A Computational Mapping of Online News Deserts on African News Websites

<span>To date, the study of news deserts, geographic spaces lacking local and information, has largely focused on countries in Global North, particularly United States, predominantly been interested causes consequences disappearance media outlets (e.g., newspapers TV stations) to social fabric a community. In this article, we extend concept “news deserts” by drawing literature geography Africa, where information voids have long documented but not studied within conceptual framework deserts. Using computational tools, analyse sample 519,004 articles published English or French websites 39 African countries. We offer evidence existence online deserts at two levels: continental level (i.e., some countries/regions are hardly ever covered other countries) domestic given country seldom cover large areas said country). This article contributes (a) examining continent that featured previous research, (b) testing methodological approach employs tools geographies online, (c) exploring flexibility term its applicability different ecosystems.</span>