AFRI Yearbook 2008 CAN M E DI A AFRIcan , AFRI , CAN MEDIA, C H ILDR AFRIcan The International Clearinghouse EN on Children, Youth and Media Norma Pecora, Enyonam Osei-Hwere & Ulla Carlsson CHILDRen NORDICOM Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research University of Gothenburg Editors: Box 713, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden Norma Pecora, Enyonam Osei-Hwere & Ulla Carlsson Telephone: +46 31 786 00 00 Fax: +46 31 786 46 55 E-mail: nordicom @nordicom.gu.se www.nordicom.gu.se WITH AN INTRODUCTIon BY FIRDOZE BULBULIA ISBN 978-91-89471-68-9 The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media NORDICOM University of Gothenburg Yearbook 2008 The International The International Clearinghouse Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, at on Children, Youth and Media A UNESCO INITIATIVE 1997 Nordicom University of Gothenburg Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG, Sweden In 1997, the Nordic Information Centre for Media Web site: and Communication Research (Nordicom), Göteborg www.nordicom.gu.se/clearinghouse University Sweden, began establishment of the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth DIRECTOR: Ulla Carlsson and Media. The overall point of departure for the SCIENTIFIC CO-ORDINATOR: Clearinghouse’s efforts with respect to children, youth Cecilia von Feilitzen Tel:+46 8 608 48 58 and media is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Fax:+46 8 608 46 40 Child. [email protected] The aim of the Clearinghouse is to increase INFORMATION CO-ORDINATOR: awareness and knowledge about children, youth and Catharina Bucht media, thereby providing a basis for relevant policy- Tel: +46 31 786 49 53 making, contributing to a constructive public debate, Fax: +46 31 786 46 55 [email protected] and enhancing children’s and young people’s media literacy and media competence. Moreover, it is hoped that the Clearinghouse’s work will stimulate further research on children, youth and media. THE CLEARINGHOUSE IS LOCATED AT NORDICOM The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media informs various groups of users Nordicom is an organ of co-operation between the Nordic – researchers, policy-makers, media professionals, countries – Denmark, Finland, Ice- voluntary organisations, teachers, students and land, Norway and Sweden. The over- interested individuals – about riding goal and purpose is to make the media and communication efforts undertaken in the Nordic countries • research on children, young people and known, both throughout and far media, with special attention to media beyond our part of the world. violence, Nordicom uses a variety of chan- nels – newsletters, journals, books, databases – to reach researchers, • research and practices regarding media students, decisionmakers, media education and children’s/young people’s practitioners, journalists, teachers participation in the media, and and interested members of the general public. Nordicom works to establish and • measures, activities and research concerning strengthen links between the Nordic children’s and young people’s media research community and colleagues environment. in all parts of the world, both by means of unilateral flows and by link- ing individual researchers, research Fundamental to the work of the Clearinghouse is groups and institutions. the creation of a global network. The Clearinghouse Nordicom also documents media publishes a yearbook and a newsletter. Several trends in the Nordic countries. The joint Nordic information addresses bibliographies and a worldwide register of organisations users in Europe and further afield. concerned with children and media have been The production of comparative media compiled. This and other information is available on the statistics forms the core of this Clearinghouse’s web site: service. Nordicom is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. www.nordicom.gu.se/clearinghouse AFRICAN MEDIA, AFRICAN CHILDREN Yearbook 2008 AFRICAN MEDIA, AFRICAN CHILDREN Editors: Norma Pecora, Enyonam Osei-Hwere & Ulla Carlsson WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY FIRDOZE BULBULIA The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media NORDICOM University of Gothenburg Yearbook 2008 African Media, African Children Editors: Norma Pecora, Enyonam Osei-Hwere & Ulla Carlsson © Editorial matters and selections, the editors; articles, individual contributors ISSN 1651-6028 ISBN 978-91-89471-68-9 Published by: The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media Nordicom University of Gothenburg Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG Sweden Cover by: Karin Persson Printed by: Livréna AB, Göteborg, Sweden, 2008 Environmental certification according to ISO 14001 Contents Acknowledgement 7 Ulla Carlsson Foreword 9 Firdoze Bulbulia Introduction 11 Enyonam