Theodore Hutchcroft Collection, This study looks into the concept of democracy as it is understood within the African context and the role which the mass media could play in promoting and sustaining it. It argues that, given Africa's colonial experience and its history of struggle for human dignity and liberation, the appropriate role for the mass media must be to sustain this struggle. Accordingly, their relevance must be seen in relation to the extent to which they promote the developmental and democratic aspirations of the majority of the people. And, as such, training of African media practitioners must be predicated on the necessity to give them clear orientation for the achievement of these goals. Finally, the professional status of journalists and of the journalism profession must be acknowledged by political authorities and policy makers; journalists must be appropriately renumerated and their profession upgraded within the hierarchy of national priorities. (original)
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D00809
Notes:
Pages 36-39 in Report of the sensitisation workshop on rural radio for policy and decision makers in east and southern Africa, Lilongwe, Malawi, April 26-29 2005. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 90 pages.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C14108
Notes:
First published in Africa Media Review, 1(2), 1987., Chapter 5 in Charles Okigbo (ed.), Development Communication Principles. African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. 365 pages.
