Ideology, Theory and Professionalism in the African Mass Media

Abstract

The national communication systems of Africa lack articulated and formulated policy objectives to guide in decision-maki ng that would reflect national orientations and ideological base. This article has attempted to propose a 12-stage theoretical paradigm in the process of problem identification and solution in ideological evolution within the context of the African mass media systems. As models are indispensable tools in the execution of a system's functions within the purview of public policy, such as the mass media, the theoretical paradigm on ideological evolution is, therefore, designed to point out the complementarity of theory and practice in information packaging. This article presupposes that media policy parameters are not only determined within the ideological directives of their society, but are also dependent variables of the iarger policies that emanate from the ideology of their society. It is within such a setting that the contents of the national communication systems in Africa should function as microcosms that reflect the thinking of the macrocosmic entity. The article also established that through surreptitious means, there is overwhelming evidence of the prevalence of external ideological influence of Africa's former colonial overlords in most of Africa's mass media systems, South of the Sahara.

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