This article was downloaded by: [Dr Terje Skjerdal]On: 16 March 2015, At: 13:50Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Click for updates

African Journalism StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/recq21

Why the ‘African’ still matters inAfrican journalism studiesTerje Skjerdalaa NLA University College, Kristiansand, Norway.Published online: 12 Mar 2015.

To cite this article: Terje Skjerdal (2015) Why the ‘African’ still matters in African journalismstudies, African Journalism Studies, 36:1, 57-64, DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2015.1008146

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2015.1008146

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

57

African Journalism StudiesVolume 36 | Number 1 | 2015pp. 57–64

DOI: 10.1080/23743670.2015.1008146Print ISSN 2374-3670 | Online 2374-3689

© 2015 iMasa

WHY THE ‘AFRICAN’ STILL MATTERS IN AFRICAN JOURNALISM STUDIES

Terje SkjerdalNLA University College, Kristiansand, Norwayterje.skjerdal@nla.no

When a company changes its name, there isn’t always a noble reason behind it. It could be purely out of commercial self-interest. However, when an academic journal changes its name, one would assume there is a good reason for it. At any rate, the occasion invites reflection on the publication’s profile and place within the scholarly community. This very invitation is writ large on the heading of the current issue of this journal, and the opportunity cannot be passed up – hence this article.

Ecquid Novi, one of the most mysterious titles on the academic bookshelf, is history. The discussion here will focus on the part that remains, African Journalism Studies, and especially on the significance of the first term, ‘African’. Much has been written about the ambiguity and sentiment attached to ‘African’/‘Africanity’ (Nyamnjoh 2010), but the focus of this article is perhaps less controversial and concerns the question of how well the ‘African’ is maintained in academic publishing. My approach is largely quantitative. I have scrutinised five volumes of three media journals which all have ‘African’ in their title, in order to uncover the tendencies in their cultural and geographical orientation. The three journals are scholarly related, although they vary from a specific focus on journalism (Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, henceforth ENAJS), to media studies (Journal of African Media Studies, JAMS), to communication in general (African Communication Research, ACR). The data generate new knowledge about the degree of African alignment on the part of the three reputed local journals, along with a longitudinal perspective on the present journal, ENAJS, where all articles over the past 30 years were surveyed. On this basis, I conclude by arguing for the importance of maintaining an African focus in journalism and media scholarship on the continent.

AFRICAN AUTHORSHIPIt is often assumed that African media production is curtailed by Western ideas and knowledge. In the words of Arnold S. de Beer (2010, 213), students of journalism and

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

58

Terje Skjerdal

media studies in Africa are ‘entrapped in the Northern “way of doing things”’. The situation is nevertheless that the bulk of research concerning media and journalism in Africa is produced by Africans, comes from within the continent, and is published in Africa-based journals. A cursory look at prestigious international journals such as Journalism Studies (Taylor & Francis), Journalism and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Sage) leads to a depressing discovery, if one expects to see the whole world covered. Apart from a handful of theme issues, only isolated contributions focus specifically on Africa.

The situation is naturally different in the Africa-based journals. A survey of three significant journals in the area demonstrates that both editorship and research are firmly rooted in the continent. During the period 2010–14, there were 304 contributors to research articles in the three surveyed journals – ENAJS, JAMS and ACR – some of whom are counted several times, as they had more than a single contribution.1 Overall, more than two-thirds of the contributors (69%) had an African background (‘background’ here being defined as their primary national experience, usually the country in which they grew up). Some contributors later moved abroad to serve at foreign universities (especially in the United States), but they still count as ‘African’ for the purposes of this survey, as the intention is to identify what the public is likely to regard as the researcher’s primary point of reference.2 In cases where the national background is uncertain (not many), the author is classified according to the institutional affiliation given in the biography accompanying the article.

The African contribution is especially high in ACR, where as many as 86 per cent of authors have an African background (N=85). This mirrors the situation of the now defunct (though not officially closed) journal Africa Media Review (AMR), which had its heyday in the first decade after its launch in 1986. The primary mission of the African Council for Communication Association (ACCE)-affiliated journal was to boost local scholarship in the field, and it succeeded (Willems 2014). The journal published 113 scholarly articles in its first five volumes, of which 109 had African authorship. However, it must also be said that AMR far from represented the whole continent: 58 per cent of articles appearing during the first five-year period came from Nigeria, another 12 per cent from Ghana, and the remainder were scattered contributions from a few other countries. To this end, the present-day ACR is faring better, without dominance on the part of a single country, and with authors from as many as 15 African countries in the ten issues included in the present survey (ahead of all the other journals mentioned in this article).

Much like AMR, ACR appears to arise from the ‘African soil’. It is in touch with research environments on the ground, is has a particular African agenda, and it already publishes irregularly. It is not affiliated with an internationally reputed publisher, in contrast with ENAJS (in the Taylor & Francis stable) and JAMS (Intellect). Indeed, an important principle for ACR since its inception in 2008 has been to serve the local research community by making articles freely available on the Internet (The Editors

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

59

Why the ‘African’ still matters in African journalism studies

2008), thereby rendering itself unattractive to international publishers. The downside of this policy – ironically – is that the journal becomes less quoted by international researchers who rely on established academic search platforms, where independent journals are excluded or receive lower priority. This is pitiful, insofar as ACR (like AMR in the past) allows authors to submit locally grounded research contributions which violate global conventions in academic publishing.3 At the same time, the quality of the research in both journals has proven inconsistent. Some contributions are innovative and rigorous, while others, despite their innovative potential, are poorly executed (cf. Kivikuru 2009, 193).

PAN-AFRICAN AND GLOBAL CONNECTIONSJAMS and ENAJS have higher proportions of non-African contributors, with 35 and 41 per cent respectively (for the period 2010–14). Most authors hail from Western Europe and North America. The highest frequency of non-African contributors in JAMS comes from the United Kingdom, which testifies to the fact that the journal’s editorial office is located in London, at Westminster University. ENAJS, for its part, has historically had strong relations with American mass communication research environments, and this continues into the present era, with American authors representing one-third of non-African contributions to that journal.

Figure 1: National background of authors in research articles in ENAJS, 1985–2014

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

60

Terje Skjerdal

A longitudinal scrutiny of research contributions in ENAJS over the past three decades gives an interesting perspective on the changing times in the journal’s life. Prior to 1994, the journal was almost exclusively devoted to South African journalism research. The decade from 1985 to 1994 only had room for three researchers from the rest of the continent (all in 1993–94, cf. Figure 1). The following decade saw a notable increase in African contributions, but it is only in the last decade (2005–14) that the journal has seen an ‘explosion’ in African contributors from outside South Africa (50 authors). This trend is inverted when it comes to American contributors: in the 1980s, ENAJS had strong bilateral relations with the United States, and the journal printed a number of papers which had been delivered at American research conferences, but usually had very little to do with journalism on the African continent. The direct reason for this, besides the fact that South African research communities during apartheid had minimal global orientation, was personal contact between the then editor, Arnold S. de Beer, and American research colleagues.

Figure 2: National background of authors in research articles in ENAJS, 1985–94, weighted according to frequency

Figure 3: National background of authors in research articles in ENAJS, 2005–14, weighted according to frequency

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

61

Why the ‘African’ still matters in African journalism studies

While American contributions to ENAJS have decreased significantly during the past decade, contributions from the rest of the world have increased. The juxtaposition of two word clouds (Figures 2–3) gives a strong visual impression of the changing times. In 1985–94, authors came from only two countries, South Africa and the United States, with three minor exceptions (Figure 2). In the last decade, authors have hailed from various countries in Africa and the rest of the world, signifying not only an African turn in ENAJS over the past decade, but also a global turn.

