The central question this book seeks to answer is how is the African journalism industry sustaining itself with this increasing precarity. Media sustainability focuses on three pillars, namely, social, institutional, and financial viability (Ojo 2018, 1272). In the context of the media, social sustainability refers to the survival of the media in the society and communities, a survival which can be ensured by implementing processes that guarantee “community participation in governance, management, operations, content production, generation of income, and feedback” (Farren et al., 2014, 96). Institutional sustainability emphasizes the survival of the media based on the implementation of policies that guarantee proper management and governance of media organizations (Buckley, 2011). Financial sustainability emphasises the ability of media to economically survive through implementing strategies.

To this end, the importance of looking at media sustainability in Africa is as follows: First, the largest population in the continent is in rural areas where the mainstream media, in some cases, is not accessible. Instead, community media is dominant. Hence, the survival of community media which is also at the heart of this book deserves a critical role as it serves the larger population in the continent. Second, the media plays a key role in the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this reason, challenges bedeviling such an important player in sustainable development requires an academic attention. As such, this book engages with scholarship on media sustainability being mindful of the view that media in central in achieving the SDGs. Third, most of the African economies are fragile, and thus affecting the state of the media whom its financial sustainability depends on a stable economy. Of late, the closure, merger and migration of news media to online platforms comes at the backdrop of shrinking advertising revenue in fragile economies. Fourth, some of the countries in the continent have fragile democracies that still require an independent and vibrant media to keep check of those in power, and become a vehicle in the democratization process. Fifth, the shifting of United States Foreign Policy on funding in developing countries with the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had a huge impact on donor funded news platforms. Hence, this book comes in handy to address the importance of a vibrant and sustainable media on the socio-economic and political issues in the continent.

Trust Matsilele is Senior Lecturer of Journalism at Birmingham City University, UK. He holds degrees and diplomas from South Africa, Canada and Zimbabwe. He has published on changing journalism ecologies, protest music, and networked protest cultures. He is also a research fellow in the Department of Communication Science, University of South Africa.

Lungile Augustine Tshuma is a Senior Researcher in the Centre for Communication and Culture, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal. He holds a Ph.D. in Journalism Studies from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, where he is also a Senior Research Associate. His work has been published in local and international journals such as Journalism, Journal of Genocide Research, African Journalism Studies, Critical Arts, Nations and Nationalism, Journal of Communication Inquiry, and Media, Culture and Society. Lungile has published a monograph Photographing the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe: Politics, Power, and the Images of Zenzo Nkobi (Routledge). He has also co-edited the following titles: Patterns of Harassment in African Journalism (Routledge), Remembering Mass Atrocities: Perspectives on Memory Struggles and Cultural Representations in Africa (Palgrave MacMillan). Media, Social Movements, and Protest Cultures in Africa: Hashtags, Humor, and Slogans (Rowman and Littlefield).

Pedzisai Ruhanya, is Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg’s Communication and Media Department, South Africa. He is a Lecturer with the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Creative Media and Communication. He has over 30 publications in media, democracy, law, political transitions in securocratic and competitive authoritarian regimes. His research interest are on the role of dissidence media in democratic transitions in the age of social media and artificial intelligence.