Misinformation in Africa: An Overview of Current and Future Research

Speakers: Professor Herman Wasserman (University of Cape Town, South Africa) and Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales (University of Sheffield)

Date: 11 August 2022

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a speaker session with Prof. Herman Wasserman (University of Cape Town) and Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales (University of Sheffield) as part of its SMA “Anticipating The Future Operational Environment” (AFOE) Speaker Series.

There is an increasing global concern relating to information disorder, including its effects on the Global South. Information disorder, as defined by the speakers, includes misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Much of the conversation surrounding information disorder focuses on social media; however, it is not a new phenomenon and has been historically prevalent in newspapers, television, and other forms of legacy media. Prof. Wasserman added that popular cultural forms of communication, like music and satire, have even fulfilled the journalistic function for some people, undermining the power of traditional journalism media even further.

Many Africans believe that they are being exposed to some form of disinformation, and this high level of perceived information disorder is causing Africans to become unsure of what to believe, weakening democratic elections and threatening fragile independent media organizations. On top of this, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many independent media organizations to shut down, as they could no longer financially support themselves.

China’s information operations in Africa have been of particular concern to Western states. China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ policy of using its media to influence global narratives allows China to influence countries’ infrastructure development, personnel training, media production and distribution, direct investments, and public opinion. Dr. Madrid-Morales stated that China has even been able to counter narratives of racism within China by way of social media. He explained that combatting and reducing future information disorder should include increased fact-checking and media literacy initiatives, as well as coupling investigative journalism with widespread fact-checking. Increasing multi-stakeholder collaborations will also help communication across all areas of society and build communities’ resilience to disinformation. 

Speaker Session Recording

Briefing Materials

Biographies:

Prof. Herman Wasserman is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and worked as a journalist before starting an academic career. He has published widely on media in Africa. His books include Tabloid Journalism in South Africa, Media, Geopolitics, and Power and Media, Conflict and Democracy in Africa. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. Wasserman is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journals African Journalism Studies and the Annals of the International Communication Association. Information about his work is available at http://disinfoafrica.org and www.media-analysis.co.za

Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales is a Lecturer in Global Journalism at the University of Sheffield. He uses mixed-methods (interviews, ethnography, survey research, and experimental designs) to study global communication, and the impact of new media technologies in the Global South. Dr. Madrid-Morales has published widely in academic journals and books based on extensive fieldwork in Africa and the Global South. His publications cover his two main areas of research, Sino-African media relations, as well as the prevalence of misinformation in SubSaharan Africa. Information about his work on misinformation is available at http://disinfoafrica.org/, while copies of his publications are available at http://danimadrid.net.

The presenters are co-editors of the book Disinformation in the Global South, published earlier this year by Wiley-Blackwell.

This speaker session supported SMA’s Anticipating the Future Operational Environment (AFOE) project. For additional speaker sessions and project publications, please visit the AFOE project page.