New Media Influence on Social and Political Change in Africa

While transitioning from autocracy to democracy, media in Africa has always played an important role in democratic and non-democratic states; focusing on politicians, diplomats, activists, and others who work towards political transformations. New Media Influence on Social and Political Change in Africa addresses the development of new mass media and communication tools and its influence on social and political change. While analyzing democratic transitions and cultures with a theoretical perspective, this book also presents case studies and national experiences for media, new media, and democracy scholars and practitioners.

Anthony A. Olorunnisola is Professor of Communications and head of the Department of Film/Video & Media Studies at the College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University at University Park, USA. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that include World Media Systems and Comparative Theories of Press Systems. His numerous publications include Media in South Africa After Apartheid (2006); Media and Communications Industries in Nigeria: Impacts of Neoliberal Reforms Between 1999 and 2007 (2009); Political Economy of Media Transformation in South Africa (2011), co-edited with Keyan Tomaselli. He serves on the editorial boards of seven academic journals and has been guest-editor of special issues of the Journal of Communication and Language Arts and the International Journal of Social and Management Sciences both issues focused on aspects of media and political culture in Africa. He was a William J. Fulbright fellow in Nigeria (2005-2006) and has been visiting professor at Lagos State University and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria respectively.

Aziz Douai is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada. His research focuses on new media and activism, Arab media and democracy, and global media and international conflict, among other areas of international communications. Dr. Douais publications have appeared in The Journal of International Communication, The Global Media Journal, First Monday, The Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, Arab Reform Bulletin, International Communication Research Journal, and The Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. His most recent article, Commenting in the online Arab public sphere: Debating the Swiss minaret ban and the Ground Zero mosque online, was recently published in The Journal of Computer Mediated Communication.