A confession: the face of Cecil John Rhodes almost dominated this month’s cover. We intended to pose a few questions with the gag, linked to Wallace Chuma’s piece (page 13), which suggests that the only difference between Rhodes and Naspers may be the timing of their “grand African projects”.
We also thought that such a cover would connect the various threads running through the December issue, because what we’re essentially trying to interrogate here is threefold: how the rest of Africa feels about South Africa’s “media imperialism”, what the economic motivations for moving into the continent are, and whether Western media is still looking at Africa through a colonial lens.
The Rhodes mug wasn’t to be. What we couldn’t ignore is that the man died in 1902 and was British. Our December issue is supposed to be contemporary and African. That said, Professor Tawana Kupe dominates the cover not simply because he is a Zimbabwean and happens to fit the criteria, but rather because he is fast becoming the first choice whenever governmental or pan-governmental initiatives need an independent authority on African media.
What’s more, this month Professor Kupe’s regular column for The Media is the perfect departure point for the various strands mentioned above: the piece systematically questions the success of the continent’s media transformation initiatives and concludes that the colonial hangover is far from over (page 10).
In this context, the issue’s three main features are framed by Professor Kupe’s argument that a more appropriate term for “African Media” would be “Media in Africa” — there is, he points out, nothing particularly or uniquely African about the majority of the continent’s media efforts. So we’ve used the straplines “Print in Africa”, “Broadcast in Africa” and “Outdoor in Africa” to reflect the (irrefutable?) assessment.
Finally, it’s not the intention of this issue to berate South African-based media conglomerates like MultiChoice/Media24, Johncom and Clear Channel for expanding into the continent. Exploring new markets is a necessity of capitalism, and the presence of these companies is certainly a boon to local African economies.
All we’re trying to do is be somewhat realistic about the challenges and perceptions. Of course, as the senior voices quoted throughout this issue confirm, nobody is more aware of the problems than our own North-facing executives.