TY - JOUR
T1 - The Cold War battle over global news in East Africa
T2 - Decolonization, the free flow of information, and the media business, 1960-1980
AU - Brennan, James Robert
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2015/6/19
Y1 - 2015/6/19
N2 - This article examines the news business in Africa during decolonization. While UNESCO stimulated enormous discussion about creating independent 'third world' alternatives for news exchange, African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania sought to secure informational sovereignty by placing international news agencies within their control. Reuters and other international news agencies, in turn, adapted to decolonization by reinventing themselves as companies working to assist new nation-states. In the subsequent contest over news distribution, the Cold War, and inter-agency competition, Africa became a battleground for disputes between Reuters' capitalist vision of news as a commercial product and UNESCO's political conception of news. Ironically, decolonization enabled Reuters to gain greater control over information supply across Africa, because African leaders viewed the capitalist model of news as better suited to their diplomatic goals and political views.
AB - This article examines the news business in Africa during decolonization. While UNESCO stimulated enormous discussion about creating independent 'third world' alternatives for news exchange, African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania sought to secure informational sovereignty by placing international news agencies within their control. Reuters and other international news agencies, in turn, adapted to decolonization by reinventing themselves as companies working to assist new nation-states. In the subsequent contest over news distribution, the Cold War, and inter-agency competition, Africa became a battleground for disputes between Reuters' capitalist vision of news as a commercial product and UNESCO's political conception of news. Ironically, decolonization enabled Reuters to gain greater control over information supply across Africa, because African leaders viewed the capitalist model of news as better suited to their diplomatic goals and political views.
KW - East Africa
KW - Reuters
KW - UNESCO
KW - communications
KW - decolonization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84932177536&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1017/S1740022815000091
DO - 10.1017/S1740022815000091
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84932177536
SN - 1740-0228
VL - 10
SP - 333
EP - 356
JO - Journal of Global History
JF - Journal of Global History
IS - 2
ER -