Suchergebnisse

The challenges of covering COVID-19 have been the focus of scholarly attention since the pandemic was announced by the World Health Organization in 2020. However, we have little understanding of how external and internal factors influenced journalistic role conception from the perspectives of African diaspora journalists. Using journalistic role conception and perceived influence frameworks, this study examines whether what African diaspora journalists in the United Kingdom and Germany say about the factors that influenced their journalistic role conception matches with what they actually do through focus group discussions (FGDs) and content analysis of news stories in two media for and by African diasporas between March 2020 and August 2021. The findings show that five external factors (lockdown restrictions, fake news, effects of COVID-19 in the Black communities, economic model and official/non-official sources) and two internal factors (dominant framing of Africa and reorganization) mostly influenced journalistic role conception during the pandemic and that there was evidence to suggest that what they say they experienced (narrated role) matched with what they actually do (practised role).

Scholarly research into journalists as a subject of study is increasing. Through this, scholars found there is no consensus among journalists about journalistic practice. This is because journalistic roles are discursively recreated, reinterpreted, appropriated, and contested. The coverage of the EU referendum in the UK provides an opportunity to further explore journalistic roles through a focus group of EU and diaspora journalists and academics. The study reveals that participants were critical of the roles played by the British press in the coverage of the referendum and that they were concerned about its effects on their physical and emotional well-being. Hence, they urge media organisations to offer support and training to redress these concerns. In conclusion, the study provides an in-depth and intense probing of journalistic roles and their eff ects in relation to the coverage of the EU referendum.

The dominant perspective on the representation of Africa in the Western media claims that Western media coverage is bias and crisis oriented, and the liberal perspective claims that the coverage of Africa is not as negative as is often assumed. However, there is a paucity of literature on the representation of Africa online. This research inquiry is relevant because literature claims that the Internet has the potential to resolve the journalistic predicament of representing other culture through political participation and deliberation. But this requires a reorientation of the sourcing practice of news organization to embrace sensitivity to and knowledge of African cultures. Moreover, the journalistic predicament can be resolved or not depending on the newsgathering approach adopted by the news organization. Literature has identified two approaches, that is, "gatekeeping," used mainly by dominant traditional media, and "gatewatching," used by alternative media in their quest to counter mainstream ideology. This study examines the impacts of the gatewatching approach adopted by the Africa Have Your Say (AHYS) website on its representation and frames of reference of Africa. It uses onsite observation, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis to gather data. The study found that although the sourcing practice at the AHYS is elaborate and complex, the gatewatching approach makes its susceptible to second-level agenda setting. Hence, its frame repeats the attributes and tone used by the mainstream traditional media. However, a minority of users did not repeat this frame in their comments.

The increased population of African diasporas in the United Kingdom, recently estimated at 618,000, is making them more culturally and linguistically visible than they used to be in the political and socioeconomic landscapes. It has also stimulated the proliferation of particularistic media representing their interests. However, little is known about the effects of their cultural values on the treatment of some issues in the public sphere. This article explores the relevance of taboos among African diasporas and their implications for the African press. A questionnaire was created as an instrument of collecting data about taboo subjects and preferred treatment of these subjects in the press. Furthermore, an interview was conducted with the editor of the African Voice to reflect on some of the issues emanating from the data, and a content analysis of selected taboo themes covered by the newspaper was performed.

The proliferation of ethnic press in the United Kingdom has enabled the ethnic communities to represent themselves in the public sphere, to contest negative stereotypes, and to receive information with Blacks as central subjects. However, the perception of Black people as one Black group has skewed our understanding of how different groups within the Black communities project their linguistic and visual distinctiveness through their media. Subsequently, we have little understanding of the press for and by Black African diasporas in the United Kingdom. Therefore, the article explores the dynamic relationship between the Black African community and its press through a case study of African Voice, interview with the editor, and audience survey. Furthermore, it explores the news agenda of the African Voice from the theoretical paradigms of alternative and tabloid popular press. It concludes that the African Voice is neither an alternative press nor tabloid popular press but leans towards semiserious press.

The diversification of African broadcast media into online services provides a vehicle for African diasporas to use not only for interactive communication but also for retrieving, sharing, displaying, and storing audiovisual information about their cultural practices and news about political and socioeconomic issues within their home and host countries. This study uses content analysis and audience survey to examine the content features of some African broadcast Web sites and their appeal to the African diasporas, on one hand, and to explore the awareness, motivation, and the content preference of the African diasporas on the other. It found little evidence of content differentiation between the Web sites and low audience awareness of their services but reveals a cluster of audience-preferred content features.