FRAMES AND MONKEYWRENCHING THE MEDIA IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE: HOW TO WIN A WAR IN FRANÇAFRIQUE by JESLYN LEMKE A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2017 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Jeslyn Lemke Title: Frames and Monkeywrenching the Media in Côte d’Ivoire: How to Win a War in Françafrique This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Journalism and Communication by: Leslie Steeves Chairperson Gabriela Martinez Core Member Gretchen Soderlund Core Member Erin Beck Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2017 ii © 2017 Jeslyn Lemke iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Jeslyn Lemke Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism and Communication December 2017 Title: Frames and Monkeywrenching the Media in Côte d’Ivoire: How to Win a War in Françafrique This study revisits the media coverage of Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010-2011 electoral crisis as a case study of the political, economic, and contextual stressors that impact journalists writing in francophone Africa in times of conflict. This dissertation demonstrates how the three key political parties in Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral crisis, France, Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, all had a deep economic incentives in this civil war, and were using both hidden and public tactics to manipulate media coverage in their own interests. I explore these tactics in two locations: how the news is framed in the local and foreign news coverage of the crisis, using a textual analysis of 210 news articles; and how politicians monkey-wrenched journalists and news outlets to secretly impact news coverage, drawing on 31 interviews with Ivorian and foreign journalists. Under the umbrella of international communication, I explore how the influence of France continues to assert immense editorial control over the media infrastructure of Côte d’Ivoire. I draw on postcolonial theory, political economic theory, frame studies in social movement theory and in media literature to locate the theoretical underpinnings of this research. A political economic framework helps explain this monkey-wrenching of journalists by inspecting who exerts control over journalistic coverage. iv This dissertation is a critical, qualitative case study that employs a textual analysis of 210 newspaper articles and interviews with 24 journalists to explore the central questions of media imperialism and framing in Côte d’Ivoire and Françafrique. I drew articles from the local newspapers: Fraternité Matin, Notre Voie, Le Temps, Le Nouveau Courrier and Le Patriote from 2010 and 2011. From the international press, I pulled articles from Agence France-Presse, Jeune Afrique, Le Monde, Reuters and Associated Press from 2010 to 2017. Little research has been done in the English-speaking world on the media in francophone West Africa. This study helps introduce the complications of media in Françafrique- where France earns enormous profits from African economies- to the English-speaking world. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Jeslyn Lemke GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon Eastern Washington University DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, 2017, University of Oregon Masters of Science in Communication, 2013, Eastern Washington University Bachelors of Science in Journalism, 2007, Eastern Washington University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Multimedia Journalism International Communication Sub-Saharan Africa PUBLICATIONS: Lemke, J. (May, 2016). From the alleys to city hall: an examination of participatory communication and empowerment among homeless activists in Oregon. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 40 (3), 267-286. Lemke, J. & Chala, E. (August, 2016). Tweeting democracy: An ethnographic content analysis of social media use in the differing politics of Senegal and Ethiopia’s newspapers. Journal of African Media Studies , 8 (2). Lemke, J. (, 2017). Interviews with Ivoirian political journalists: A political analysis of French media coverage and influence during Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010- 2011 civil war. In B. Mutsvairo and B. Karam (Eds.) Political Communications in Africa: From Mandela to Magufulion. London, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. Lemke, J. (, 2017). [Review of the book The War Machines: Young Men and Violence in Sierra Leone and Liberia]. African Journalism Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2017.1349270 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has been 10-plus years in the making. I first visited Côte d’Ivoire in 2008, as a media intern for a US media newswire. At the time, the road barriers, soldiers and frequent AK-47s in the streets frightened me. I’ve spent the last decade piecing together Côte d’Ivoire’s internal struggle. I learned to read French and improved on speaking it during sweaty hot days hanging out with friends under mango trees and in open markets in Dakar. I spent hours on the phone with my good friend Guy-Roger Otchrifou, who lives in Abidjan now with his wife Ruth and son David. We’ve spent years discussing Côte d’Ivoire’s poverty, natural resources, politics and the way forward for this amazing and rich region. I started the Ph.D. program at University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication in 2013, where I met scores of journalists from other African nations. From 2014 to 2016, I visited Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire three more times, this time with a far more complex tool kit for understanding the country’s postcolonial dynamic with France and struggles with neocolonial corporations which buy the country’s massive supply of cocoa beans. I’d like to first thank Dr. Leslie Steeves for believing in my application enough to admit me to the UO School of Journalism and Communication in 2013. Thank you for your helpful guidance and wisdom as I left the U.S. each time for West Africa. I’d like to thank assistant professor in communication Dr. Gabriela Martinez, a member of my committee, for giving me the vision to think about Côte d’Ivoire through the lens of international communication and postcolonial theory. I’d like to thank Dr. Erin Beck, a member of my committee, for your consistent hard work in talking through social movement theory and collective action frames with me, along with your fantastic vii enthusiasm and willingness to churn out in-depth analysis of my work at each step in the dissertation. I’d like to thank Dr. Gretchen Soderlund, for encouraging me to write with my own voice. This made for a strong ethnographic feel to the text that gives it a richer, contextualized tone. I’d also like to thank Guy-Roger and Ruth Otchrifou for hosting me in their home in Abidjan for the summers of 2015 and 2016. Special thanks to Oulai Bertrand Goué, a Ph.D. candidate at the Université de Montréal in Québec, for his help explaining the history of Côte d’Ivoire’s politics and with translating more difficult French excerpts. I’d like to thank Canadian journalist Marco Oved of the Toronto Star for taking the time to proof some earlier drafts of this research. I would also like to thank Ivorian journalist Jean Claude Coulibaly of Le Patriote for his patience in helping me understand the finer nuances and politics of the conflict in 2011. I’d like to thank my aunt and uncle Barry and Janet Foy for their financial support my first year in Eugene, a gift that convinced me to stay in the program. I’d like to thank my dad, mom and two sisters for their unfailing humor, gifts and support throughout this time. I’d like to thank Irene Awino, J.D. Swerzenski, Charlie Deitz, Ashley Cordes, Clayton Williams, Endalk Chala, David Stanton, Cameron Gamble, Sandrine Assonken, Peter and Gloria Lowe, Neleigh Olson and Lisa Heyamoto for their help along the way. I’d also like to acknowledge and remember the late Alex Tizon, whose kindness from my first day in Eugene meant the world to me. His writing continues to inspire me as a journalist and human being. viii Dedicated to my beloved Teodora Dayrit Lemke, Joy Assonken and Ambria Smith. May we remember those who came before us and those who came after. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: HOW TO WIN A WAR IN FRANÇAFRIQUE……………. 1 List of acronyms……………………………………………………………… 1 Timeline of electoral crisis, 2010-2011……………………….……………… 2 Introduction………………………….……………………………………….. 4 An Introduction to Côte d’Ivoire’s Politics and Press………………………... 5 Postcolonial Theory and Political Economy…………………………..……... 10 Social Movement Theory and Collective Action Frames……………………. 12 Francophone Africa ....................................................................................... 13 The Chapters Ahead ...................................................................................... 14 II. CONTEXTUALIZING FRANÇAFRIQUE AND LAURENT GBAGBO ........... 18 Imperial France…………………………………………………………...….. 18 Colonial-Era and Postcolonial Era Press in Côte d’Ivoire .............................. 21 Contemporary Politics in Côte d’Ivoire: Events of 2010-2011 Electoral Crisis……….…............................................................................. 24 News Industry in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire…………………………………….. 29 Political Economy of Newspapers in Abidjan……………………………….. 31 International Newswires in Abidjan………………………………………….. 33 III.