[FoME] Elections and the media in Post-Conflict Africa

[Christoph Dietz]

Elections and the Media in Post Conflict Africa. Votes and Voices for
Peace
By Marie-Soleil Frère
London: Zed Books, 2011
Inhaltsverzeichnis und weitere Informationen:
http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book/paperback/2011/elections-and-media-post-conflict-africa

The book describes how, in 6 countries in Central Africa (The
Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic,
Republic of Congo and Rwanda), pluralist elections were recently
organized in a post conflict context. It shows which were the challenges
facing the local media to report on those elections, as their role was
even more crucial, in countries where the media had previously being
perceived as warmongers or peace-builders in the conflicts.

Auszug aus dem Kapitel "General Conclusions" (S. 238 ff.):
... we can deduce that there are nine major obstacles to balanced,
fair, complete and professional coverge of the polls by the media:
1. Media without media enterprises
2. The 'dangerous liaisons' between media and politics
3. The government's 'public' media
4. The media's limited scope and the information blackout
5. Attacks on the press
6. The regulatory authorities' weaknesses and bias
7. Obstacles to information access
8. The candidates' campaign strategies
9. Confusion between information and communication.