African Newspaper Websites

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Title: The Quest for an Operative and Proficient Website for African Newspapers: A

Potential Challenge to One-way International News Flow?

Abstract

Informed by the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) debate on the

need for a two-way information flow in international relations, this paper posits that an efficient

African online newspaper could provide an alternate slant to African news in a global arena. A

content analysis of the homepages of four African newspaper websites (Al Ahram, Independent

Online, Vanguard, and the Daily Nation) was conducted to determine to what extent they

incorporate the following attributes necessary for an efficient webpage: (a) Speed (b) Structure

(c) Content, (d) Navigation, and (e) Customer focus. Also, these websites were reviewed to

determine how they integrate social media networks, specifically, Twitter and Facebook. Results

show that all four websites met the above five criteria to a reasonable degree and they all employ

Twitter and Facebook as means of encouraging audience participation. Regarding content, Al-

Ahram has the highest number of news stories at 53, of which 58% were local, 15% were

African, and 27% were Non-African. The Daily Nation had a more balanced news distribution,

with a total of 40 news stories of which 45% were local, 30% were African, and 25% were Non-

African. Independent Online had a total of 43 news stories on its homepage; broken down as

58.2% local, 2.3% African, and 39.5% Non-African. Finally, Vanguard had no

international/Non-African news on its homepage. With a total of 22 news stories, 91% were

local, covering Nigeria, and 9% were African. Ways that the websites incorporate social media

networks are discussed in detail.

KEYWORDS: African Newspaper Websites, Facebook, International News Flow, NWICO,

Twitter, Social Media

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INTRODUCTION

Since the 1980s the quest for a New World Information and Communication Order

(NWICO) has been a dominant issue in so far as international media relations are concerned1.

Among the issues for this debate are equitable balance in global information flow, the right to

determine domestic communication policies, and the need for a two-way information flow that

accurately depicts activities in developing countries (MacBride Report, 1980). The persisting

argument is that the production and exchange of information and knowledge are still a one-way

(North-South), rather than a two-way flow despite many interventions, including the UNESCO-

sponsored research – the MacBride Commission (1980) – which produced the Many Voices, One

World report. Since much has already been written on this topic (see, among others, Gerbner,

Mowlana, & Nordenstreng, 1993; Mowlana, 1993; Golding & Harris, 1997, Vincent,

Nordenstreng, & Traber, 1999, Chaudhary, 2001; Carlsson, 2003; Igbinoba & Emenike, 2011),

the current work draws inference from NWICO debates and is concerned with ways that

developing countries could utilize newspaper websites as a global media tool – thus, promoting a

two-way flow. This active participation in the international news flow can be achieved by

African newspapers, through harnessing their websites to be a source of news for their local

citizens as well as for the global audience.

The above postulation may be construed by many as naïve especially with the evidence

of continuous domination of Western media conglomerates, both offline and online. Such a

counterargument is plausible since only four organizations (Reuters, The Associated Press [AP],

The British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC], and Agence France Presse [AFP]) control the

majority of world news production. Paterson (2006) described this trend as a global wholesale

news system, further arguing that the notion of diversity of information simply because several

sources present news stories online, is an illusion of information diversity. I acknowledge the

genuineness of his argument. Nevertheless, my assertion is that African newspapers or other

developing countries’ online presence through a well-designed website could serve as a conduit

for alternative news and a source for detailed international news stories which often are barely

featured in mainstream media.

1 Although NWICO and its tenets are no longer considered an exigent issue even by UNESCO that instituted it.

However, the reality remains that most of the concerns that compelled the MacBride Commission of 1980 still

persist – some with no change and others with insignificant change.

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One has to acknowledge, as a matter of reality, that this mission may not be feasible for

all African nations because of political restrictions on press systems (and press freedoms)

especially in countries under authoritarian press systems. However, several African countries are

rising above developmental and authoritarian press systems. Equally, several African countries

have ranked much higher in their press freedom index than some developed countries. For

instance, according to the 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index as compiled by Reporters Without

Borders (http://en.rsf.org/), Namibia ranked 20th in the world, well above the UK (28), USA

(47), France (38), Australia (30), and Japan (22). In addition, nine African countries were among

the top 50 countries with a free press – an increase from seven the previous year (2010-2011).

