In many countries around the world, much of their media coverage is centered around two opposing political and social ideologies. The binary choice given to news media consumers is often between conservative media and liberal media outlets.
Nowhere is this example more evident than in the United States of America. The American media environment is mainly split between Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats. Across all forms of media, you would be able to find the opposing sides, broadcasting their talking points to their respective audiences. More centrist media often do not manage to gain as much prominence as the more ideologically inclined mainstream media outlets do.
Likewise, this ideological battle between conservatives and liberals is present in the United Kingdom too, as well as many European nations. Many South American nations have the same kind of ideological and social divisions displayed in their media outlets too.
The reason why this sort of divide is present in many of these countries is often due to the political landscape in these regions. The battles between political factions are often between socially conservative parties and socially liberal parties. Therefore, this social divide often present in the political class of these nations is reflected in the media coverage that is broadcast to the public.
Africa’s Political Landscape
Unlike other nations around the world whose political landscape is often a battle between liberals and conservatives, many African nations are very much socially conservative to begin with. As a result, many liberal or progressive political causes are often sidelined by the socially conservative voters across Africa.
There are very few examples across the continent of liberal and progressive political parties managing to gain a significant share of support from voters. If we were to eliminate South Africa out of the equation, the amount of openly progressive parties that have been voted into office is staggeringly low among other African nations.
Therefore, because much of the media reflects the political spectrum of the country, since most African nations often lack a significant amount of liberal or progressive representation, the left vs right binary doesn’t really apply across the continent.
State-Sponsored Media in Africa
What African nations often have a lot of is state media outlets. I think it’s important to outline the difference between public media outlets and state media outlets. Public media is media that is funded by the public purse. It should be independent from the government and it is supposed to publish media in an unbiased manner. The BBC in the United Kingdom is the pioneer of the model of publicly funded media that is still largely independent of government influence.
Although many African nations sought to replicate the BBC model of the United Kingdom, that end result has not been achieved. Rather than us receiving similarly, independent, and unbiased publicly funded media outlets, many of our publicly funded media outlets operate as a mouthpiece for the government. The editorial independence that these publicly funded media outlets are supposed to receive is often lacking. Therefore, rather than having public media outlets we have many state media outlets.
As a result, it is not uncommon for many African state media to publish content that portrays the government in a good light. Things like infrastructure projects and new government initiatives are often given a spotlight in state media outlets. While on the other hand, things like corruption scandals, infrastructure failures, bad economic conditions, etc., receive little to no coverage in state media outlets.
Africa’s Private Media Sector
Due to the fact that much of the state-run media outlets fail to perform their duties as independent news outlets, Africa’s private media sector often has to fill that role.
Since private networks are not often financially dependent on the government, through subsidies, they can normally afford to be more independent in their coverage.
However, despite having greater editorial independence, Africa’s private media often face many major challenges, such as:
1. Censorship
In many African countries, media outlets face harsh censorship from the government, preventing them from fulfilling their duty of holding the government accountable.
2. Profitability
Unlike publicly funded state media companies, who can rely on government support to keep them alive, private media does not have that luxury. Many non-governmental media organizations struggle with achieving profitability because of the inherent risks associated with the media industry, such as advertising pressure, lack of willingness by consumers to pay for news content, etc.
3. Threats to Lives of Journalists
There are numerous cases all around the continent of journalists facing harassment, intimidation, and abuse for their reporting. These threats serve to undermine the work done by private media organizations.
Private vs Public Media
Due to this dynamic, rather than competition between media outlets being around ideological differences, it becomes a competition between the state-run media outlets and the private media outlets.
In conclusion, the battle between state media and private media in Africa reflects the complex landscape of political, social, and economic factors. Unlike in some other parts of the world where media competition is often framed around ideological differences between conservative and liberal viewpoints, African nations often grapple with challenges unique to their own context.
The dominance of state-sponsored media outlets, which frequently serve as mouthpieces for governments rather than independent sources of information, underscores the importance of a vibrant and free press in holding power to account. While private media outlets strive for editorial independence, they face significant obstacles, including censorship, financial sustainability, and threats to the safety of journalists.
As African societies continue to evolve and confront pressing issues, the role of media in shaping public discourse and fostering accountability remains paramount. Efforts to promote media freedom, support independent journalism, and safeguard the rights of journalists are essential in order to foster greater democratic governance and ensuring the voices of all citizens are heard.
