1994 Volume 8 No. 2 The Case of Newsweek in Nigeria National Interest and the Media: Comparison of the Coverage of Kenyan Elections by the New York Times and The Guardian Considerations on the Role of Media and Information in Building a New South Africa Can the Devil Speak the Truth? The New York Times Coverage of Mandela's U. S. Visit by the African Council for Communication Education Copyright © 1994 (ACCE) Nairobi, Kenya ISSN 0258-4913 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: 227043/216135/215270/334244 ext 2068 Telex: 25148 ACCEKE. Correspondence and Advertising Authors should send contributions to the Managing Editor, ACCE Institute for Communication Develpment 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 One Year Two Years Three Years Africa US$ 39:00 US$69:00 US$ 99:00 Outside Africa 48:00 US$ US$ 90:00 US$ 132:00 These rates include packing and postage. Single copies are US$ 13:00 within Africa and US$ 16:00 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-ordinator. ACCE institutional and individual members receive AMR as part of membership privileges. Managing Editor Editorial Assistants Circulation ACCE President Dr. Charles Okigbo, African Council for Communication Education Nairobi, Kenya. Charles Ongadi Nyambuga, Mona Fetouh, African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. Wacango Kimani, African Council for Communication Education, Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Francis Wete, University of Yaounde, Cameroon. Comments on the contents of this issue In this issue of AMR there are five articles that expound on the general theme of the function of agenda-setting by the interest groups of the international mass media in relation to the coverage of contemporary social and political affairs in Africa and the consequences thereof. Enoh Tanjong and Gary D. Gaddy examine the relation between exposure to the agenda set by Newsweek by a selected Nigerian audience and the reaction of the audience to the global news in terms of media effects, which were found to be minimal. How do African-American newspaper editors decide which news about Africa to publish and what influences those decisions? Emmanuel U. Onyedike explores this question in his paper and discovers that media coverage of Africa and the Third World by U.S. news organizations depends on individual and organizational factors, although educative news as regards their African heritage may sometimes be published. In the evolving new political democracy in Kenya, the international media greatly influence the national politics and international relations which exist between Kenya and the world based on their own selfinterests, according to Lawrence Gikaru's article - a study on the coverage of the first multi-party elections held in Kenya in 1992. Luke Uka Uche underscores the dirth of communication scholarship in discussing the problems and solutions of the Third World's indebtedness to the industralized west, adding that unless confronted, the problem will be a permanent feature of North-South relations to the detriment of the Third World. P. Eric Louw and Keyan G. Tomaselli, take a look at the role of media and information in building a "new" South Africa; while Ruth Teer-Tomaselli examines the African National Council's media policy by giving a detailed account of the processes that led to its draftubg and what it will be expected to contribute to the desegregated South African society. Chris W. Ogbondah takes readers through a study of the New York Times' coverage of Nelson Mandela's 12-day eight-city tour of the United States in June 1990 and concludes that the image presented of him to the American audience was favourable - in the self-interest of U.S. foreign policy. Table of Contents 1 The Agenda-Setting Function of the International Mass Media: The Case of Newsweek in Nigeria by Enoh Tanjong and Gary D. Gaddy 15 Coverage of Africa by the African-American Press: Perceptions of African-American Newspaper Editors by Emmanuel U. Onyedike 27 National Interest and the Media: Comparison of the Coverage of Kenyan Elections by the New York Times and The Guardian by Lawrence Gikaru 39 Some Reflections on the Dependency Theory by Luke Uka Uche 57 Considerations on the Role of Media and Information in Building a New South Africa by P. Eric Louw and Keyan G. Tomaselii 73 Militancy and Pragmatism: The Genesis of the ANC's Media Policy by Ruth Teer-Tomaselli 89 Can the Devil Speak the Truth? The New York Times Coverage of Mandela's U. S. Visit by Chris W. Ogbondah iii