Mediating Peace or Escalating Violence? Examining newafricanmagazine.com’s Representation of Violent Conflicts in Africa

The advent of alternative new media has liberated and democratised the mediascape in Africa. New media in Africa has provided alternative and counter narratives to hegemonic and ideological accounts propagated mostly by powerful and elite global media systems that portray Africa as a dark continent. The global media also frame Africa as a continent plagued by corruption, dictatorship, rebellious leaders, military coups, and incompetent and politically unstable leaders who undermine democratic transitions and threaten peace and security on the continent. True to these narratives, Africa is trapped in a vicious cycle of violent conflicts, insurgencies, militancy, violent extremism, and terrorism. States such as Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan are afflicted by intra-state conflicts of different forms. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines the role of new media in the mediation of violent conflicts in Africa. Using peace journalism and framing theories, the chapter analyses the role of newafricamagazine.com, as a case model, in the mediation of African conflicts from January 2021 to December 2021. Employing the qualitative approach, the chapter analyses whether newafricanmagazine.com is supporting the African Union’s pursuit of Agenda 2063s ambition to realize ‘a peaceful and secure Africa’. Study findings showed that the newafricanmagazine.com employed peace journalism frames in mediating violent conflicts in Africa. The publication proffered African solutions to violent conflicts. The chapter concludes that the newafricanmagazine.com reported violent conflicts in Africa through the prism of peace journalism and as such it acted as a mediator of violent conflicts on the continent.