon globally. However, little is known about how topical issues in Africa manifest this phenomenon on online news forums. This study contributes to the broader discourse of incivility by investigating the thematic manifestations of uncivil discourses in Africa using a case study of Ghana’s lithium deal on Ghanaweb and identifying their targets. Employing both inductive and deductive coding to analyse user comments (n=211), four main themes emerged: elite exploitation of the country’s mineral resources; calls for local sovereignty; calls for stakeholder accountability; and stereotypical ethnic attacks. The study reveals that uncivil comments were directed towards political figures, parties, ethnic groups and foreign investors. The broader implications of our findings for the praxis of political and media studies are highlighted.

This 2023 study examines how urban, middle-class residents in Gauteng, South Africa adapt their TV viewing habits during load shedding, using survey data from 330 participants and follow-up interviews. The findings show that access to mobile devices, reliable internet, and backup power matters more than electricity alone. While traditional TV is being disrupted, many people use smartphones, mobile data, UPS-powered Wi-Fi, or pre-downloaded content, favouring platforms like Netflix, YouTube, and Showmax for their offline and mobile-friendly features. Yet, about a quarter cannot watch TV during power outages due to data costs or a lack of power backups. The study focuses on urban participants, noting limitations and calling for further research into rural and low-income communities. It urges the implementation of affordable internet and power solutions to ensure equitable media access.