Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Uncertain State of Press Freedom in West Africa: The Contrasting Cases of Benin and Ivory Coast
Author:Campbell, W. JosephISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:African Rural and Urban Studies
Volume:4
Issue:1
Pages:19-37
Language:English
Geographic terms:Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire
Benin
Subjects:democracy
freedom of the press
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
Politics and Government
Abstract:This study assesses the uneasy and contradictory state of government-press relations in sub-Saharan Africa by examining the official responses to an outspoken independent press in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. The study seeks to address why the governments of Benin have been more tolerant of a critical press that those of Côte d'Ivoire. It concentrates on two factors that influence the establishment of an independent press in democratizing States: the traditions, if any, of expressing criticism and dissent through newspapers, and the role of the press at the time of emergence of political pluralism. As a result of its critical role in Benin's political transformation, the country's independent press gained a veneer of respectability that has made it less vulnerable to the sort of repression that has been frequent in Côte d'Ivoire. The interaction of press traditions and the role of the press in the transition to political pluralism is crucial in understanding disparate reactions to an independent press. An emergent independent press can be both a dependent and an independent variable in democratization and political liberalization. Notes, ref.
Views