189. Name: Yolanda S. Vamusse Title: The Discursive Construction of African Audiences: A Comparative Study of CGTN Africa, Al Jazeera English and e-News Channel Africa from 2013 to 2016 Institution: University of the Witwatersrand Country: South Africa Date: 2019 Language: English Abstract: The development of emerging economies, global and regional, such as China, South Africa and Qatar has given rise to non-Western media networks, which mediate their increasing role in international affairs. Satellite news networks related to these powers, such as Al Jazeera English, Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN) Africa and the former eNews Channel Africa (eNCA) are focusing their media coverage on marginalized parts of the world, including South Africa. Consequently, they are contributing to constructing new African audience formations and creating imagined transnational communities beyond the nation state. The implications of these new transnational players in Africa requires further investigation. This study outlines the evolution of African audience constructions during specific periods in the 2010s to provide insight into the implications of transnational media within the context of non-Western and emerging economies, particularly Africa. The significance of these developments is best explored through an analytical framework that considers the complex interaction of factors as opposed to traditional center-periphery approaches. This study therefore draws on Appadurai’s concept of global cultural flows, Foucault’s notion of power and knowledge, as well as Benedict Anderson’s ‘imagined communities’.
210
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter