Media seize occurs when media shops lose their independence and fall beneath the affect of political or monetary pursuits. This usually results in information content material that favours energy as an alternative of public accountability.
Media Seize in Africa and Latin America: Energy and Resistance is a brand new e-book edited by information media students Haya tonamara and Bethia Pearson. It explores how this dynamic performs out within the world south and the way journalists and residents are resisting it. We requested them 4 questions.
What’s media seize and the way has it reshaped itself in latest occasions?
Media seize describes how media shops are influenced, manipulated or managed by highly effective actors – usually governments or giant companies – to serve their pursuits. It is an concept that helps us perceive how highly effective teams in society can have a damaging affect on information media. Whereas this concept is not new, what has modified is how subtly and pervasively it now operates.
These teams embrace massive know-how organisations that personal digital media platforms – equivalent to X, owned by xAI (Elon Musk), and Instagram and Fb, owned by Meta. But it surely’s additionally essential to contemplate Google as a big search engine that shapes the information content material and viewers of many different platforms.
This issues as a result of the media are essential for the functioning of democratic societies. Ideally, they supply info, signify totally different teams and points in society, and maintain highly effective actors to account.
For instance, one of many key roles of the media is to offer correct info for residents to have the ability to resolve the way to vote in elections. Or to resolve what they consider essential points. One massive concern, then, is the impact of inaccurate or biased info on democracy.
Or it may be that correct info is tougher to entry as a result of algorithms and platforms make it simpler to entry inaccurate or biased info. These could be meant and unintended penalties of the know-how itself, however algorithms can amplify misinformation and faux information – particularly if this content material has the potential to go viral.
So, what’s specific about media seize within the world south?
This can be a actually attention-grabbing query that’s nonetheless being investigated, however we’ve some concepts.
Initially, it is helpful to know that media seize scholarship from the worldwide north emerged across the time of the 2008 monetary disaster. The affect of economic establishments on enterprise journalists was one of many first areas of examine. Since then, analysis within the US has targeted on the seize of government-funded media organisations like Voice of America. And on how digital platforms like Google and Fb can result in seize.
Within the world south, students have drawn consideration to the significance of enormous media companies in understanding media seize. For instance, in Latin America, there is a excessive stage of what is known as “media focus”. That is when many media shops are owned by a couple of firms. These firms usually personal firms in different sectors, which implies that crucial reporting on enterprise pursuits presents a battle of curiosity.
Learn extra: Public belief within the media is at a brand new low: a radical rethink of journalism is required
However to concentrate on Africa, students have drawn consideration to governments as a supply of strain on journalists and editors. This may be by direct strain or what we would name “covert” strain. Withholding promoting that helps to fund media shops is an instance, or providing monetary incentives to cease investigating sure subjects.
Researchers are additionally involved in regards to the affect of huge tech in Africa. Digital platforms like Google and Fb can form the information and knowledge that residents have entry to.
Are you able to share among the research from the e-book?
Our e-book contains many attention-grabbing research – from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico in Latin America to Ethiopia and Morocco in Africa. We’ll share a couple of African instances right here to provide an outline of the problems.
The e-book’s contribution on Ghana warns us that though extra overt “outdated” forms of media seize might have subsided, transitional democracies can function messier, extra nuanced types of media management. This may be evident in authorities pressures and thru seize of regulators.
Within the Morocco chapter, we see the risk to media freedom offered by digital platforms owned by world tech giants. This is named “infrastructural seize”. It means information organisations turn out to be depending on tech giants to set the foundations of the sport for democratic communication.
One other compelling case is Nigeria, the place researchers discover ties between media possession and political patronage. The authors argue that the Nigerian press is failing in its democratic responsibility due to its reliance on promoting and sponsorship earnings from the state. Added to this are ineffective regulatory mechanisms and shut relationships with some massive companies that personal newspapers and printing presses.
How can media seize be resisted within the world south?
The research within the e-book present some methods ahead and we do assume it is essential to be optimistic! Resistance takes many kinds. Generally it comes by authorized and coverage reform aimed toward rising transparency and media range. In different instances, it is pushed by social actions, investigative journalists and impartial media who proceed to function beneath strain.
The chapter on Uganda reveals that journalist teams working with media advocacy organisations can strategically act to withstand authorities media seize and dangerous rules. For instance, to push again towards one legislative change, a number of teams shaped a brief community known as Article 29 (named after the article within the Ugandan structure defending free speech) and the African Centre for Media Excellence produced a report criticising the proposed adjustments.
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One of many chapters on Ghana additionally reveals how networks equivalent to journalists, media associations, human rights teams and authorized organisations can mobilise to push again towards authorities affect. Organisations together with the Ghana Journalists Affiliation and Ghana Unbiased Broadcasters Affiliation have performed key roles in, for instance, taking the media regulator to court docket to overturn legal guidelines that might have led to censorship. These findings are echoed in Latin America, the place analysis on Mexico and Colombia additionally discovered skilled journalism to be a robust supply of resistance.
The dialog should additionally embrace rethinking how we outline seize itself. If we body it solely as whole management, we danger lacking the on a regular basis methods affect operates – and the areas the place it may be resisted. We’d additionally say it is actually essential that residents are conscious and alert to the problems when they consider how they entry information media and what platforms they use. That is generally known as “media literacy” and is about folks being extra educated about the place reliable information comes from.
You may take heed to a podcast in regards to the e-book over right here.
Hayes MabweazaraSenior Lecturer in Sociological & Cultural Research (Media, Tradition & Society), College of Glasgow
Bethia PearsonAnalysis Affiliate, ERC World Remunicipalisation, College of Glasgow
