Gregory Gondwe | California State University, San Bernardino (original) (raw)

Papers by Gregory Gondwe

Digital Journalism, 2024

this study investigates the integration of Ubuntu philosophy into ai-driven journalism practices ... more this study investigates the integration of Ubuntu philosophy into ai-driven journalism practices in subs-saharan africa. With a particular focus on its challenges, opportunities, and implications for fostering inclusivity, the study delineates practical lines of inquiry, including prioritizing diverse data sources, establishing ethical guidelines, promoting ai literacy, ensuring transparency and accountability, and equitable resource allocation. Drawing on interviews with journalists from congo DRc, Kenya, tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, the findings suggest that african journalists encounter a spectrum of experiences in their engagement with ai tools, ranging from enthusiastic embrace to skepticism regarding their reliability and representativeness. against the backdrop, the study proposes a normative lens inspired by the Ubuntu philosophy, emphasizing relationality, social progress, social harmony, and human dignity, as a guiding framework for the responsible use of ai in journalism. By reimagining ai journalism within the Ubuntu philosophy, the study underscores the potential to create a technology landscape where all individuals and communities are treated equitably, aligning with the principles of interconnectedness, communal responsibility, and collective well-being.

African Communication Research Journal, 2021

This comparative study is threefold: to examine the audience's perception of fake news and mis/di... more This comparative study is threefold: to examine the audience's perception of fake news and mis/disinformation, the motivations for the conscious consumption of fake news, and the motivations for sharing fake news in countries with limited media freedom and the United States. Using data from Zambia, Tanzania, and the U.S., the results indicate that people in countries with limited press freedom were mostly pro-fake news and argued that it brought a different perspective to propagandist media. On the other hand, participants from the U.S. were anti-fake news and suggested that there be punitive measures to stop the spread of fake news. These findings contribute to the roles that fake news plays in various contexts and environments, and the motivations for consuming and sharing.

Journal of African Media Studies, 2021

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of online incivility and political violence... more The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of online incivility and political violence in Zambia. The study used the 2018 Chilanga Constituency by-election campaign messages and those of the 2019 Sesheke constituency to examine the problem. The study drew from the simulation effects (that communication with dissimilar others can encourage incivility and hate online) to assert that political elite campaign messages contribute to incivility/hate and subsequent violence during elections in Zambia. This assumption was tested using 5844 data points collected from various social media platforms owned or purported to be owned by either the Patriotic Front (PF) or the United Party for National Development (UPND) party. The findings support the paper’s hypotheses, and additional analyses suggest that men are more likely to practice incivility online than women. Second, findings suggest that while the PF party’s online platforms exhibit higher trends of partisanship, the UPND tend ...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020

This paper set out to explore the dominant measures of media credibility that have stood as a hal... more This paper set out to explore the dominant measures of media credibility that have stood as a hallmark since the 1930s. By investigating their origins, the paper appends an old, and yet overlooked measure - “the local context”, to the already existing ones: source, message, medium, and web credibility. The paper highlights historical antecedents that support the claim and the argument that credibility, and especially in the digital age requires an extended understanding that includes the context or environment. By so doing, we would be able to explain why people choose to believe in inaccurate or false information. Predominantly, the paper interrogates why individuals in echo-chambers believe that a particular source, message, medium, or web is credible regardless of the content of the message.

In recent years, the notion of "edutainment" has been emphasized in various Afr... more In recent years, the notion of "edutainment" has been emphasized in various African education systems. However, the vision of implementing this "edutainment" is still a blur. Advocates of edutainment have not yet defined the two amalgamated words: Education and Entertainment. To some, education is a bitter pill that needs to be galvanized and coated with some entertainment for it to be swallowed. Others perceive entertainment as western and argue that it corrupts the morals of its recipients. This article argues that there is needed to clearly define the composition and characteristics of education and entertainment for the African people before the notion of edutainment is advocated for.

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2018

Debates on whether people in Zambia cast their votes for a presidential candidate based on the go... more Debates on whether people in Zambia cast their votes for a presidential candidate based on the good policies of the party or the qualifications of their candidate are peppered with tales of ethnicity, tribalism, corruption, and the education levels of the voters. These problems have undermined the credibility of the winning candidates as being put into office, based not on their qualifications, but on the desire for individual voters to have someone of their tribe as president. While some scholars have argued that people are not naïve to vote for a candidate irrationally, others hanker on the fact that party policies are barely known to the Zambian voter who takes different forms of communal identities. The two approaches underscore the nascent debates of voting behaviors in Zambia today. Therefore, the aim of the study is to examine the voting behaviors of Zambians in the 2011 Zambian presidential election. Quantitative evidence suggests that party policies and manifestos in the Za...

