Authoritarian Journalism

Controlling the News in Post-Conflict Rwanda

Ruth Moon (Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University)

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English

Oxford University Press Inc
11 February 2024

Politics & government; Human rights; Press & journalism

Series: Journalism and Political Communication Unbound

Journalists working in authoritarian countries contend with competing institutional logics. This is particularly the case in post-conflict countries, where journalistic practice is simultaneously shaped by historical antagonisms, global development initiatives, and the authoritarian state. While journalism schools and professional organizations speak a Western logic of objectivity and independence, political history instills a logic of subordination, and organizational business models instill a logic of financially motivated censorship. As more countries move away from democratic models, more and more journalists will face these seemingly irreconcilable pressures.

Building on months of ethnographic work, Ruth Moon looks at journalistic practice in Rwanda, a country where journalism has developed into a stable field in the two and a half decades since the nation's 1994 genocide. At the same time, its journalists, facing pressure to please the State, have lost confidence in themselves, and readers have lost faith in local media. Can the nation's news media reinvigorate itself, either from within or with assistance from global journalism actors? This book examines journalism practice in Rwanda to draw conclusions applicable to journalism fields everywhere. Moon argues that not only is the force of globalization inadequate to shift local practice, but it in fact serves to reinforce local practices and boundaries.

By: Ruth Moon (Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Louisiana State University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 156mm, Width: 236mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 334g
ISBN: 9780197623428
ISBN 10: 0197623425
Series: Journalism and Political Communication Unbound
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 11 February 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ruth Moon (PhD, University of Washington) is an assistant professor of media and public affairs at Louisiana State University. She studies journalists and the constraints and incentives that shape their work with a focus on practice in the Global South. She has published research in Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies, Journalism, Information, Communication & Society, and International Journal of Communication. Her research is informed by more than 10 years' professional experience working as a reporter and editor for several magazines and newspapers in the U.S.

Reviews for Authoritarian Journalism: Controlling the News in Post-Conflict Rwanda

"This book is challenging in all the right ways. It challenges our assumptions about the role of autonomy in journalism through a nuanced dive into the overlapping pressures that shape news in semi-authoritarian contexts. It challenges how we understand the ways in which myths and narratives interact with structural constraints to limit what journalists do. It challenges our conceptions of the relationship between transnational journalism and local journalists operating in the Global South. And it challenges us to think about how journalism might look in the many other places that are confronting democratic backsliding and a diminished free press."" - Matt Carlson, University of Minnesota <""Ruth Moon has produced a riveting 'insider' perspective that confronts deeply ingrained assumptions on journalism in Rwanda (and related African authoritarian contexts) and offers a stellar intervention that shows how journalism, and its inner workings vary considerably across the globe. If the ultimate test of the impact of a journalism scholarly book is its transformative potential both to the discipline and on practice and policy, then Authoritarian Journalism can clearly be counted among such innovative pieces of scholarly work.>"" Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara , University of Glasgow"