Looking closer at the international contributors, however, it becomes clear that they are largely situated in either Europe or North America. Only six authors of articles in ENAJS over the past decade are associated with other countries (China (4); India (2)). The tendency is similar (or stronger) for the two other surveyed journals in this study. Although there are signs of global research collaboration, it largely boils down to African/Western, rather than South–South collaboration, judging from the origins of the authors in the three journals under study.

AFRICAN CASE STUDIESThe biographical data of the author do not necessarily say much about the article’s research focus. The present survey therefore also included an examination of the geographical concentration of each research contribution. It should be noted here that a number of articles are generally oriented and do not have a particular geographical focus, thus only articles where the location is indicated in the title, abstract or keywords, have been counted.

The survey reveals that far from all African countries are well represented in the research. Three geographical areas stand out as epicentres for African media research: one in southern Africa (South Africa and Zimbabwe), one in West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) and one in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). If we include all case studies in the three journals during the five-year period from 2010–14 (N=202), as many as 29 of Africa’s 54 countries are represented. However, most of these (22 countries) are only represented with one or two case studies, so a researcher who wants to go off the beaten track is left with few existing reports to draw on. There should be no doubt that gaps remain on the African media research map.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

62

Terje Skjerdal

Table 1: Most popular case studies in three research journals, 2010–14

Overall(N=196)

ENAJS(N=67)

JAMS(N=82)

ACR(N=53)

South Africa 26% 46% 20% 11% Nigeria 15% 7% 18% 19% Kenya 12% 13% 6% 19% Zimbabwe 8% 4% 13% 6% Tanzania 7% 3% 5% 15%Ghana 5% 3% 5% 9% Uganda 4% 3% 6% 2% Other 23% 21% 27% 19%

Total 100%

Note: JAMS = Journal of African Media Studies. ENAJS = Ecquid Novi – African Journalism Studies. ACR = African Communication Research. For ACR, the statistics include issues until 1/2013.

South Africa is still, unsurprisingly, the leading nation in African journalism/media/communication research, with 26 per cent of case studies coming from this country alone (Table 1). This is not necessarily a catastrophe. South Africa is, by any standard, the foremost location for media education, research and practice on the continent. The high saturation of media businesses and higher education institutions naturally leads to more research activity. The actual proportion of South African grounded research is even higher than indicated here, as several of the remaining research journals within the field, not studied here, are located in South Africa (Communicare, Communicatio, Communitas, Critical Arts and Global Media Journal: Africa Edition). However, rather than complaining about the magnitude of research focusing on South Africa, one should encourage more research from the rest of the continent.

The second most studied country in African media research is Nigeria. Like South Africa, it boasts a number of study programmes and has one of the oldest traditions of journalism training on the continent, dating back to the early 1960s (Hachten 1968). Nigeria also has several domestic research journals, none of which has so far gained a notable reputation outside the country. However, case studies from Nigeria are common in all other journals originating on the continent (cf. Table 1).

In comparing the three journals, it is evident that the physical location of their editorial office and the editors’ personal networks are important indicators of their research focus. Almost half of the contributions in ENAJS (46%), for example, still emanate from South Africa, which is far more than the other two journals. Similarly, JAMS has the highest proportion of contributors from the United Kingdom (where the journal’s editorial office is) and Zimbabwe (where the editor, Winston Mano, hails from). And no journal can compete with ACR when it comes to coverage of Tanzania, where its owner, St. Augustine University, is located. ACR appears also to have inherited some

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

63

Why the ‘African’ still matters in African journalism studies

of AMR’s Nigerian and Kenyan networks, which again is a result of the geographical location of its editorial office (Nairobi) and the personal network of the managing editor (Robert A. White).

Lastly, the survey exposes a scholarly divide between sub-Saharan and North Africa. Among the 304 authors who contributed to research articles in the three journals during the last five-year term, not one is from North Africa. A few isolated case studies are observed (e.g., concerning the Arab Spring), but the researchers behind these come from sub-Saharan Africa or elsewhere.