An online presence is essential to the African press because there is also a nascent

internet penetration on the continent. A recent International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

report (2011-2012) shows, for instance, that

[t]he regional price trends highlight that while ICT prices are falling in all regions of the

world, the greatest price drops occurred in Africa, where fixed broadband prices fell over

55 percent and mobile cellular prices by 25 percent. In developing countries, 25% of

homes have a computer and 20% have internet access, compared to 20% and 13%,

respectively, 3 years ago. (ITU - News Review, May/June, 2011).

But beyond serving Africans in their various countries, the newspaper websites, viewed as a

global medium, could serve local, national, and international audiences. This function was

described by Robertson (1992) as glocalization, and its permutations have been widely applied in

various studies (Kraidy, 1999; Wellman, 2002; Kjeldgaard & Askegaard, 2006).

Aims of the Study

In order for an African newspaper website to be a glocalization tool, it must be designed

to work efficiently. The aim of this paper then is first, to highlight critical traits that are

necessary for both effective and efficient newspaper website functionality. Second, empiricism

in the current study centers on a review of the website home pages of four of the top 10 most

prominent African newspapers to ascertain to what extent they incorporate the attributes of an

effective and efficient webpage. Third, since interactivity is almost an inevitable component of

online newspapers, I will equally ascertain whether, and to what extent, the four African

newspapers engage in active reader practice. Finally, I will examine ways in which these

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newspapers encourage interactivity/active audience participation through the incorporation of

social media networks especially, in this case, Twitter and Facebook. The results of this study

are intended to highlight both positive practices and areas of improvement. It could also provide

other African newspaper websites with valuable information in their quest for an enhanced and

meaningful voice in the arena of global news flow.

Terms and Definitions

For the purpose of this study, different categories of news (local, African and Non-African) are

defined as follows:

Local – National news about the country in which the newspaper is domiciled.

African – News about (and on) other countries within Africa.

Non-African – News about (and on) the rest of the world, outside Africa.

Newspapers under study

Four top African newspapers – Al-Ahram (Egypt), Independent Online (South Africa),

Vanguard (Nigeria), and The Daily Nation (Kenya) – were selected for this study. The criteria

for their selection are many. First, these four newspapers made the 4International Media and

Newspapers list of Top 50 African Newspapers online. 4International Media and Newspapers

(4IMN) is an Australian international directory and search engine focusing on worldwide

newspapers. According to 4IMN’s About Us page, “the aim of this website is to provide an

approximate popularity ranking of worldwide newspapers based upon the popularity of their

websites” (www.4imn.com). Their categorization is informed by independent web metrics

extracted from three search engines: Google Page rank, Alexa Traffic rank, and Majestic Seo

Referring Domains. In fact, the selected newspapers for this study rank among the top eight

African newspapers by 4IMN standards. The complete list of top 8 African Newspapers and

their countries includes, by rank, Al-Ahram (Egypt), Al Ahram Weekly (Egypt), Independent

Online (South Africa), Mail & Guardian Online (South Africa), Al Wafd (Egypt), Vanguard

(Nigeria), The Times (South Africa), and The Daily Nation (Kenya). A fact sheet on these

newspapers is presented in Table 1. Table 1 shows, among other things, that Al-Ahram is the

oldest of the four newspapers (founded in 1875) while Independent Online is the newest of the

four. To diversify the selection and to represent the four cardinal points of Africa, Al-Ahram (#1,

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Egypt), Independent Online (#2, South Africa), Vanguard (#6, Nigeria) and The Daily Nation

(#8, Kenya) were selected. In addition, these four are among the African countries that have

demonstrated a significant increase (within the past decade) in the percentage of individuals

using the Internet.

Table 1: Fact Sheet of Top Newspapers in Africa by 4IMN web ranking

_____________________________________________________________________________

Newspaper Country Year Language Web Address

_____________________________________________________________________________

Al-Ahram* Egypt 1875 Arabic2 http://english.ahram.org.eg

Independent Online* S. Africa 1999 English http://www.iol.co.za

Vanguard Nigeria 1984 English http://www.vanguardngr.com/

The Daily Nation Kenya 1960 English http://www.nation.co.ke

______________________________________________________________________________

* These two newspapers made the 4IMN list of the Top 200 Newspapers in the World, with Al-

Ahram in 40th position, while the Independent Online came in at 133rd.

Source: 4International Media and Newspapers (www.4imn.com).

