Abstract
This article explores how the media, in a country that used to be a colonial power yet belongs to a relatively peaceful culture, depicts one of the oldest disputes in Africa. Drawing on a three-year analysis of the Portuguese press coverage of the Sahrawi conflict, it also tests some basic foundations of the selective representation of Africa in news reporting: the predominantly one-way traffic of information between the North and the South, as well as a similar imbalance in terms of the nature of the news treatment which tends to focus on negative and deviant issues often portrayed in a highly stereotyped fashion. The study does not corroborate Africa's thinness and invisibility but rather points to the pivotal influence of national context the Portuguese afectio comunitatis combined with a notable sensitivity towards human rights and self-determination issues in the reporting of a given political process.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 415-427 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of African Media Studies |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Portuguese Press
- Western Sahara
- Dark and invisible continent
- Meta-performance analysis
- Representation of Africa