Main description:

This is an open access book which brings together leading scholars and critical discourses on political, economic, legal, technological, socio-cultural and systemic changes and continuities intersecting media and health crises in Sub-Saharan Africa. The volume extensively discusses COVID-19 but it also covers other epidemics, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS as well as "silent" health crises such as mental health---simmering across the subcontinent. The chapters fill knowledge gaps, highlight innovations, unpack the complexities surrounding the media ecosystem in times of health crises. They explore, among other issues, the politics of public health communication; infodemics; existential threats to media viability; draconian legislations; threats to journalists/journalism; COVID-related entrepreneurship, marginalization, and more.

This is a timely resource for academics, advocacy groups, media practitioners and policy makers working on crises and media reporting, not just in Africa but anywhere in the global South.

Contents:

- Foreword. - Part I Digital and Political Economy of the Media.- The Sustainability and Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Media Houses in Uganda and Ethiopia.- Political Economy of Covid -19 and Impact on Media Management and Sustainability in Nigeria.- Impact of Covid-19 on the Digitisation of Namibian Media.- Covid 19 and Media Viability in Southern Africa: Glimpses from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.- Part II Journalism Practice, Audiences and News Discourses.- Critical Journalism During Covid-19 Pandemic: Coverage of Corruption in Zimbabwe Online News.- Constructive Journalism and Covid -19 Safe Narratives in Zimbabwe a Case of the Herald Reportage of Corona Pandemic.- Endangered Voices: Nigerian Journalists' Safety Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.- Framing Poverty in Nigerian Online Media Reports on the Maiden Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day.- Face-to Face with COVID-19: Experiences of Ghanaian Frontline Journalists Infected with the Virus.- A Comparative Discourse Analysis of African Newspaper Reports on Global Epidemics: A Case Study Ebola and Coronavirus.- Citizen Journalism and Health Communication in Pandemic Prevention and Control.- "This is a Punishment to America" Framing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Zimbabwe's Mainstream Media.- Part III Regulation, Representation and Marginalisation.- Cyber Crimes Law, Citizenship: Journalism Clampdown in Times of Covid in Tanzania.- Framing the Aids Discourse: Authority Versus Non-Authority Sources in Uganda's HIV Aids News Reporting.- Weapons of Oppressors: Covid -19 Regulatory Framework and Impact on Journalism Practice in South Africa.- Media Discourses on Gender in Covid-19 Times in Zimbabwe.