British press coverage of the Congo Crisis forms this book’s final focus. In echoes of Ghana, the chapter emphasises the role of the coverage in denting the efficacy of the post-colonial state. It focuses on the most prolific of the coverage, which appeared in the popular press and which crowded out ‘serious’ voices. It argues that British newspapers’ focus on internal, Congolese dynamics and
... [Show full abstract] their neglect of external, foreign, neo-colonial ones contributed to an international sociopolitical environment in which the West was able to destabilise the Congo with impunity. In accounting for these representations, the chapter foregrounds then-contemporary press-related, experiential factors affecting British journalists in the comparative absence of historical frames of understanding, expression and interaction on the Congo as compared to the other regions of British influence which form a focus of this book. Relatedly, the chapter argues that an image of chaos emerged out of the vacuum of frames.
