Noting that the past 20 years have been disappointing for Africa as the economies and political systems of promising newly independent African nations have fallen into decline or disruption, this paper attempts to explain why the African press suffered a "false start" in facilitating these nations' emergence into the modern world. Arguing that the newspapers of Africa have been both an instrument of politics and a victim of political coercion and repression, the paper evaluates several problems faced by the African press. The first section of the paper gives a brief overview of the African press under colonialism, including trends in ownership and control of newspapers. The second section looks at Africa following the independence of many of its countries, and the effect of independence on Africa's journalism. The third section proposes an explanation for the false start of the African press, noting that most African papers are European or based on European models, and those that were indigenous failed to survive the transition to independence. The fourth section of the paper examines failures in communication and development, discussing certain trends--identified as the dominant paradigm of modernization and diffusion, critical theory, dependency--in their relationship to the African press situation. The paper concludes that Westerners expected too much too soon from Africa's press, that Africa needs more time to enter the modern world, and that when it does, it will be on Africa's terms and not on those of the western world. (HTH)