Table 2 presents the percentage of individuals in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa

who use the Internet. The Table shows, for instance, that only 5.35% of South Africans used the

Internet in 2000. By 2010, this proportion had risen to 18%, a 236% increase over 10 years.

Equivalent numbers for Nigeria were 0.06% in 2000 and 24% by 2010, for an impressive

39,900% Internet usage increase.

Table 2: Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet in the Four Countries

_____________________________________________________________________________

Country % of users in 2000 % of users in 2010 % increase

_____________________________________________________________________________

Egypt 0.64 30.20 4,618%

Kenya 0.34 14.00 4,017%

Nigeria 0.06 24.00 39,900%

South Africa 5.35 18.00 236%

____________________________________________________________________________

Source: ITU, 2012.

2 Al-Ahram newspaper has an English version, which is the one used for this study.

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The contents of the newspapers were reviewed over three days (July 13 to July 15, 2012).

There is no special rationalization for the specific time chosen; rather, the idea for this study was

spurred by several articles that the researcher read on the subject during that period and from the

class discussions that emanated from her International Communications class.

Brief Description of the Four African Newspapers

Al-Ahram of Egypt

Al-Ahram, Arabic for The Pyramids, is the second oldest Egyptian newspaper founded in

1875. The Egyptian Events, founded in 1828, was the first. Al-Ahram is largely owned by the

Egyptian government, and its online version was launched on November 26, 2010

(www.aram.org.eg ). It is widely circulated and often compared to The London Times and The

New York Times. Kitchen (1950), among the early proponents of this parallel, wrote,

What the London Times is to Englishmen and the New York Times to Americans, al-

Ahram (literally, "The Pyramids") is to the Arabic-reading public from Tripolitania to the

Euphrates. In a part of the world where the majority of the press is still in that flamboyant

stage of partisan, opportunistic journalism which Americans witnessed in the United

States at the turn of the century, al-Ahram has for 75 years demonstrated that there is a

Middle East market for solid, responsible treatment of foreign and domestic affairs (p.

155).

Independent Online (IOL) of South Africa

Independent Online is a member of the South African Digital Media and Marketing

Association (DMMA). DMMA describes itself as “an independent, voluntary, non-profit

association focused on growing and sustaining a vibrant and profitable digital industry within

South Africa” (www.dmma.co.za). Independent Online is one of DMMA’s 88 online publishers

and a division of Independent News & Media South Africa. IOL boasts over 800 Independent

News & Media journalists. It describes its clout as

currently records over 22 million page impressions, with over 1.6 million unique readers

per month – both locally and internationally. Through the titles represented, Independent

Online has access to more than 20, 000 classified advertisements a day and has South

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Africa’s largest newspaper subscriber base. Specialised products focusing on Business,

Personal Finance, Property, Motoring, Entertainment, Careers, Travel, Mobile,

Technology, Sport and HIV/Aids can be accessed from the main www.iol.co.za website,

which is fully archived and searchable. (Independent Online Website, 2012).

Vanguard of Nigeria

Vanguard, an independent newspaper, was founded by a Nigerian journalist and

columnist Sam Amuka. It began as a weekly paper on June 3, 1984 and transformed into a daily

a little over a month later on July 15, 1984. Vanguard Media Limited lists their values as

grounded in equity and fairness, integrity, people-centeredness, and excellence. It further

describes its vision as being “the Best Media group with the Widest Reach through innovation

backed by excellent service delivery, highly motivated human capital and latest technology.” Its

mission statement is “[t]o impact positively on our Readers/Clients and society by providing

high quality, reliable and affordable media products for promoting knowledge, political stability

and economic prosperity” (Vanguardngr.com).

The Daily Nation of Kenya

The Daily Nation is owned by Nation Media Group (NMG) Limited, an independent

media group founded by Aga Khan in 1959. It is considered the largest independent media

conglomerate in East and Central Africa (www.nation.co.ke). The newspaper debuted on

October 3, 1960 with the promise to “do our utmost to help Kenya and the other East African

territories make the perilous transition to African majority rule and full independence as

peacefully and constructively as possible.” The Daily Nation newspaper boasts about its

autonomy, while in its mission statement it declares itself “independent, subject neither to

factional, commercial, religious or political interests” (www.nation.co.ke).

