Journalism in Africa

Journalism in Africa: New Trends Special Issue is a collection of nine essays about the production, performance, and the role of creative expressions in an environment of changing political, technological, and media landscapes in Africa. The published articles explore the dynamics and interplay of forces that are shaping news audiences and citizen engagement with journalism, the state, and society. The empirical studies in this publication reveal that the emergent trends for journalism in Africa are complex, multifaceted, and defy simple explanations. A major point of inquiry concerns how to make sense of citizen engagement or disengagement with journalism; trust in journalism; news avoidance; and selective attention with journalism in an environment of shifting authoritarian state controls, and a fragmented digital media landscape. The findings from the studies published herein show that the nexus of journalism, citizen trust in journalism, state narratives on media platforms, and the responses of citizens to media narratives may not be unique to Africa. These dynamics have implications when drawing global comparisons. The multiple mythological approaches employed in the studies offer templates for comparative research in other cultural contexts. Whether comparative research can accurately portray the African experience or not remains to be ascertained.