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Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes
Quick Overview

Aljosha Karim Schapals, Christian Pentzold (eds.)

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell (2025), xxiii, 502 pp.

"In Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes, an international team of prominent scholars examines both long-term media systems and fluctuating trends in media usage around the world. Integrating country-specific summaries and cross-cutting studies of geopolitical regions, this i ... more

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African Media and Communication: Foundational Conversations

Viola C. Milton, Winston Mano (eds.)

Oxford; New York: Routledge (2025), 380 pp.

"This book provides an important set of critical reflections from a selection of foundational scholars of African media and communication studies through biographical method. The book interrogates the center of mainstream academic scholarship by providing the foundational history and origins of an A ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Top Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

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The Palgrave Handbook of Global Digital Journalism

Bruce Mutsvairo, Kristin Skare Orgeret (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2025), xxi, 444 pp.

"This book responds to mounting calls to broaden the theorization of digital journalism, addressing critical questions about an emerging yet rapidly expanding area of study, and presenting multiple entry points and approaches that help us understand digital journalism better. Seeking to establish it ... more

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Whose voice counts? Examining community media's coverage of South Africa's 2024 elections

Musa Oswald Rikhotso

Media Monitoring Africa (2025), 19 pp.

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Decolonising the future academy in Africa and beyond: Institutional development and collaboration

Michaela Pelican, Karim Zafer, Michael Bollig (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript (2025), 236 pp.

"What does it mean to decolonise academia in Africa? Is this important project limited to the humanities? Is it a project for the future? Are there forerunners at African universities today? The contributors to this volume show different trajectories for anthropology as a discipline and for decoloni ... more

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Gaming in Africa

GeoPoll (2024), 30 slides

"GeoPoll’s latest report, “Gaming in Africa,” provides a detailed exploration of the burgeoning gaming scene across Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Drawing from the perspectives of more than 2,500 gamers, this report shines a light on the habits, preferences, and challenges of the Afr ... ican gaming community. Highlights from the survey include the following: The Prevalence of Mobile Gaming: The survey reveals a significant tilt towards mobile gaming, with an astounding 92% of respondents playing games on their mobile phones. This preference is driven by increasing smartphone penetration and the Android platform’s dominance, with 92% of respondents having downloaded games from the Google Play Store. Engagement: Gaming serves as a primary source of entertainment, relaxation, and a remedy for boredom for the majority of gamers, with 73% playing for fun and 64% for stress relief. Expenditure: Financial investment in gaming is noteworthy, with 63% of gamers having made a purchase related to gaming. The amount spent varies, with 29% spending between $2 to $5 monthly, illustrating a willing but cost-conscious gamer base. Navigating the Barriers: The report also identifies barriers to gaming purchases, with 47% preferring free games and 44% citing a lack of funds. The cost-related challenges extend beyond purchases, as gamers list the cost of data bundles (42%) and expensive gaming hardware (31%) among their top challenges. A Call for Cultural Representation: Over half of the respondents value cultural relevance in games, and a substantial 44% feel there are not enough games with characters that look like them or environments similar to their life, signaling an untapped market for local content creation. In-Game Advertising Insights: Despite mixed feelings about ads in games, a surprising 63% have made a purchase after seeing an ad in a game. This suggests that while ads may be met with some resistance, they remain a potent tool for engagement and monetization within the gaming ecosystem. The Local Gaming Scene: A striking 56% of respondents are unaware of any games made in Africa, highlighting a significant gap in visibility and market penetration for local developers. However, there is a growing interest in supporting local talent, with varied sentiments across countries regarding the importance of local games." (Key findings summary) more

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Strategic Communication Management for Development and Social Change: Perspectives from the African Region

Tsietsi Mmutle, Tshepang Bright Molale, Olanrewaju Olugbenga Akinola, Olebogeng Selebi (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xix, 287 pp.

"This book is the first of its kind within the African region to combine scholarly perspectives from the fields of Strategic Communication Management and Communication for Development and Social Change. It draws insights from scholars across the African continent by unravelling the complementary nat ... more

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Imaging and Assessing Mobile Technology for Development

Richard Musabe, John Sören Pettersson (eds.)

Newcastle upon Tyne (UK): Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2024), xvi, 186 pp.

