Situating the Media in Whole-System Transformation in Africa

By Thomas Thomas (Global Concord Newspaper, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria)

Abstract

What Africa and her people need at the moment is a whole-system change, because the present state of underdevelopment in the continent, according to findings, is caused by the managers of the system and the people in different component units of the continent. The anticipated change can only take place if the media live up to its mandates as agenda-setters, gatekeepers and watchdogs. The media have a very crucial role to play in the struggle to transform Africa socially, economically and politically, hence the thrust of this paper.

To achieve the objectives of this paper, multidisciplinary method of research was adopted in order to allow the researcher to borrow from diverse sources, and from various disciplines, such as history, sociology and political science for effective analytical prism.

The conclusion has been that for Africa to be developed the media must live up to expectation.

Keywords: Media, Agenda-setting, Development, Corruption, Transformation