Journal of Digital Social Research, 2021

This exploratory study contributes to the literature on numeracy in digital journalism studies by... more This exploratory study contributes to the literature on numeracy in digital journalism studies by theoretically incorporating the audience/news consumers. While most studies have focused on journalists' perception and role in the use of numeracy, this study examines how audience perceive stories with numerical values. Through an experimental design, and by comparing the United States, Zambia, and Tanzania, the study was able to demonstrate that news stories with numerical values diminished audience/readers' affective consumption. In other words, news stories with numerical values were negatively associated with audience appeal. However, individuals with a lower understanding of probabilistic and numerical concepts seemed to trust news stories with numbers more than those with a higher level of numeracy. This was especially true in Zambia and Tanzania where most participants recorded lower numeracy levels. The overall sample in all the three countries seemed to favor news sto...

Journalism Practice, 2022

This study contributes to the theory of gatekeeping by examining how community media journalists ... more This study contributes to the theory of gatekeeping by examining how community media journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa navigate through conflicting information. Using the case of COVID-19, the study examined how journalists from community media in Zambia and Tanzania reported government information that conflicted with what the local communities they served believed to be untrue. Drawing from interviews with journalists from community media organizations, we were able to demonstrate that there was a schism between what the editors thought as newsworthy versus what the reporters believed as possessing journalistic values relevant for their communities. Unlike the reporters, most editors aligned much with what the government wanted the media to transmit. This is especially true in Zambia where reporters indicated that most of their stories were flagged as irrelevant by their editors. These findings are then examined through the lens of gatekeeping, particularly a focus on various
levels of analysis.

Journal of Black Studies, 2022

Through selective exposure, this study examined the role the US news media played in encouraging ... more Through selective exposure, this study examined the role the US news media played in encouraging or discouraging minority races from getting vaccinated. Through content analysis and focus groups, we were able to demonstrate that most media messages focused on prior beliefs in their reporting, therefore, discouraging the black and Latino minorities from getting the COVID-19 vaccinations. Further, while blacks and Latinos based their fears of the vaccines on health effects, white respondents were more concerned about government surveillance and the desire to go back to "normal" life after the quarantine. Ultimately, white respondents were more positive about vaccination arguing that they were tired of the quarantine and wanted normal life back.

International Journal of Communication, 2021

This study examined the effects of emotions on risk concerns and behavior change among sex worker... more This study examined the effects of emotions on risk concerns and behavior change among sex workers in Zambia. The aim was to investigate which health communication ad campaigns elicit emotions that lead to behavior change. Two types of HIV/AIDS ads were used for the analysis: Those focusing on eradicating the scourge by evoking negative emotions versus those aimed at fighting stigma with positive messages. Findings suggest that participants exposed to negatively framed ad campaigns were more likely to quit their sex working profession at follow-up than those exposed to ads designed to fight social stigma. In other words, negatively framed ad campaigns that invoked fear about HIV/AIDS were more likely to encourage behavior change among female sex workers in Zambia. The study speaks to the issue of risk versus crisis communication as they relate to how the Global North and South respond to stigma.

Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 2021

This article reports on a study that contributes to the literature on gatekeeping, gatewatching a... more This article reports on a study that contributes to the literature on gatekeeping, gatewatching and crowdsourcing in African contexts. It does so by significantly expanding the scope, and theoretically incorporating the value of information and message content, through which the study revealed how citizen journalists only participate in the already existing media agenda. Citizen journalists are not professional journalists, instead they transmit information using social media platforms. By analysing a total of 2 418 stories from social media users and conducting surveys among 314 journalists, the study was able to demonstrate that journalists and the political elites are the main creators of news media agenda. The findings also suggest that journalists do not crowdsource to obtain a diversity of opinions, but rather to validate their already made agenda. These findings, although consistent with the extant literature, present an important topic to the so far understudied area of Africa.

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking

The internet of things (IoT) is the notion of all devices and products being connected to the int... more The internet of things (IoT) is the notion of all devices and products being connected to the internet rather than only computers and mobile devices, as has been the case until the recent past. The IoT is already booming, and its adoption will only accelerate in coming years. At the same time, the world continues to go wireless. Wired internet and telephone connections are becoming rarer with each passing year, and consumers expect and demand wireless communications more and more. One critical enabling technology for the IoT is wireless communications: IP-cameras, printers, kitchen appliances, and more deliver greater flexibility in their design when they do not need a wired connection to access the internet. In this paper, a flexible spectrum management framework to enable greater innovation, investment, and flexibility in IoT products, as well as the necessary architecture that will enable a wider deployment of IoT is proposed. An illustration and analogy from the success of the u...

