Le journalisme de presse écrite en République démocratique du Congo et en Côte d’Ivoire

Retour sur une expérience comparative

Resumo

What does it mean to be a press journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Côte d’Ivoire? This question was the focal point of a four year doctoral thesis and is the foundation upon which rests a geographic and diachronic comparative study of press journalism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Côte d’Ivoire, from colonial times to the present day. The comparative study addressed configurations and systematically examined the individual career paths of Ivorian and Congolese journalists, their group identities and how they interacted with their political and economic environments in order to draw attention to the intermixture of historical determinism and circumstances that shaped the profession in both countries. This paper revisits this comparative study, from its genesis to its conclusion. It examines the relevance of the method in light of the research objectives, lays out the theoretical tools that served in its development and discusses the conclusions reached. It also reviews the pros and cons of comparative research, how it should be implemented and how the data extracted should be presented. Though the conclusions discussed may not be directly transposable to geographical areas outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Côte d’Ivoire, they can nevertheless serve as a foundation for anyone wishing to study the profession as it is prac- ticed in other parts of the world. A comparative researcher willing to innovate can adapt the method presented here to other social practices, in other contexts.