ECAS 2013

After 16 years of civil war, Mozambique, in 1992, states, in Rome, the new-found peace. In 1994 the first democratic elections are held, which give the victory to Frelimo, with the election of Joaquim Alberto Chissano as a President. This scenario will be repeated at every general election, in 1999 (with the confirmation of Chissano), in 2004 (with the election of Armando Emilio Guebuza) and 2009 (confirmation of Guebuza). So, Mozambique is ranked as a 'models' between the African countries. However, in 1999-2000, a series of events - which will be discussed in the communication - cause a "turning point" in the quality of the Mozambican policy and, consequently, in the public debate in the country. The main newspapers are a direct mirror of this change. The communication aims at reviewing the debate on freedom press, since the mid-nineties in Mozambique, with the emergence of independent weekly newspapers. This thesis is especially made ​​operational by using an indicator: the express positions taken by the publishers and editors about freedom of the press, usually to curb abuses and threats by the police. The period 1999-2000 is a watershed, both in an absolute sense,both in the approach of independent and public press to this very important question. From this period these two components of Mozambican press will move away from each other more and more, with a lack of credibility by the public newspapers.

The current article aims at analysing from within, the editorial and journalistic production of the written press in light of the human rights violations and consequently the freedom of the press, comparing the behaviour of public newspapers 'No Pintcha' and private ones 'Gazeta de Noticias' and 'Diario de Bissau' in the periods in which Guine Bissau went through situations of 'Coup d'Etats' and consequent establishment of transition governments with much influence of the military in governance and public life. The article also refers to the positioning of Civil Society Organizations, such as the 'Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos' in face of the most critical cases in which public and private editors had differing positionings.

This paper aims to reflect from a sociological perspective of how the influences of the economic groups of the Angolan journalism market may constrain their independent and impartial activity. To what extent newspaper editors (one public and two private) comply with these assumptions and what are the limits of press freedom in a post-conflict society, in process of democratization?

The press freedom and the right to free information are two assumptions conquered by the society, and implemented in the constitutional law of 1992. From this perspective, the 1990s were important for the maintenance of this achievement, as the first independent newspapers of the State arise during this period from a press very much oriented by the civil war.

Since the war ended, in 2002, the Angolan press in general is faced with new demands that have much to do with the balance of information, impartiality and professionalism. The constraints observed in this activity, and I am mainly referring to the conformation of press law to the new Constitution, and the decriminalization of journalists that are targets of persecution and political pressures, are still the major concerns of the class divided into various interest groups and associations.

So what we are witnessing today is a transformation of these assumptions derived from the intervention of economic actors associated with the political power, who buy the private newspapers.

The 'wave of democratisation' blowing elsewhere on the African continent reached Nigeria during the 1990s when the broadcast media sector was deregulated. Although the Nigerian media has been described as one of the most vibrant in Africa, the over thirty years of military dictatorship saw the promulgation of draconian media laws and the repression of journalists. Since return to civil rule in 1999, mainstream media in Nigeria still grapples with being truly independent. According to a recent press freedom index, Nigeria ranks 126 out of 179 countries (Reporters without Borders, 2012) in spite of the signing of the Freedom of Information Act in 2011. The adoption of new information and communication technologies has made some scholars argue that journalism has come under threat. Using the 2011 Nigerian elections as an empirical example, this paper interrogates whether the incorporation of 'alternative' media sources into the mainstream's coverage of the election, for instance can engender the democratisation of Nigeria's mediasphere. In teasing out these debates, ethnography comprising semi-structured interviews with professional journalists and newsroom observations was deployed. The ethnography provided an avenue of investigating the practices mainstream journalists in Nigeria undergo in reporting events and how they source for information. This paper questions whether or not the adoption of new information and communications technologies is impacting on the institutional practices of mainstream journalists in Nigeria. With our reading of new information and communication technologies as 'alternative' media, this paper interrogates the assumption that alternative media is capable of 'opening' up Nigeria's mediasphere.

We intend to identify how the media discourse reflects the positioning of Ivorian journalists in their society, through the analysis of articles from two private newspapers and from the public-service daily.

We analyze how the Ivorian journalists perceive their professional identity and build a certain image of it by looking at the journalistic metadiscourses, more specifically at the articles related to the journalists of Le Nouveau Courrier jailed for theft of official documents.

