African media and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) agenda for Africa's emerging democracies

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Periodical article

Title:	African media and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) agenda for Africa's emerging democracies
Author:	Esan, Oluyinka
Year:	2004
Periodical:	Africa Media Review (ISSN 0258-4913)
Volume:	12
Issue:	2
Pages:	41-56
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	NEPAD communication mass media Mass media--Political aspects New Partnership for Africa's Development New democracies
External link:	https://www.academia.edu/70275201
Abstract:	Communication is a lubricant for democratic governance, which in turn facilitates national development. It is expected, then, that the initiative which seeks the development of western-type democracies in Africa, NEPAD, would incorporate an important role for the media. This paper examines the NEPAD agenda and finds that ICT is the only aspect of the media mentioned specifically by NEPAD. The paper proposes distinct ways of engaging the media with the NEPAD development framework. It analyses the context of communication in order to highlight the social structures required for the democratic ideal. It contrasts the liberal model proposed by Habermas with other media theories, arguing that by focusing on political communication the liberal model adopts a restrictive agenda. The democratic ideal calls for media service that does more than privilege politics and politicians; it should not marginalize significant proportions of society. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French. [ASC Leiden abstract]