1992 Volume 6 Number 2 Circulation de I'lnformation et Pluralisme Pan-African Cooperation and Satellite Communication Media and National Integration Women as Journalsits \ by the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE). Nairobi, Kenya, ISSN 0258-4913 Copyright ©1992 2 5 NOV 2002 Africa Media Review provides a forum for the study of communication theory, practice and policy in African countries. It Is published three times a year by the ACCE Institute for Communication Development and Research, P.O. Box 47495, Nairobi, Kenya. Telephone: 227043/ 334244 Ext. 2068. Telex: 25148 ACCE KE Correspondence and Advertising Authors should send contributions to the Managing Editor, ACCE Institute for Communication Development and Research, P.O. Box 47495, Nairobi, Kenya. Books for review, book review articles and all other matters regarding AMR should be sent to the same address. Subscription Rates Africa Outside Africa One Year Two Years Three Years US$ 39.00 US$69.00 US$99.00 $48 $90 $132 These rates include packing and postage. Single copies are US$13.00 within Africa and US$16 outside Africa. Cheques or money orders should be made payable to African Council for Communication Education and sent to the above address. Special arrangements will be entered Into where applicable for subscribers in Africa through their nearest ACCE national co-ordlnator. ACCE institutional and individual members receive AMR as part of membership privileges Managing Editor Editorial Assistant Circulation S.T. Kwame Boafo, African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. Angelina Mwashumbe. African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. Rahab Gatura. African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. ACCE President Tom Adaba, NTA. Lagos, Nigeria. (D Comments on the Contents of this Issue The decade of the 1990s and beyond offers challenges for the media in Africa in the wake of multi-party democracy and pluralism as it marks the advent of a new age of communication in Africa and imposes certain demands on the existing communication order. This issue of the AMR presents a number of papers which discuss those challenges, the emerging communication order, the experiences of female journalists in an African society and the functions of communication In the development process. Hugues Kone's paper lists eight principal challenges facing the African press, the first and most poignant being the rupture of the "culture of silence" which has enveloped so many African societies. He contends that the press will be in a more favourable position than before to serve as a catalyst of change and to cultivate a more mature outlook as well as to foster regional cooperation. Stanford C. Mukasa's article pursues the subject of regional cooperation with an analysis of the RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Communication) project The article examines the key elements of the project and its implications for the socio-economic and regional development in Africa. The author offers a framework within which strategies can be devised for an integrated information and communication techniques development. The hopes are that RASCOM would improve pan-African telecommunications links and be a major step forward in achieving the OAU blueprint for an economic community of Africa by the year 2000. At the national level, Osabuohien Amienyi looks at the contribution of mass media to integration in Nigeria. His empirical study among three ethnic groups in the country yields findings which suggest that the contribution of the media to integratlve tendency depends on media type and dimension of integration. The author calls for a streamlining of media policy and an integrated approach to achieving national cohesion in Nigeria. The ideas often expressed on the role of women in African societies often lead to the belief that the role of a journalist and that of women are Incompatible with each other. Rlan van den Wijngaard presents a descriptive study of how female Journalists in Senegal endeavour to fulfill both roles. As African countries continue to grapple with myriad development problems, there seems to be an ever-pressing need for development support communication. Asres Kebede describes an attempt to meet that need in Ethiopia with a case study of a pilot project on development support communication to health. He gives a detailed account of the project which involves merging the national literacy programme for adults with informative programmes on health, agriculture, home management and sanitation. Despite several shortcomings of the project, Kebede contends that life-long adult education support activities In Ethiopia can be achieved by applying relevant information gained. (ID Table of Contents 1 Circulation de llnformation et Pluralisme: Quels Defis Pour la Presse Africaine? Hugues Kcrnfe 13 Towards Pan-African Cooperation in Satellite Communication: An Analysis of the RASCOM Project Stanford G. Mukasa 31 The Actual Contribution of Mass Media Use To Integrative Tendency in Nigeria Osabuohien P. Amienyi 47 Women As Journalists: Incompatibility of Roles? Rian van den Wijngaard 57 Implementing a Development Communication Project: A Descriptive Study of the Communication Support to Health Project in Ethiopia Asres Kebede (110