10 May, 2024 Veronica Usacheva "Paradise of lies: How the West manipulates Africa through neocolonial media"
While the era of independence gave rise to ideas of peace, freedom, justice, and social progress, building postcolonial nations on colonial foundations has proven problematic.
The battle for Africa’s independence cannot be won until Africa has complete and undeniable control over its media, writes Rosalynde Ainslie in her book ‘The Press in Africa’ from the 1960s, one of the first books about the media in Africa.
Already in those times, it was clear that whoever controls the media controls a lot more than just the distribution of information. The media is a powerful weapon – it shapes public opinion, forms a specific worldview, and helps people identify their place in the world. For newly independent African countries, all this was very important.
By Veronica Usacheva, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Mass Communication, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation
