Journal of Media Studies, Vol 33, No 1 (2018)

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From Dictatorship to Black Man’s Democracy: How has Freedom of the Press Improved in Nigeria and Cameroon?

Floribert Patrick C. Endong

Abstract


The third democratisation wave that swept across Black Africancountries in the 1990s has paradoxically engendered "strange"forms of political system which have variously been described bypolitical ideologues as "democratic dictatorship", "Africandemocracy" or "Black's man democracy"; this, in clear contrast withwestern conceptions of liberal democracy. In the specific cases ofNigeria and Cameroon, this "African democracy" has consisted inupholding few democratic precepts (notably the theoreticalinstitution of political pluralism and the promulgation of libertybills), while retaining various forms of autocratic cultures. Some ofthese autocratic cultures have included the passing of anachronisticand restrictive laws, the covert intimidation/elimination ofopposition parties and the systematic gagging of the antigovernmentpress among others. Using a critical exploitation ofsecondary data and a comparative methodology, this paperexplores the extent to which the pro-democratic reforms of the1990s and 2000s in Nigeria and Cameroon have been conducive tofreedom of the press and freedom of expression. The paper equallyexamines the extent to which these political reforms have reducedaspects of the authoritarian media theory in the two countries.

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