Political Communication Research in<scp>A</scp>frica

Abstract There has been a steady development of research on political communication in Africa, especially in the areas of historical documentation of the continuing confrontation of authoritarian political regimes from the colonial period into the independence period, the ongoing critical analysis of the restrictions by political leaders on editorial freedom and responsibility in the form of bribery, legal repression by antiquated legislation dating from the colonial period, the political control of the judiciary, and the defensive practice of self‐censorship. Research on investigative reporting is limited, especially investigation of improper election procedures and the failure to implement freedom of information legislation. In spite of the weaknesses of political communication research in Africa, there are promising signs of an increasingly coherent body of theory of political communication based on stronger links with political science research.