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 Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 11:58 am Post subject: African Journalists Review Negative Reporting |
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African Journalists Review Negative Reporting
Weah Karpeh
The NEWS
(Monrovia)
May 27, 2003
Developing countries including those of Africa continue to cry about the manner in which they are covered by western media. They complain that nothing but poverty, diseases, conflicts and famine are reported in presses of industrialized nations.
One of such criticisms was recently made by Nigerian Broadcasting Organization Chairman Taiwo Allimi, who accused representatives of foreign media who covered the general elections in Nigeria of not being fair in their reporting in helping promote democratic transition in Nigeria. This, he said, was a deliberate pattern of negative reportage by correspondents of the foreign media which, he added merged in the coverage of the elections.
As a result, not even Africans themselves with the requisite know-how feel comfortable to dwell, and do business on the Continent. No doubts, there are countless factors that lend credence to the western media reporting of Africa.
Guests at the May 22, 2003 "AFRICA JOURNAL" produced by the VOA/ International Broadcasting Bureau in Washington, D.C. and broadcast over the "Worldnet" satellite to Liberia through the American Embassy in Monrovia, surveyed the factors, and suggested remedies.
Studio guest VOA's "Straight Talk Africa" host Shaka Ssala attributes the problem to lack of training, ignorance to the environment, and culture on the part of Africans.
Equally, he argues that even though the Western journalists have the needed training and technology, their lack of desires to study and learn about Africans and their cultures lend support to the negative reporting they do.
In similar line, Washington Post's New York Bureau Staff Writer Lynne Duke squarely blames under-staffing on the part of western media for such awful reporting of Africa. She says the inability of the outfits to deploy reporters around the Continent who would painstakingly review and report the slow, but steady development taking place also points to the problem.
The Media Institute of Kenya Director David Makali contends that western presses negatively cover Africa simply because their target readers prefer to hear or read about ugly developments of the Continent.
He claims that similar downward reporting is done in photography so much so that photojournalists only look out for bad scenes than developmental ones to photograph.
On the topic: "Media: Misunderstanding and Misinterpreting Africa," the guests criticize local African media outfits that quote foreign outlets in their reporting of issues or events that take place in their respective countries.
To curb this awful reporting trends, the guests propose the need for Africa as a Continent to setup or adequately support the Pan African News Agency (PANA) in Senegal. Or, practicing African journalists need to exert themselves by aggressively reporting developments on the Continent.
In this regards, the guests admonish African leaders to practice good governance and democracy in which the rightful information could be reported in the presses.
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