<strong>Press</strong> <strong>Freedom</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Globalisation</strong> is therefore mostly European interpretations. 169 This Western creation of Africa dominates stories about Africa in global media. Images from the colonial era are still alive. These are stereotypes such as adventures, crocodiles, Tarzan, disasters <strong>and</strong> military coups. Thus, Africa is transformed to adventures which can be commodities in the global market for media content. 170 <strong>Press</strong> freedom with social responsibility has not been any hindrance to exploit <strong>and</strong> stigmatise Africa like this in global markets. Even Africans themselves are inhibited by this Western philosophy. Attempts to make an African notion of press freedom, take a critical view to Western values but come up with similarities to Western practice. In the neo-colonialism debate, it is pointed out how Africans use Western philosophy to describe Africa <strong>and</strong> how that continue to support the Western notion of Africa. Within the framework of Western philosophy, it is impossible to produce unique African concepts. To be liberated from Western political <strong>and</strong> economic dominance, it is necessary to develop specific African thought systems. 171 Thus, it is a long way to any specific press freedom based on African values. Another neo-colonial force is ownership. A lot of African media industry is owned by Western corporates. In addition, almost all content beyond local events are produced by news agencies, other media providers as well as advertising agencies owned by Western companies. 172 It is in their interests to maintain the existing media order based on Western concepts of free markets <strong>and</strong> press freedom. The West preaches democracy <strong>and</strong> press freedom to Africa, but the democratisation processes are different. In the West, democracies emerged as a compromise to manage 169 Mudimbe, V. Y., The Idea of Africa (Bloomington: Indiana University <strong>Press</strong>, 1994), pp. 40-41, 71-72 <strong>and</strong> 211-212. 170 Hawk, Beverly G. (ed.), Africa’s Media Image (Westport, USA: Praeger Publishers, 1992), pp. 4-16. 171 p’Bitek, Okot, African Religions in Western Scholarship (Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau, 1970), pp. 90-91 <strong>and</strong> 102-119. 172 Brislin, Tom, “Empowerment as a Universal Ethic in Global Journalism”, p. 131; <strong>and</strong> Paterson, “Global Battlefields”, p. 80. 56
<strong>Press</strong> <strong>Freedom</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Globalisation</strong> conflicts between opposite camps. In Africa, the crucial point is to be liberated from an authoritarian system imposed by European colonial masters. 173 173 Makali (ed.), Media Law <strong>and</strong> Practice, pp. 60-63. 57