This article discusses debates on the freedom of the press in Africa with regard to professionalism, essentialism and citizenship. The article engages Francis Kasoma’s arguments for an ethics which calls on the ancestors for guidance. It critiques the insistence by many African media academics that the media must exhibit ‘African values’, and it examines the role of authority in determining the way that the media are understood by communication students in some African countries. The deification of Afrocentricism, moralistic prescriptions and the notion that authority is beyond critique are questioned. The article argues for a greater integration of cultural and media studies with ways of teaching journalism in order to caution these kinds of essentialisms which assume that Africa has just one ‘culture’. Some suggestions are offered on how to address these issues in course curricula.
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