AFRICAN JOURNALISM STUDIES IN THE GLOBAL WORLDWe live in a globalised world. Treating geographically confined journalism cultures may become less relevant when the true division goes across nations and regions, rather than between them. It has been argued that nation-based approaches in journalism studies are becoming ‘too static to deal with a dynamic global news environment’ (Wasserman 2011). So why continue to uphold a geographical focus, as the name African Journalism Studies implies?

For a number of reasons. First, there are strong suggestions that the national actually does still matter in journalism culture. This becomes glaringly obvious when comparing two neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, where media structure, consumption and journalism practice are vastly different. The political system of a country does impact on journalism practice, and the relation between political culture and journalism/media culture is a particularly important subject for analysis in societies with strong state control over the communication structure.

Second, the fact that globalisation is tangible does not mean that the world has suddenly become unified and that local variations have become uninteresting. There are drives towards globalisation, but there are also drives towards localisation. Studies of Internet governance, for example, suggest a return to national regulatory regimes (Warf 2011). A researcher must be open to explaining developments as non-linear phenomena, where globalisation and localisation interchange.

Third, the African focus is important simply for the fact that few other researchers will bother to include the continent in global media and journalism scholarship if there is no pressure from the continent’s own research environments. The wealth of journals that exist between Cairo and Cape Town is testimony to the scholarship that does, after all, thrive in departments and vocational schools in Africa. In this regard, African Journalism Studies has a particular obligation as it remains the only scholarly journal distinctly dedicated to journalism scholarship south of the Mediterranean. And – as I understand it – the journal’s name should be read as African ‘Journalism Studies’, not ‘African Journalism’ Studies. In this reading ‘African’ simply means that the publication signals a geographical commitment, and it does not take a stand as to whether it should

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015

64

Terje Skjerdal

favour a particular African journalism ideology (Shaw 2009; Skjerdal 2013). Along this line of thought it must be similarly assumed that an ‘African’ commitment is fully compatible with a global outlook.

ENDNOTES1 Although the survey in this article includes the five publication years from 2010 to 2014, ACR is

only represented with issues until 1/2013, its latest issue to be produced at the time of writing. 2 And vice versa. To use myself as an example, I have published in these journals as affiliated to

both South African and Ethiopian universities, but since my primary background is Norwegian, I am categorised as non-African.

3 ACR, for example, publishes review articles where reference lists are more than ten pages long and in-depth analyses which are twice as long as standardised journal articles.

REFERENCESDe Beer, A.S. 2010. Looking for journalism education scholarship in some unusual places: The case

of Africa. Communicatio 36(2): 213–226.The Editors. 2008. Why a new communication research publication in Africa? African Communication

Research 1(1): 1–5. Hachten, W.A. 1968. The training of African journalists. Gazette 14(2): 101–108.Kivikuru, U. 2009. From an echo of the West to a voice of its own? Sub-Saharan African research

under the loophole. Nordicom Review 30(Jubilee issue): 187–195.Nyamnjoh, F.B. 2010. Racism, ethnicity and the media in Africa: Reflections inspired by studies of

xenophobia in Cameroon and South Africa. Africa Spectrum 45(1): 57–93.Shaw, I.S. 2009. Towards an African journalism model: A critical historical perspective. International

Communication Gazette 71(6): 491–510.Skjerdal, T. 2013. The three alternative journalisms of Africa. International Communication Gazette

74(7): 636–654.Warf, B. 2011. Geographies of global Internet censorship. GeoJournal 76(1): 1–23.Wasserman, H. 2011. Global journalism studies: Beyond panoramas. Communicatio 37(1): 100–117.Willems, W. 2014. Provincializing hegemonic histories of media and communication studies: Toward

a genealogy of epistemic resistance in Africa. Communication Theory 24: 415–434.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTETerje Skjerdal is Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, NLA University College, Kristiansand, Norway.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Dr

Ter

je S

kjer

dal]

at 1

3:50

16

Mar

ch 2

015