ABSTRACT

The increase in social media use within African media fields has seen a concomitant increase in fears and concerns about “fake news” over the last few years. However, there is little empirical evidence that “fake news” has been as much of a menace as observers would have us believe. Much of the “fake news” excitement is anchored on panic by American news organisations following the 2016 US presidential elections. Nevertheless, recent scholarship shows that the effects of “fake news” on the US elections were largely exaggerated while the role of conventional media actors largely suppressed. This article argues that the circulation of “fake news” is intricately tied to traditional (western) media practices which have themselves been problematic. It contends that “fake news” is not the problem in and of itself, but rather a sign that African media fields need to reimagine how journalism is practised within the continent. As such, it maintains that studying African journalists not just as “carrier groups” (in the Weberian sense) but also as the primary definers of what the boundaries of the “Overton window” should be is more informative on “fake news” effects than the current fixation with social media’s role in disseminating “fake news”.

摘要

在过去的几年中，非洲媒体领域内社交媒体使用的增加伴随着对“假新闻”的担忧和担忧的增加。但是，几乎没有经验证据表明，“假新闻”已经像观察家希望我们相信的那样具有极大的威胁。在2016年美国总统大选之后，许多“假新闻”的兴奋都源于美国新闻机构的恐慌。然而，最近的研究表明，“假新闻”对美国大选的影响在很大程度上被夸大了，而传统媒体演员的作用在很大程度上被压制了。本文认为，“假新闻”的传播与本身存在问题的传统（西方）媒体实践错综复杂地联系在一起。它认为“假新闻”本身并不是问题，但这标志着非洲媒体领域需要重新想象非洲大陆如何实践新闻业。因此，它坚持认为，不仅以“承运人团体”（在韦伯意义上）研究非洲记者，而且以“ Overton窗口”的边界应作为什么的主要定义者来研究非洲记者，比“假新闻”的影响要有意义得多。当前对社交媒体在传播“假新闻”中的作用的关注。