In Framing the source: How African newsrooms present information disorders, Zara Schroeder and Scott Timcke analyse 400 online media articles to understand how Anglophone African societies interpret and narrate misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. The study shows that responses to information disorders are not simply technical or regulatory, but “discursive, ideological, and historically situated,” shaped by local knowledge systems, political dynamics, and postcolonial anxieties.
The report identifies six dominant frames – the vulnerable state, platform failure, crisis of trust, public health, literacy, and criminalisation frames – that structure how media assign blame, construct authority, and imagine solutions. Across these narratives, information disorders are consistently portrayed as harmful, contributing to declining trust, political instability, and social fragmentation.
Platforms are frequently depicted as enablers of harm through “algorithmic opacity” and weak moderation, while state-centric interpretations raise tensions between security, rights, and democratic openness. More broadly, the study shows that information disorder in Africa is embedded in wider struggles over truth, authority, and legitimacy in rapidly evolving digital public spheres.
By mapping these narrative tropes, the report offers insight into how knowledge is constructed in public discourse, providing a grounded basis for policy, research, and governance interventions attuned to African contexts.