Digital Journalism, 2021

While research on misinformation in Africa has increased in recent years, and despite a growing b... more While research on misinformation in Africa has increased in recent years, and despite a growing body of theoretical and empirical work that considers the role of governments, platforms, and users in stopping misinformation globally, there is still a lack of empirical research addressing ways to curb its spread on the continent. Research has coalesced around the idea that no single approach will work in all contexts, and effective strategies need to include media literacy, fact-checking, changes in how news is produced and circulated, government oversight, and regulations as well as responses that take local contexts into account. Using data from 36 focus groups in six sub-Saharan African countries, we examine audiences’ experiences with misinformation and perceptions of institutional and personal roles and responsibility for both pre- venting and intervening in the spread of misinformation. First, we examine perceptions of misinformation with a particular focus on whether misinformation is perceived as “a problem.” Second, we examine perceived responsibility for addressing misinformation and possible solutions to the problem. Findings suggest that participants perceive misinformation as a problem if it has real or potential negative consequences and expresses a sense of shared responsibility among individuals and institutions for stopping the spread of misinformation.

Journal of Digital Social Research, 2021

Journal of Global Mass Communication, 2021

This study examined the relationship between the consumption of computermediated news content cha... more This study examined the relationship between the consumption of computermediated news content characterized as partisan and depression among N= 518 participants above the age of 50 years. Drawing from Beck's (1967) theory of depression, we were able to demonstrate that the effects of consuming news from the two aforementioned mainstream media outlets are mediated by radical political partisan affiliations. In other words, the more partisan an individual, the more likely depressed they would be, even when they only watched one station that supported their ideology. Further compounding suggests that the consumption of news from the two media, actually lessened depression when partisanship was controlled for.

African Journalism Studies, 2021

This study explores the state of data-driven journalism practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims ... more This study explores the state of data-driven journalism practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims at examining journalists' perceptions of data-driven journalism in Zambia and Tanzania as it attempts to redefine and demystify the concept. We base our hypotheses on the notion that most journalists in Zambia and Tanzania perceive data journalism as a field that cannot be defined outside quantitative methods-approaches mostly emphasized by Western scholarship. Our cross-national survey findings suggest that journalists from Zambia and Tanzania do not consider themselves as data journalists even when they practice it. This is because of the lack of advanced computer-assisted reporting equipment and the dwindling skills in advanced quantitative methods that are mostly accompanied by statistical software. Findings also suggest that female journalists showed more skepticism of data journalism practice, leading to fewer women with interest in pursuing data journalism in Zambia and Tanzania

Journal of Media and Communication Science, 2020

This study set out to examine how CNN and CCTV news covered the COVID-2019 pandemic from December... more This study set out to examine how CNN and CCTV news covered the COVID-2019 pandemic from December 2019 to February 2020. The aim was to investigate the role that global mainstream media play in guiding public sentiments during the impacting everyone across race, color, social status, and geographical boundaries. Comparative analyses suggest that both CNN and CCTV news were only partial in their coverage when reporting about themselves. When talking about each other, the two countries seemed to employ a problem-centered approach where stories focused on blame and economic ramifications. As CNN was being blamed for focusing on the social cost of the pandemic, CCTV news was equally blamed for the lack of transparency. Further findings suggest that both media failed to mediate the public concerns at a global level. In other words, both CNN and CCTV news failed to adopt a stabilizing role towards the panicking audience in the sense that they did not implement strategies of reassurance to the public in their reporting.

Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2021

In the proliferated age of technologies, the field of journalism has been faced with several chal... more In the proliferated age of technologies, the field of journalism has been faced with several challenges that have inevitably pushed journalism practice to unpreceded heights. Overtly, journalists have resorted to various strategies to compete with various media platforms such as social media and other citizen journalistic strategies. Journalists have also resorted to the use of advertising/strategic communication methods to spice up their news stories and attract a large following. Particularly, journalists now use clickbait styles to draw more readership of their own stories. While this has been perceived as a pitfall for journalism, others have argued in favor of these strategies suggesting that they have no effect on the credibility of the media and journalism at large. This experimental study, therefore, set out to understand how the audience perceives clickbait-style headlines in relation to media credibility. Particularly, the study examined whether the Zambian and Tanzanian online news consumers observe the same distinction in the credibility of news content alleged to exist between clickbait and traditional news reporting and whether perceptions of clickbait headlines lead to lower credibility for news articles. The findings suggest strong statistical evidence that clickbait headlines pose negatives effects on the perceptions of journalistic credibility in Zambia and Tanzania.