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Newspapers migrate online for several reasons. First, the Internet is a relatively cheap

and fast communication tool making the migration possible. Second, large amounts of

information and multimedia can be published almost instantaneously. Finally, in addition to

gaining revenue, newspapers go online in search of readership. New media audiences assume

the role of both consumers and to a certain degree, producers of content. This concept, often

referred to as the active audience practice, creates a paradigm shift whereby creators and

managers of media content approach their responsibilities from an audience/user-centered

perspective. At the onset of online newspapers, the delivery was predominantly a push strategy

– whereby, media producers pushed products to consumers by presenting available content. But

lately, due to the ubiquity and enormous amount of online content, the trend is toward more of a

pull strategy as readers /consumers pull the “needed” information from a plethora of available

material. The challenge, then, becomes one of how a newspaper can design its webpage to

attract and retain readers so that the latter can seek these newspaper websites for future

information pull. Several scholars have proffered answers to this question in various capacities.

Website design, while it may seem artless since anyone can rent a domain space and set

up a webpage, actually requires a tactful strategy to ensure a higher likelihood of revisit. Li

(2002) advised that user-centeredness should be the focus in designing efficient online

newspaper outlets. Li believes that newspapers with the most efficient webpages provide a

higher level of immediate access to news information and smooth news flow. Li (2002)

measured the effectiveness of news retrieval as being proportional to several factors, including

the available option for readers to select news items, the steps involved in accessing a news

story, and the amount of information retrieved within the shortest period of time.

Responding to the question of what constitutes an effective website, Gehrke and Turban

(1999) reviewed 47 papers (both professional and academic) and over 40 websites to determine

factors that contribute to an efficient website. Informed by the results of their study, they

provided determinants for a successful website design that would enhance efficient information

access. Their platform was for an e-commerce scenario, but the common quest for both an e-

commerce site and a newspaper site is to attract and retain visitors. Gehrke and Turban’s

determinants of a successful webpage are: page loading speed, business content, navigation

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efficiency, security, and marketing/customer focus3. Regarding speed, they strongly

recommended maintenance of a simple, rather than complex, graphic and to limit animation.

While a picture is often worth a thousand words, they suggest using mostly a text-only choice

and in cases where video is inevitable, to use a progressive rendering which allows the

accompanying text to load first before the video. In the same vein, Rosen and Purinton (2004)

added that “web design should not result in information overload. The goal, rather, should be to

give access to the information web surfers’ desire in the most expedient way possible; [also],

web surfers are not a patient group… [i]t is not, therefore, surprising that slow loading sites are a

major frustration and turnoff for web surfers” (p. 793).

Similarly, the content of a webpage to a greater degree contributes to readers’ preference

of one website over others. Gehrke and Turban (1999) suggested that contents of a webpage be

free of grammatical errors and be updated regularly. Online readers often prefer a short and

concise story or clips. To retain readers, they suggest using a concise and straight to the point

style of writing, with simple background colors. Above all, the provision of a functional Search

Box on a website is desirable.

Navigation component is paramount to online newspapers. Lack of a user-friendly

navigation capability, according to Gehrke and Turban (1999), is a turn-off to website visitors

while well-labeled, accurate links will retain readers. They are of the further view that simple

layouts and provision of multiple navigation bars that are highlighted or designed in 3-D format

for easier identification is encouraged. Gehrke and Turban however, discouraged links that open

up new browsers or windows that generate pop-up ads before getting to the information. That is

because online newspaper readers tend to be more active users than passive consumers.

Therefore, an efficient website keeps customers in focus by providing them with conduits for

feedback and for sharing their opinions with other readers. Some of the ways online newspapers

encourage audience participation are through provision of forums for readers to share their

opinions of a news story, inviting users to join their social media networks such as Facebook or

Twitter and providing avenues for readers to suggest topics of interest that the newspaper could

cover.

3 The criteria for effective websites provided in this paper focused on structural design and did not include software.

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Gehrke and Turban (1999) further suggested that an easy-to-remember domain name

should be used. Preferably, this should be a domain name that is connected to the name of the

newspaper. Moreover, since English is the official language of the World Wide Web (WWW),

an English version of the webpage is strongly encouraged even in situations where the

newspaper is published offline in another language. These criteria and other commonsense

guidelines constitute the main basis for the coding sheets in this current study.

