Foreign media reporting of Africa depicts the continent as being the center of some kind of power struggle between foreign countries. Some say that Russia is ousting France from it’s former colonies while others beg USA to fill gap left by France so that it’s not filled by Russia. This biased view is selfish and discriminates against Africans. It presents Africa as timid, foolish and naive and needs decisions to be made for them by others. It is a patronizing attitude towards Africa just as it was during slavery and colonialism. The coups and counter-coups in Mali,Chad and Burkina Faso are seen as influenced by Russian propaganda and has Russian footprints all over them. Is it true that Africans cannot make their own choices in the 21st century? Is this the reason why the US Congress has to pass a bill to restrict African interaction with Russia through threats? Is this why the European union has stopped the construction of a pipeline from Tanzania to Uganda? It is true media channels still view Africa as that small child that needs to be guided and constantly shown the way. This patronizing characteristic of developed countries to Africa is quite worrying. It’s some sort of cold war 2.0.
This applies to all media be it Russia,China,Europe or the US. Their efforts are directed towards events happening in Africa with a predetermined opinion which passes to them as the truth. An article asking US to increase its presence in west Africa to counter Russian impact tells more about the colonisation mentality of the writer than about the situation in the ground. It emphasizes the fact that Africa is still firmly in the grip of the colonizing power and the purported independence was just a sham. It was a blindfold to the people. An illusion that you are free but in the real sense no one is free. How can Africa develop when media is used to portray is as some battle field for great powers? Although occurrences like the war in Ukraine have been basically cementing the cold war mentality,the media biased portrayal of Africa has made it worse. They have been the driving force for the narrative.
The biasness does not stop with the cold war. It has been a system put in place to eternally degrade the status of the continent. The collective reference to Africa in bad light about tragedies occuring in single countries has deepened the negativity. Famine in the Horn of Africa or instability in Mali is referred to as Africa while negative news in parts of Europe are classified with the specific location it emanates from. The overall effect is a mental picture in the minds of many depicting Africa as the dark continent and proliferation of racial abuse and attacks towards black people in Europe, Russia and Asia. Racism continues to become a menace and the media unwittingly strengthens it through biased portrayal. Negative news in Africa area greatly exaggerated and given much of the airtime. Some would argue that it is needed to solicit aid and immediate response to the tragedy in question. But has that really happened? No one particular country wants to help to put these tragedies out once and for all. It is not that these issues cannot be dealt with with finality. The financial implications are huge and must be maintained. The aid industry is booming.
For a long time I have been flabbergasted by foreign media analysis of Africa situations. They jump to conclusions without second thoughts. They always know what is best for African countries and their population even though some have never set foot on the continent. Their analysts are comfortably tucked in their offices in New York,Paris, London or Moscow discussing events happening thousands of miles away. They purport to have unquestionable accuracy on these matters. When Kenyan elections were peaceful earlier this year,the media were disappointed as there was no news for them. Why don’t they also broadcast the positive information about the continent? The same energy and effort employed when broadcasting negative news from Africa should also be put in place when transmitting positive news. It is because of foreign media that most foreigners who have never visited Africa will think of wars, epidemics, famine, malnutrition and wildlife when questioned about their knowledge of the continent. Is that all? Is Africa that much desolate? Are there no beautiful aspects of this continent? Nonetheless, until the lions learn to write, history will always glorify the hunter.
Anonymous 