Defence-less defenders: mapping harassment in African journalism

Journalism, which is expected to be the eyes and ears of the community, is under threat, severely undermining its normative responsibilities of playing a role as the fourth estate. This responsibility of being the watchdog in mediating socio-economic and political discourses has in recent memory come under increased precarity owing to the harassment journalists face in their tour of duty. Globally, the picture of harassment is gloomy. In just over a month (between October and November 2023) of a raging war between Israel and Hamas, about 48 Palestinian journalists had been killed since what began as insurgency which has since morphed into a humanitarian catastrophe (Reporters Without Borders 2023). The situation in Africa, the loci of the study where chapters are drawn from, is the same and the harassment of journalists remains unabated.