A Critical Analysis of Role of Print Media in the East Africa Community (EAC) Integration

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Communications - Print Media, Press, grade: none, , course: Communications, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of print media on the East African Integration. It was guided by five objectives which aimed at establishing the amount of coverage that print media gives to EAC issues, determining the issues given priority by the print media as regards EAC, establishing how print media frames issues related to EAC, establishing the accuracy, framing and balancing coverage of the East African Integration. The literature review for the study focused on such things as the integration of the African continent in general. The idea of integration has been encouraged by rapid spread of globalization which is forcing many countries of the world to come together to form regional blocks for closer cooperation in trade issues among others.The agenda setting theory was advanced to explain the role of print media in the integration process. The study results validated all that is advocated by the agenda setting theory. The study used content analysis as a survey design. This entailed analyzing the contents of the articles dealing with East African Integration. In general the study shows that the print media as presented by The East African has a positive influence on issues of integration. Some of the articles published by the newspaper shows that trade, the economy, education, infrastructure and the common market protocol have benefited a lot from integration efforts.