Osei-Hwere & Norma Pecora Children’s Media in Sub-Saharan Africa 15 Francis B. Nyamnjoh Children, Media and Globalisation. A Research Agenda for Africa 29 Charles Owen SABC’s Programming for Children 49 Steve Howard Children and Media in Muslim Africa. Senegal, Sudan, Nigeria 55 Priscilla Boshoff & Jeanne Prinsloo Engendering Childhood. Concerning the Content of South African Television Fiction 69 Tewodros Workalemahu Disney Kids. Ethiopian Children’s Reception of a Transnational Media Mogul 83 Mastin Prinsloo & Marion Walton Situated Responses to the Digital Literacies of Electronic Communication in Marginal School Settings 101 Mimi Brazeau Celebrating Youth Media and Proposing a Way Forward 119 Sarah Akrofi-Quarcoo Beyond Child Participation. Tracking Progress of Media Education for Children and Young Persons in Ghana 133 Steven Goodman, Rebecca Renard & Christine Mendoza Drop It to the Youth. Community-Based Youth Video as a Tool for Building Democratic Dialogue in South Africa 149 Lamees El Baghdady Playing at Cyber Space. Perspectives on Egyptian Children’s Digital Socialization 165 Frederick Nnoma-Addison Opportunities, Challenges, & the Way Forward 175 Patrick V. Osei-Hwere Children’s Television Programs in Ghana. The Challenges of Local Production 179 Beatrice A. Boateng Television Broadcasting in South Africa. Mandates to Serving the Children 193 Juliet Evusa Children’s Television in Kenya. The Need for a Comprehensive Media Policy Regulating Children’s Content 207 Musonda Kapatamoyo Children’s Television in Zambia. Local vs. Imported 219 Wenceslous Kaswoswe Television Programming for the Youth in Zimbabwe. Studio 263 and Handspeak 231 The Authors 239 Acknowledgement A number of people have been involved in this project and we would first like to thank all those who have contributed to this discussion. The authors of these chapters have been a joy to work with and it is exciting to see their work in print. We would also like to thank Ulla Carlsson and Cecilia von Felitzen for their commitment to this project and to the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media for making this collection of work available. We would also like to acknowledge Firdoze Bulbulia’s outstanding and valuable work, both personal and professional, in bringing African children into the dis- cussion. In addition, we wish to thank and acknowledge the Institute for the African Child at Ohio University for beginning this dialogue in the summer of June 2006 at their conference on African Children in African Media on the Ohio University Campus. Foreword Ulla Carlsson African Media, African Children is the title of this tenth Yearbook of the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. Over the years, we have focused attention on a wide range of topics, from issues relating to media violence, new media technologies, soap operas and globalization of media to issues of regulation, media education and media literacy. This is the first Year- book with a geographical focus, and a vast continent at that. That the choice fell on Africa is hardly by chance. The 5th World Summit on Children, Youth and Media, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, a year or so ago, sent echoes ringing around the world. Although media, digital and information divides certainly do exist in the world, more and more people have access to a steadily swelling flow of material through many new channels. An interactive and mobile media society has grown up alongside the traditional mass media society. Once passive media consumers are becoming active media producers. The medialized symbolic environment we live in today largely shapes the choices, values and knowledge that determine our everyday lives. In the midst of these developments are children and youth. Helping to develop fruitful insights and a better understanding of children, youth and the media in a perspective that includes all parts of the world is a top priority for the International Clearinghouse on Children Youth and Media – in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Contemporary global and multicultural societies raise more complex issues than ever before. To be able to respond effectively to this situation, the research community needs to revive its curiosity and explore new phenomena. What do we need in order to be able to formulate the real and really difficult questions? This question occupies many researchers today, and one often-heard answer is a call for greater internationalization and regionalization of media studies. Equally important, we need to regain our sense of context and to broaden our perspectives in a holistic direction. This implies a learning process. Quite definitely, we need more collaboration – within our field, with other disciplines, with society around us and collabora- tion across national frontiers.