PhD Scholarship: New media, citizen and community journalism in Africa

Project Title: Confronting the ‘dream deferred’: Of new media, citizen and community journalism in Africa – at University of Central Lancashire, School of Journalism, Media and Communication.

Social media, blogging, citizen and community journalism, mobile news, are all aspects of and drivers of this ‘alternative’ media sector. This project intends to examine the growth of this sector, looking at ways in which it has acted as a corrective to Africa’s stalling media liberalization process. The project hopes to interrogate the space social media and other participatory forms of journalism are negotiating within the continent’s media landscape as well as the new practices they are developing as critical tools capable of engaging with and facilitating the continent’s democratization process.

This international PhD scholarship is tenable for up to 3 years and is open to international applicants only; UK/EU applicants are not eligible. Full announcement available here. Closing date: Friday 13 May 2011.