Media Watch, 2021

This study replicates existing research on crowdcoding, and content analysis approaches to test t... more This study replicates existing research on crowdcoding, and content analysis approaches to test the validity and reliability of content analysis methods in the African setting. We use data from the 2020 Tanzanian presidential elections as a case study. Instead of MTurk for crowdsourcing, the study utilized WhatsApp groups and university students from Tanzania to code the data. Using a collected and controlled sample of 400 tweets to represent Tanzania’s ruling and opposition parties, respectively, our overall findings suggested that crowdcoding produced more reliable data than qualitative content analysis (QCA). However, further analysis suggests that although Crowdcoding recorded higher agreement on validity scores, trained coders seemed to provide more reliability accuracy scores. Besides, data indicates that the traditional training of the coders was statistically insignificant in providing accurate validity and reliability scores for QCA.

Digital Journalism, 2024

African Communication Research Journal, 2021

Journal of African Media Studies, 2021

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2018

Journal of Digital Social Research, 2021

Journalism Practice, 2022

Journal of Black Studies, 2022

International Journal of Communication, 2021

Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 2021

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking

Digital Journalism, 2021

Journal of Digital Social Research, 2021

Journal of Global Mass Communication, 2021

African Journalism Studies, 2021

Journal of Media and Communication Science, 2020

Journal of Media and Communication Studies, 2021

Media Watch, 2021

AFRICAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH ISSN 1821 – 6544 Call for Papers We are pleased to inform yo... more AFRICAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
ISSN 1821 – 6544

Call for Papers

We are pleased to inform you that the African Communication Research (ACR) journal is now inviting submissions for its 23rd issue scheduled for December 2020. The deadline for all manuscript submissions is September 30, 2020.

ABOUT ACR

The African Communication Research is a research-based and peer-reviewed journal, issued once a year in December. ACR is a service of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, for communication researchers of Africa. The journal accepts articles from all scholars, irrespective of country or institution of affiliation. The journal has been publishing since 2008 and selected articles can be viewed at the follow URL: http://ccms.ukzn.ac.za/african-comms-research.aspx As an open access journal, ACR is hosted by the UNESCO Chair of Communication based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

The journal seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of communication and media studies and welcomes articles in all areas of communication and the media including, but not limited to: mass communication, mass media channels, traditional communication, organizational communication, interpersonal communication, development communication, public relations, advertising, information communication technologies, the internet and computer-mediated communication.

Guidelines for submitting manuscripts for publication
Authors should email their manuscripts as an attachment to Albert Tibaijuka at email: tibaijuka.albert@saut.ac.tz with a note indicating that they would like the attached manuscript to be considered for publication in ACR.

The manuscript should provide, on the cover page, complete contact information for the senior or lead author (address, telephone, fax, email) and brief biographical summaries for each author (full name, highest earned academic degree, institution granting that degree and present academic or professional title).

The abstract page should contain an abstract not to exceed 200 words. Author information should be submitted on a separate page.

Manuscripts must follow the specifications of the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the author should verify that the reference list for all materials cited in the text is complete and that references, tables and diagrams are in appropriate format. It is crucial that authors meticulously check citations and bibliographical information for consistency in matching the requirements set out in the Publications Manual of the APA. Any article failing to do this will be returned to the author for correction and might not be published.

All manuscripts must be double spaced, standard type size (12 point), standard margins and preferably in Times New Roman font. Documents should be submitted in Word format. Additional guidelines can be obtained, if necessary, from the coordinating editor.

To facilitate peer review, the copy submitted for consideration should have the title but not the author information (note that author information above is to be on a separate page).

Manuscripts must not have been published elsewhere or be currently under consideration for any other publication.

Please direct all correspondence to:
Albert Tibaijuka
Coordinating Editor
St. Augustine University of Tanzania
P.O. Box 307, Mwanza, Tanzania
Email: tibaijuka.albert@saut.ac.tz

