CIVIL SOCIETY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MEDIA IN MALI AND GUINEA (CONAKRY) IN 2010-2021

Abstract

For the first time in Russian media science, the article analyzes problems of the relationship between journalism and the formation of civil society in Mali, Guinea (Conakry) and in West Africa as a whole. Reasons for failures of the media in conditions of controlled democracy and military coups are noted. The objective of scrutiny is to expose the ambivalent gist of the political events reflection in recent years via the mirror of regional media, and to analyze the consequences of European influence on journalism in Mali and other countries of the region. The researchers have characterized for the first time the effect of state and religious censorship on the media, analyzed the forms of “controlled democracy” in the mass media, the influence of civil society on network communication. For the first time, the contradictions of interaction between the media and the military, who commit coups, are analyzed, the ambivalence of cooperation between the media and the putschists is emphasized. The methodology of historical and cultural consideration of media discourses, supplemented by elements of comparative analysis of the socio-cultural situation in the region, promotes solving of scientific problems. Empirical data are obtained by sampling media discourses and examining the statements of politicians and journalists in West Africa in recent years.