The defense of the jailed journalists generates a professional mobilization that gathers colleagues of all political affiliations. This situation contrasts with the antagonism of views usually expressed by each newspaper, according to the political line advocated by its owner.

However, the case of the jailed journalists also shows the constraints linked to the practice of journalism in Ivory Coast. It highlights how journalism continues to be affected by the socio-historical context in which it was born during the "spring of the press". Nowadays, the Ivorian press remains a partisan press.

Thus, beyond the unanimous mobilization of all the journalists, differences are visible. The opposition newspaper accuses the President to be responsible for the imprisonment of the journalists; the newspaper close to the government does not join the critical point of view expressed by the professional associations; and the public-service daily avoids entering the debate.

The corpus is put into perspective by numerous interviews with journalists, conducted during fieldworks (2010 and 2012).

This contribution aims to discuss the pathways and working conditions of popular young radio professionals (presenters and DJs, technicians and journalists) in the Republic of Benin (West Africa), especially those working at state-independent radio stations that were established after 1997, facilitated by more liberal laws introduced in the course of the democratization process of the country.

I will explore the potential agency they stand to gain from their daily engagement with media, and argue that their careers are contingent on a multiplicity of individual and structural factors. It is often a parallel process of enhancing one's capacities while coping and growing with the daily challenges of radio broadcasting and institutional constrains (unstable contracts, state control & censorship etc.). The success of some of these new radio professionals is primarily based on their cultural creativity, that is permanently re-enacted in close interactions with listeners. This text connects with recent studies on new young media producers in Africa and changing media fields in West Africa marked by various new possibilities as well as constraints in times of neo-liberal economic policies.

On 31 January 2000, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill was passed by the Zimbabwe Parliament in spite of severe criticism from the Parliamentary Legal Committee, media and civic organisations and opposition political parties. It was signed into law by President Mugabe on 15 March 2002. Although the Act formally establishes the right to access information (promotes press freedom) concerns has been raised due to the number of media organisations that have been closed by the Act as well as the number of journalists that have been arrested albeit without conviction. Naturally there have been concerns raised on the intents of the Act vis-a-vis its practical uses in Zimbabwe. This study therefore seeks to take a closer look at AIPPA and interrogate its provisions and how these have either limited or expanded press freedom in Zimbabwe. The paper takes a case study approach by looking at the fate of The Daily News that was closed in 2003 under the provisions of AIPPA.

With the rise in street violence in the early 2000 and the construction of the political agenda of urban violence in 2010, Cape Verde becomes a police state, discussions and reports on human rights begin to be promoted, directly and indirectly, by national press. On the other hand, in online forums, comments began to appear in the press by criticizing the attitude of young people from violence, opening the discussion about press freedom and the right to information. Taking as an observation post the triennium 2010-2012, I intend from conflicts between gangs and the police action, to identify and understand the dynamics of the written press, offline and online, with regard to human rights issues, to the freedom of press and the right to information in Cape Verde.

This project is proceeding on media and identity in post-colonial Mozambique. Intends through this to understand how the process of (re) creation of the nation-state, was sustained by creating caricatures of Xiconhoca in noticias newspaper , Nhoca Jr. Filho do Xico in the weekly Savana. In the background, leaving the figure of Xiconhoca created by Frelimo power within the broader construction of identity in the context of hegemonic power (single party), try to understand how this freedom of expression in the context (multiparty) is revitalized and manipulated. Assuming an alternate identity, Nhoca Jr.Filho Chico not only transgresses the same challenges as Power.

To understand this reality adopt a historical study and comparative analysis of content (visual), followed by contextualization, political and socio-anthropological social actors.

The argument is where talk of postcolonial studies in PALOP countries, we must resist the temptation to summarize the comparison between colonial and post-colonial units as homogeneous and static. It is necessary first of all, focus on the variations among them and within them. The case allows the cartoons to understand the various relationships established between power, media and audience within social changes, politics will occur between 1975 to 2012. We conclude that in contexts of weak participation of civil society and strong Power Politico they serve as instruments of freedom and counter-power. This paper throws us clues to reflect on an alternative analytical framework