Masters Thesis (SAUT) SAKAWA , 2020

The researcher in this study took a rather different perspective of Bongo Flava Television Progra... more The researcher in this study took a rather different perspective of Bongo Flava Television Programs. The whole quest was to find out the role of Bongo Flava television programs in influencing youth behavior in Dar es Salaam. This study was guided by George Gerbner’s cultivation theory which argued that the information and ideas that people receive on a daily basis are the foundation of their own personal outlook. The whole idea in this was to exhibit that television has the power to shape our perceptions of reality and the world around by affecting our attitudes and certain ways of thinking. Further, the rationale behind this study was based on the following assumptions and in a similar way objective:
1. That the youth in Kinondoni district watch Bongo Flava programs
2. That Bongo Flava TV programs have an entertainment-education value that shapes youth behavior in Kinondoni district
3. That Bongo Flava TV programs have an influence on the behavior of the youth in Kinondoni district.
These objectives were only met by the use of a case study which involved a one to one interview with 50 youth from vijiwe of the five selected places in Kinondoni district, and 100 self-administered questionnaires to two randomly selected schools of the same district. The end result was that Bongo Flava TV programs had a positive influence on the youth in Dar es Salaam.

This paper contributes to Journalism literature in sub-Saharan Africa, by significantly expanding... more This paper contributes to Journalism literature in sub-Saharan Africa, by significantly expanding its scope, and theoretically incorporating “Stretch and Split” Journalism as an emerging trend of reporting among journalists. The term refers to the tendency among journalists to accept more than one assignment happening concurrently so as to maximize all the ‘Brown Envelopes’ and ‘Checkbooks’. Central to this practice is the argument that, despite their ethical implications, ‘Brown Envelope’ Journalism (BEJ) and ‘Checkbook’ journalism (CJ) are simply creative strategies among journalists that have sustained low-paid journalists and allowed journalism to flourish. The same argument is used for the “Stretch and Split” journalism to which journalists see themselves as moonlighting within the same field, and therefore, dedicating more time to the practice.

SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3619518 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3619518, 2020

The question about who qualifies to be called a public intellectual, or what actually poses as a ... more The question about who qualifies to be called a public intellectual, or what actually poses as a hallmark for the public scholarship is still elusive. Even as late as the 1980s, Public scholarship was perceived through the lenses and the likes of the 1950 scholars such as John Kenneth Galbraith, Daniel Bell, C. Wright Mills, Jane Jacobs, etc. Such scholars who were deemed as capable of interpreting the political and social dynamics of their time into a language that the public could understand. The irony is that people like artists, political activists, such as Malcolm X, were less perceived as befitting the criteria despite the mention of non-academic intellectuals (p.7) – simply put, there is little mention about them even when the arguments seem to suggest their characteristics as the normative standards of what Jacoby tend to envision in a public intellectual. Emerging scholarship of the time questioned whether it was possible that the world or the ‘American environment’ would ever be blessed with such thinkers again. For Alan Heimert, an emeritus Harvard professor of American literature, that thinking now belongs to a terra-incognita era in the sense that the current climate in America does not support the development of such thinkers. To a large extent, this is the main threshold of Russell Jacoby’s provocative book.

International Journal of Communication, 2021

Debates about Chinese interests in Africa that have emerged in the wake of unprecedented financia... more Debates about Chinese interests in Africa that have emerged in the wake of unprecedented financial investments are often peppered with tales of postcolonial narratives. In communication scholarship, such debates are often characterized by a schism among African scholars who believe that China is there to uplift the African media through “constructively reporting” Africa, versus those who argue that China’s purported generosity is a “soft-power” strategy, as Caruso (2020) alluded (p. 55). In their studies, for example, Wasserman and Madrid-Morales (2018) and Benabdallah (2020) were able to demonstrate that China’s impact in the African media, and especially on journalistic values, is still questionable. These conclusions are mostly based on the study conducted in South Africa. There is still a dearth of scientific communication research documenting negative results, despite the underpinning theoretical assumptions. However, some dissertation work conducted in Zambia, where China now owns more than 60% of the government media, provides evidence of Chinese influence in the Zambian media. In my own forthcoming study, (Gondwe, forthcoming), I was able to demonstrate that China’s position in Zambian newsrooms has steadily been shifting toward a positive perception through the measure of sentiments and the interconnectedness of issue attributes (network agenda-setting). Regardless, these approaches take a Manichean prism that highlights the fears and hopes of Chinese presence in Africa. It is for this reason that Chinese Media in Africa: Perception, Performance, and Paradox becomes a must-read

International Journal of Communication, 2021

African Communication Research, 2020

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Reporting Africa-China-US relations in the Biden Era: Six research publications, 2021

Despite years of earnest research, a simple or definitive answer to the question of whether China... more Despite years of earnest research, a simple or definitive answer to the question of whether China's presence in sub-Saharan Africa is aiding the constructive reporting of Africa still eludes scholars. The question has become more complex as the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration in the US embarks on resetting policies targeted towards Africa and China.