Previous Studies on Websites and Newspaper Websites

Several and varied studies have been conducted on websites. Most of the studies

reviewed the content rather than the structural design of websites. The websites reviewed ranged

from political party websites (Strandberg, 2007), university websites (Padmannavar & Joshi,

2011), anti-smoking websites (Paek, Bae, Hove, & Yu, 2011), pharmaceutical services (Barker,

Talbot, & Aronso, 2012), all the way to online newspapers (Li, 1998; Massey, & Levy, 1999; Li,

2002, Sikanku, 2011; Karlis, Mitchell, & Collins, 2012). Strandberg (2007) for instance

surveyed leaders of political parties in Finland to gauge their opinions on the importance of using

websites, and went on to compare this with the results of a content analysis of their websites. The

results demonstrated, among other things, that websites of parliamentary parties were richer in

content than the websites of the parties outside parliament (p. 419). The Paek, Bae, Hove and

Yu (2011) study also used content analysis to determine the intervention strategies that are most

prominent in anti-smoking websites and found that a majority of the websites reviewed preferred

the health belief model over other models. The Padmannavar and Joshi (2011) study employed a

survey analysis to determine the similarities and differences in both national and international

university websites. It was determined that there is no difference in the information and services

both types of universities offer.

Previous work that reviewed online newspapers relates in some way to the characteristics

buttressed by Gehrke and Tuban (1999). Li (1998) analyzed the contents – home pages, front

pages, and news articles within the front pages – of three U. S. online newspapers: the New York

Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today. Their investigation revealed that U.S. online

newspapers gave more priority to textual information than graphic information; and that larger

graphics were more likely to appear on home pages than other pages. Also, these newspapers

made provisions for audience participation in the production of content. Another study, by

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Massey and Levy (1999), employing a cross-cultural context, examined the level of interactivity

inherent in Asian English-language online newspapers. They found that while all the online

newspapers reviewed provided users with a wealth of content, they lacked in interactivity.

Equally, Li (2002) conducted a content analysis of five U. S. online newspapers (the Washington

Post, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe) to determine

various levels of efficiency. Overall, the highest level of efficiency was determined by each

newspaper’s ability to provide immediate access to news information and a smooth news flow.

Finally, Karlis, Mitchell, and Collins (2012) analyzed the content of local, community, and

weekly newspapers and discovered that while free access to archival information was

commended by users of these sites, lack of hyperlinks on some websites was a deterrent for the

websites because of the failure to serve as a one-stop shop for information.

An extensive review yielded very minimal information regarding online African

newspapers. The only literature on online news media in Africa investigated inter-media agenda

setting relationships in Africa’s emerging era of liberalization using Ghanaian online news

sources (Sikanku, 2011). The current study is, therefore, timely. First, it provides an explorative

study that analyzes and compares African online newspapers. Second, it is an exploratory study

that specifically examines the structural design of African newspapers websites.

Research Questions

As earlier noted, African online newspapers, if designed efficiently, could serve as an

alternative to the established flow of information within Africa as well as between Africa and the

rest of the world. Newspaper websites or webpages, while serving as a great conduit for

extension of journalistic endeavors, requires a systematic and deliberate design that will achieve

that purpose. In light of these assumptions, the following research questions guided this study:

RQ1: Having determined the critical traits for an efficient newspaper website homepage, to

what extent do the four selected African newspaper webpages (Al Ahram, Independent

Online, Vanguard, and the Daily Nation) incorporate the following attributes necessary

for an efficient webpage: (a) Speed (b) Structure (c) Content, (d) navigation, and e)

Customer focus, as described by Gehrke and Turban (1999)?

RQ2: How do these four online newspapers incorporate social media networks, specifically

Twitter and Facebook?

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METHODOLOGY

We analyzed the online contents of four African newspaper websites (Al Ahram,

Independent Online, Vanguard, and the Daily Nation) using five major categories: speed,

structure, content, navigation, and active-user focus. A coding sheet was designed to collect data

on each category, and the unit of analysis was the home page of each of the four newspaper

websites. Two coders analyzed the data and reliability was achieved using the Holsti’s (1969)

agreement formula. The overall inter-coder reliability correlated to a 92%.

The coding procedure observed and recorded several data under each category. The

coding was conducted using a desktop computer with a high speed broadband connection in a

university campus located in the mid-western part of the United States. We previously observed

the four webpages to determine the frequency of their updates and realized that all were updated

on a daily basis (24-hour period). In fact, the Al-Ahram website has a timer that indicates the

time of its last update and the timer changes every 24 hours. In order for the coders to observe

the same data, the coding was performed on the same day.

For the Speed category, using a stop watch, we recorded the amount of time it took to

upload the homepage. We also observed, where applicable, the amount of time it took to upload

a video and selected one news story on the homepage indicating the title of the story and graphic

to ascertain that both coders observed the same data. We also noted whether the video upload

followed a progressive rendering structure, meaning that the accompanying text loads first before

the graphic.

Under structure, we counted the number of sections on the homepage, breaking it further

into small, medium and large sections. We recorded the number of sections that have graphics

and those that are texts. Also, we recorded any crawlers (that is, streaming/moving text on the

screen), animations, advertisements, background color as well as font colors.

In the content category, we coded for a number of observations, including each

newspaper’s coverage of Local (country of origin), African (news about and on other countries

within Africa) and Non-African (news about and on the rest of the world outside Africa). We

listed the number of headings, their titles, as well as grammatical and/or spelling errors.

Under navigation, we indicated provision for a Search Box and observed whether or not

the titles and sections were well-labeled for easier identification. We also looked for multiple

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navigation bars for similar information. Finally, we clicked on story links and recorded whether

or not they open in new windows and if there were any pop-up advertisements before getting to

the actual information.

Finally, we analyzed each newspaper’s ability to maintain and encourage active-audience

participation, as well as what social media networks (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) they incorporate

in that effort. We counted the number of social media network icons and links on the home

page, including where they are positioned on the page.

FINDINGS

A total of 21 subcategories (falling under speed, structure, content, navigation, and

customer focus/active-user friendliness) were analyzed to determine the efficacy of four African

newspaper webpages (Al Ahram, Independent Online, Vanguard, and the Daily Nation). The

aim was to determine the extent to which these newspapers incorporate the following attributes

necessary for an efficient webpage: (a) Speed (b) Structure (c) Content, (d) Navigation, and (e)

Customer focus. The key findings, presented under each category, are discussed below.

Speed: All four websites loaded within a few seconds from when the website link was

clicked. The Daily Nation was the fastest, loading in 1.5 seconds. Vanguard and Al-Ahram

loaded at 2.3 seconds while the Independent Online took 5.3 seconds to load. Only Independent

Online had graphic video on its homepage and it took the video about 5.7 seconds and three

different steps/stages to load. Each of the websites had a feature story, or what could be

compared to an offline front page story. Al-Ahram was the fastest in loading the feature story

with a 1.5 seconds speed, followed by both Vanguard and Daily Nation which took 1.8 seconds

each, while Independent Online loaded its feature story in just under 2.8 seconds.

Structure: All four websites had a white background and multiple/varied font sizes and

colors. The font sizes were a mix of large, medium and small sizes. We counted graphics as any

picture, video, logo, or animation; and all four websites had numerous graphics that in some

cases, overshadowed the text sections. Al-Ahram had 53 graphics, Independent Online had 47,

the Daily Nation, 26 and Vanguard had the least graphics at 18.

Content: All four sites had distinct headings that are located at the top of their

homepages. Al-Ahram and Daily Nation had 12 titles, Vanguard had 15, and Independent

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Online had 22. The common titles among all four are Business, News, and Sports. A complete

listing of these titles is presented in Table 3 to demonstrate the breadth of information presented

on the site. All four websites had animated images for headlines and advertisements. Animations

on Independent Online’s website included a continuous scroll of breaking news headlines for

local, national and international news, a local weather update, a financial report update, and a

pop-up invitation to participate in a survey that would help DMMA to “better understand South

African internet users”. Also, there were several advertisements on the Independent Online

website for products and services including personal advertisements. The other three websites

had advertisements for real estate, local and foreign job offers, educational institutions,

investment opportunities, and mobile telecommunications services.

Table 3: Listing of some of the Homepage Headlines by the Four Newspaper Websites

______________________________________________________________________

Al-Ahram Daily Nation Independent Online Vanguard

______________________________________________________________________

Home News News News

Egypt Business Business Business

World Op/Ed Sport Technology

Business Blogs Travel Politics

Opinion Technology Blogs Sports

Arts & Culture Features Jobs Entertainment

Folk Sports Opinion Editorial;

Sports Transitions South Africa Style

Life/Style Counties Africa Jobs

Heritage Sunday Echo World Viewpoint

Books Jobs Politics Q/A

Multimedia Travel Crime/Courts Advertise with us

___________________________________________________________________________

A news item was calculated as one single news story presented on the home page by

these four websites. They were broken into three categories: Local (national), African, and Non-

