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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Uncertain State of Press Freedom in West Africa: The Contrasting Cases of Benin and Ivory Coast |
Author: | Campbell, W. Joseph |
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. |