"Several studies have already depicted the development of M4D and of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), and that will not be repeated here. However, as this collection of chapters have sprung out from one of the M4D conferences – the M4D 2022 in Kigali – some notes ... on what have been salient at different conferences can be made. If we start with the M4D in Senegal 2014, we can see that from that conference stems a book where the chapters “initiate evocative conversations on how mobile technologies can contribute to expanding mobile participation practices” (Wamala-Larsson, Hellström, and Scharff 2015, 12). In Mozambique, in 2016, there were some contributions connecting to radio and TV technology; the M4D 2018 conference in Uganda included some papers on how utilities can be backed by subscription schemes via mobile services, as well as by apps where citizens can report dysfunctions and illicit use. The M4D 2020 did not take place, as the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the possibility of running a conference on site and it was postponed to 2022, when Rwanda saw the first blended M4D conference. The Zoom presence for several dozen participants over three days went very well and, via two cameras and two large screens at the venue site, they blended in well at the conference. The IT maturing effect caused by the pandemic was thus noticeable. Among the presentations it was noticeable that the Internet of Things and drones, often blended with machine learning, are now imaginable as “mobile technology”. Of course, drones are always mobile, and IoT sensors often travel with cargo, but it was the realisation of the affordability of these technologies for food chain, livestock, and crop management, combined with their reliance on mobile phone networks to make use of farmers’ photos and senor data, that made such presentations appropriate at a conference that focuses on affordable communication technology. While technology is a prerequisite, in this volume, based on selected contributions to that conference, we will balance some imaginations with some assessments. The focus will not be on the “new” M4D, even though we acknowledge that it is time to set up demonstration farms with IoT and machine learning, as pointed out by Ronald Katamba from Uganda in an interview (Pettersson and Rehema 2022, 145), and books are now published on Applying Drone Technologies and Robotics for Agricultural Sustainability (Raj, Saini, and Pacheco 2023, with examples from India and Zimbabwe; see also FAO and ITU 2022). Instead, the chapters selected for this book adhere to the theme of knowledge dissemination and knowledge development, as mentioned already. One chapter was invited to report from the African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things, hosted by the University of Rwanda in Kigali, to illustrate the efforts to build native technological competence on an advanced level. That chapter simultaneously demonstrates the growing pan-African collaboration in the academic infrastructuring project." (Foreword, pages x-xi) more

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Digital Disinformation in Africa: Hashtag Politics, Power and Propaganda

Tony Roberts, George Hamandishe Karekwaivanane (ed.)

London: Zed Books (2024), xiv, 242 pp.

"In an era when hashtag campaigns like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter capture global attention for victims of injustice, politicians and corporations are now spending billions employing Cambridge Analytica-type consultancies to manufacture disinformation - employing trolls, cyborgs and bots to disrupt ... more

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Africa Privacy Report 2023/2024: A Review of Policy Trends and Digital Frontiers in the Data Protection Landscape

Linda Bonyo, Jorge Clarke, Risper Onyango et al.

Nairobi: Lawyers Hub (2024), 46 pp.

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Global Perspectives on Press Regulation. Volume 2: Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania

András Koltay, Paul Wragg

London: Hart Publishing (2024), 368 pp.

"In this ground-breaking two-volume set, world-leading experts produce a rich, authoritative depiction of the world's press, its freedom, and its limits. We want press freedom but we also want freedom from the press. A powerful press may expose corrupt government or aid it. It may champion citizens ... more

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The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South

Bruce Mutsvairo, Saba Bebawi, Eddy Borges-Rey (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2024), xxiv, 491 pp.

"Responding to mounting calls to decenter and decolonize journalism, The Routledge Companion to Journalism in the Global South examines not only the deep-seated challenges associated with the historical imposition of Western journalism standards on constituencies of the Global South but also the opp ... more

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The State of Press Freedom in Southern Africa 2024

Reyhana Masters, Nqaba Matshazi, Kholwani Nyathi

UNESCO (2024), 106 pp.

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Communication Rights in Africa: Emerging Discourses and Perspectives

Tendai Chari, Ufuoma Akpojivi (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2024), xxiii, 257 pp.

"Drawing on a broad range of case studies across the continent, the volume considers what constitutes communication rights in Africa, who should protect them, against whom, and how communication rights relate to broader human rights. While the case studies highlight the variation in communicative ri ... more

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South African Media and Politics: Is the Three Models Approach Still Valid After Two Decades?

Bernardine Jones, Adrian Hadland

Media and Communication, volume 12, issue 7723 (2024), 12 pp.

"When Hallin and Mancini (2004) produced their watershed three models theory, South Africa was a new democracy barely a decade old. Even then, along with other countries of the Global South, the experience of a young democracy posed certain critical challenges to Hallin and Mancini's understanding o ... more

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Zambia’s Support for the African National Congress’s Radio Freedom in Lusaka, 1967–1992

Peter Sekibakiba Lekgoathi, Thomas Kasonde Mukonde Mukonde

Journal of African Cultural Studies, volume 36, issue 1 (2024), pp. 24-40

"This article explores the contribution Zambia made to the liberation struggle in South Africa by hosting the ANC’s Radio Freedom in Lusaka. It relies on a combination of archival evidence (audio and documentary sources) from both countries, and interviews conducted with the broadcasters and other ... more

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Forte FM’s Programming Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Alice, South Africa

Oluyinka Osunkunle

Communicatio (2024), 19 pp.

"The advent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019 brought great fear of the unknown to the whole world. It therefore became very important for people and nations around the world to get the needed information on how to cope with the novel virus. Community radio broadcasting was at t ... more

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Collaborative digital regulation country review: South Africa’s digital transformation and collaborative regulation

Janet Hernandez, Jeff Bernstein

Geneva: ITU (2024), vii, 43 pp.

"As South Africa adopts reforms to further strengthen its economy across multiple sectors, this country review presents the policy, legislative, and governance frameworks that are enabling South Africa’s digital transformation. It includes a review of key institutions and collaborative digital reg ... more

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Digital Literacy and Inclusion: Stories, Platforms, Communities

Danica Radovanovic (ed.)

Cham: Springer (2024), xxi, 218 pp.

"More than a dozen experts provide deep insights in stories, research reports, and geographical studies of digital literacy and inclusion models, all from a multi-disciplinary perspective that includes engineering, social sciences, and education. Digital Literacy and Inclusion also highlights a show ... more

Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes Quick Overview

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 Top Insights

Media Compass: A Companion to International Media Landscapes
Quick Overview

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Top Insights