Ambiguity and Subtexts in the Quest for Freedom of Expression in Africa

The objective of this paper is to ascertain why government officials in countries like South Africa and Nigeria fail to keep their promise to uphold freedom of expression. To achieve this objective, documents with different views on freedom of expression were sampled, categorized and presented on three titled tables. Critical discourse analysis was applied as a tool of interpreting the sampled texts. The interpretation of the texts yielded insights supportive of the view that subtle moves such as the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal in south Africa are mere disingenuous arsenals often deployed by African governments to enable them control what they perceive as media’s enormous power. The idea of information as an international public utility emerged from the analysis and was used to recommend that lobbying could be explored to cajole African leaders into unequivocal embrace of freedom of expression. Conclusion postulated the idea of expanding and readapting academic journals to complement the orthodox media. Key Words: Protection of Information, Freedom of Expression, Information, Subtext JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, October 2011, 155 – 165.