Scholars highlight trends for media freedom across Africa in panel in Accra

Originally published on Global Voices

A group of renowned African media professors from around the world convened in Accra, Ghana, in early December to present academic research and highlight emerging trends in media freedom for journalists and media professionals across Africa.

Professors presented research articles that touched on studies from Nigeria, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and Zimbabwe, often exploring the connection between media and a country’s emerging democratic structure.

Scholars agreed the state of media freedom for journalists and internet users across Africa is mixed: while some papers outlined a new era of online freedom for digital activists, several studies highlighted significant hindrances for freedom of speech in Africa, including the arrest of journalists in Nigeria or internet shutdowns during periods of civil conflict in Burkina Faso.

A recent article by Reporters Without Borders highlighted multiple violent attacks on journalists across the Sahel region in 2023 and 2024. More than 500 community radio stations in the region signed a petition calling for an end to attacks on journalists, presented at a conference in Bamako in September, 2024. 

At the workshop on December 5, noteworthy doctoral scholars from the Netherlands, Malawi, England, South Africa and the United States met at Mahogany Lodge in downtown Accra to compare their research papers and offer criticism and new citations.

In this short clip, African media professors share colorful vignettes about their own research studies they presented at the University of Toronto Media Freedom workshop in Accra.

The future president of Carleton University in Canada, Dr. Wisdom Tettey, organized the 12-person workshop in Ghana with research funds from his former position as Principal of University of Toronto, Scarborough. The Media Foundation for West Africa helped organize the event. 

One key presentation from Dr. Winston Mano of University of Westminster in London took a deep dive into “Afrokology,” a term that summarizes the expansive efforts to decolonize emerging research about Africa in the fields of media and communication. The goal, Mano explained, is to better explore fields of media from the margins of African knowledge, creating a “radical reorientation” from which to generate better research that privileges African thought. 

A second research project analyzed the hashtag #ZimbabweanLivesMatter protesting Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa, which went viral in 2020, presented by well-known African media professor and book editor Dr. Bruce Mutsvairo of Utrecht University. His findings, along with his doctoral student Tenford Chitanana, showed the hashtag movement in Zimbabwe allowed activists to subvert and override the roles of national Zimbabwe media. The powerful momentum behind the hashtag allowed internet users to publish news items ahead of the national media, while also setting the news agenda for the day. The authors found the hashtag was a powerful alternative tool for digital activism against the Zimbabwe president.

The media scholars all submitted original research studies for the workshop titled “Evolution of Democracy, Media, Identity and Citizenship in Africa: Critiques and Contestations.” Participants had a chance to make suggestions about and edits to each others’ research, which will be published in a key academic journal in 2025 (the exact journal is still undecided as participants finish their edits).

Tettey said in a later interview:

I think, in terms of things to takeaway for people who work in this field, from journalists to policymakers and civil society organization for that matter, is understanding that these freedoms cannot be taken for granted, that they are fragile and we have to continue to push for their consolidation.

Tettey hopes the body of literature produced can inform government policy and civil society organizations across Africa when it is published as an updated examination of case studies for media in key political events. 

In this extended interview, Professor Tettey shares his review of the workshop in Accra, highlighting how this new body of literature can inform media policy for African governments across the continent.

In concluding interviews, scholars Cohen and Mutsvairo said they were thrilled to meet many research authors in person for the first time after reading their research for years. Looking forward, several scholars said the new networking opportunities found among the cohort in Accra may lead to new collaborations on major grants and book publications in the future. 

African media scholars discuss media freedom in Accra, Ghana. Photo credit: Jimmy Kainja.

Global Voices author Jeslyn Lemke was one of the researchers who presented at the workshop.

Originally published in Global Voices.