Problematising ‘Africa Rising’ as a Bandwagon Gets Rolling

Dr Martin ScottUniversity of East Anglia

Dr Martin ScottUniversity of East Anglia

Much of what the American people know of Africa is derived from the negative and misguided images of Africa portrayed in the American mass news media. These images usually portray Africa as a crocodile-infested dark continent (Ebo 1992:15).

Assumptions1. Western media coverage of Africa

1. Dominated by television news and charitable appeals

2. Has a direct and large scale effect on public attitudes

3. Focuses disproportionately on suffering / ‘negative’ coverage

1. Unproven Based on assertion, anecdote,

misinterpretation, imprecise criteria and subjective analysis. Contrary evidence ignored.

2. Consequences Audiences Producers Academics

Methodology1.Interviews with 20 journalists and editors from all major UK broadcasters2.2 stages of FGs and a diary study3.Content analyses of UK television (and newspapers) in 2007 and 20104.Un-systematic review of literature

UNPROVEN Western media coverage of

Africa focuses disproportionately on

suffering / negative coverage

Assertion

When mainstream media frames Africa, three topics come up again and again: AIDS, AIDS, and AIDS. The relentless focus on AIDS plays into the framework of helplessness associated with the continent (Eko 2003).

Assertion

‘Historical background that might reveal the link between Western policies and tragic events... are usually left out of reports about Africa (Ebo 1992)’. (Wall 2007).

Anecdotes and extreme examples

‘Research on news images of Africa consistently confirms that the region is portrayed as backward and violent, with warring tribes and extreme poverty’ (Moeller 1999)’ (Wall 2009).

Misrepresentation of evidence

Coverage was generally limited to disasters, bizarre events or visits by prominent westerners (DFID 2000:1).

Misrepresentation of evidence

[The results of the Viewing the World report] showed that coverage [of Africa] was usually related to famine, war, terrorism and catastrophes’ (Franks 2005).

Imprecise criteria

The conclusion that the majority of stories about African nations focused on ‘negative’ issues is consistent with previous studies that claim that the majority of news from the Third World usually focuses on negative news (Golan 2008) .

Ignoring evidence to the contrary

Coverage of Africa is not as marginalised, negative or trivial as it is often accused of being (Scott 2009).

Ignoring evidence to the contrary

The dominant perspective on the representation of Africa in the western media claims that western media coverage is bias and crisis orientated and the liberal perspective claims that the coverage of Africa is not as negative as is often assumed (Ogunyemi 2011).

CONSEQUENCESWestern media coverage of

Africa focuses disproportionately on

suffering / negative coverage

The consequences for audiences: Fuelling indifference

I try and avoid those sorts of programmes personally.

It’s really irritating, it’s like ‘oh come on more kids with flies’…

I don’t want to watch all this. To me it just puts me off…

And it seems a long way away (Norwich 1C).

Consequences for media producers: Simplifying understandings and obstructing debate

For whatever reason we under-report some of the good things that are going on. It’s a real issue, certainly in relation to Africa, when you’re only ever seeing starving people or people with AIDS and you never see the success stories.... [But] how do you then translate that into changing the daily decisions that news editors make about what gets in the news? I think intellectually you could make a very strong argument... but to change behaviour is quite tough.

Consequences for academics: Simplifying understandings and obstructing debateUndermine our credibility Implicate us in the consequences discussed here. Failure to understand emerging narratives

The falsification of Africa occurs through the distortion of news events, the untrue statements about Africa repeated as fact and when biased interpretations are interwoven into news reports (Asante 2013).