Meridian17: No Neutral Lens: The influences shaping African media, with Prof. Herman Wasserman

No media is free of influence. What matters is who’s doing the influencing, and whether they’re telling you about it. In this episode of The Media in Africa Podcast, Georja Calvin Smith speaks to CINIA Director Prof. Herman Wasserman, about the big ideas filtered through what Africans read, watch and share: state ownership, old colonial broadcasters, Chinese investment, paid influencers and covert foreign campaigns.

They talk about why struggling newsrooms are easier to capture, how US political vocabulary is migrating into African debates, and how tailoring a narrative can turn real concerns into political tools for off continent interests.