African. Al-Ahram has the highest number of news stories at 53, of which 58% were local, 15%

were African, and 27% were Non-African. The Daily Nation had a more balanced news

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distribution, with a total of 40 news stories of which 45% were local, 30% were African, and

25% were Non-African. Independent Online had a total of 43 news stories on its homepage;

broken down as 58.2% local, 2.3% African, and 39.5% Non-African. Finally, Vanguard had no

international/Non-African news on its homepage. Of Vanguard’s total of 22 news stories, 91%

were local, covering Nigeria, while the remaining 9% were African. Detailed information on this

breakdown of news coverage for all four newspapers is presented in Table 4.

Table 4: News Items on the Homepages of the Four Newspaper Websites

__________________________________________________________________________

Newspaper #News Item Local (%) African (%) Non-African (%)

___________________________________________________________________________ Al-Ahram 52 30 (57.7%) 8 (15.4%) 14 (26.9%)

Daily Nation 40 18 (45.0%) 12 (30.0%) 10 (25.0%)

Independent Online 43 25 (58.2%) 1 (2.3%) 17 (39.5%)

Vanguard 22 20 (90.9%) 2 (9.1%) 0

___________________________________________________________________________

Definitions:

Local – National news about the country in which the newspaper is domiciled.

African – News about (and on) other countries within Africa

Non-African – News about (and on) the rest of the world, outside Africa

Navigation: Navigation analysis included different ways in which the website offers

users a smooth and easier perusal of the site. All four webpages had a Search Box and the title

of each heading was distinctly provided in color or underlined. They also made provisions for

alternate means of accessing the same information. For instance, in addition to the headings

provided on top of the homepage, Al-Ahram also provided similar headlines with titles of

highlighted news stories at the bottom of the page. Independent Online, Daily Nation, and

Vanguard made the same provision but with the extended headline in the middle of the page.

Customer focus (active-user friendliness): The second research question was concerned

with the four website’s active-user practice. Overall, all four websites were in some way

involved in the use of interactive measures to ensure their readers weigh in on the stories and

provide their own opinions as needed. The website with the highest social networking activities

on the homepage was Vanguard. At the top of its homepage was a display of the number of their

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Facebook Friends (315,903 as of July 15, 2012) and the number of their followers on Twitter

(105,000 as of July 13, 2012). In addition, there was a section with a series of tweets labeled

“Your Tweets” with an invitation for readers to join the conversation. Finally, Vanguard entices

its readers to friend them on Facebook by listing the names and pictures of readers’ Facebook

friends on the home page. Similarly, Daily Nation and Independent Online displayed three

social networking icons, Facebook, Twitter and RSS on their homepage. In addition to

displaying the three icons, Al-Ahram had a section labeled “You Said” where readers’

commentaries are displayed and updated.

DISCUSSION/CONSLUSION

As an ambitious venture, this study sets out to review four top African newspaper

websites to determine their level of efficiency. I further propose utilizing the sites as a two-way

international news flow tool. Results demonstrate that the four websites proved to be structurally

efficient in accordance with Gehrke and Turban’s (1999) efficiency traits. While all four

websites show higher structural qualities in terms of loading speed, regular update of

information, graphic and textual contents, tools for navigation, and no pop-up ads, among many,

there is still room for improvement especially in the area of content. A balanced representation

of news stories that covers local and African region is recommended.

This study, while providing valuable data and insight into the structure, content and

interactive components of African newspaper websites, has some limitations that could inform

future research. For instance, the desktop computer used for data gathering is equipped with

high speed internet. Knowing that many visitors to the four websites may not have the same

speed provision, future studies could employ a computer with a lower broadband. Also, each

homepage and the feature stories analyzed for each website can be calibrated to level off the size

of the graphic or text file so as to determine a more accurate result for speed. In the same vein,

future studies may incorporate a survey or interview of online editors to ascertain their target

audience. For instance, do they consider people beyond their countries and continents as part of

their audience?

Finally, for the African newspapers to be conduits of African news stories, the editors

and webmasters need to think globally. Data from this study indicate that some of the reviewed

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websites, while capable of serving a global audience, still focus mostly on local audiences. For

instance, the Independent Online website provided a user-satisfaction survey on its homepage

and specifically requested the participation of South African web users, when it is clearly

capable of reaching a wider international audience.

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