** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
Journalistic fraud is characteristic of the WESTERN MEDIA when it comes
to news coverage on AFRICA and the rest of the developing world. The
reasoning is simple: Africa has to be demonized and made to appear like
a sinking titanic so we (read my lips) can lord it over them in a mock
show of largesse. There are a zillion things to be said about slanted
news coverage in the WESTERN MEDIA.Suffice it to say that it is about
time Africans with the wherewithal started to think about settting up
INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA that would report news about AFRICA to the world
without bias. Balanced journalism is SIMPLY antithetical to
imperialistic drives!
PETER VAKUNTA
----- Original Message -----
From: ALIKO SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, June 30, 2005 8:46 am
Subject: A continent's success stories go unreported
> ** Please visit our website: http://www.africanassociation.org **
>
> A continent's success stories go unreported
> By Niall FitzGerald
> International Herald Tribune
>
> THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
>
> LONDON Africa is not short of press interest, particularly this year.
> But amid the successes of debt relief, the hopes pinned on the
> Group of
> 8 leaders who will meet next month, and the intervention of Bob
> Geldof,there is another story to Africa, one that is not concerned
> with famine,
> war or disease. It tells of economic growth, stability and political
> reform. But it is a story that is going unreported.
>
> The news media are missing this story of Africa's development. Unaware
> of the trend, they are locked in a historical and generalized view of
> Africa.
>
> Did anyone expect that war torn Mozambique would experience an
> economicgrowth rate of 10 percent on average in the last six or
> seven years? Or
> that we would see a similar turnaround in Tanzania? That both
> countrieswould quietly transition to new presidents through the
> ballot box? Yet
> if you look at the international news media, the focus is often on the
> negative. In the case of Tanzania you don't read about elections, but
> about the purchase of a presidential jet. This is hardly balanced and
> informed coverage.
>
>
> In Africa today, 800 million people, half of them under 20, are
> determined to find a better standard of life. This year economic
> growthwill be 5 percent - twice the rate of the European Union.
> Democracy and
> its institutions are spreading, slowly but steadily. In the last five
> years, two thirds of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa have had some
> form of multiparty elections, though clearly some are freer than
> others.
> African leaders have declared their intention to set the agenda for
> change and be judged on its success through the New Partnership for
> African Development. Africa is on the verge of a huge investment in
> transport, education and health, and will be a major beneficiary
> of a
> successful conclusion of the current round of international trade
> talks.
> I am not suggesting that the news media should only cover positive
> stories. It's about balanced context. Reporting exclusively on
> politics,conflict, famine and disease may be perpetuating an
> unbalanced picture
> of Africa and thereby obscuring the positive - and undermining
> investorconfidence in the continent.
>
> It is true that some of Africa's leaders have inflicted upon their
> people a triple whammy of corruption, incompetence and conflict. The
> news media have a role to play in applying pressure to the
> internationalcommunity to act where injustices are being
> unleashed, as they did last
> year in waking the world to the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.
>
> It is right, too, to tell the world that 11 million children under the
> age of 5 die each year in Africa, that 350 million Africans live
> on less
> than $1 a day. But this story must not eclipse the fact that vast
> areasof the continent have taken enormous steps forward. If we
> only cover
> Africa when disaster strikes, we perpetuate the image of a
> continent in
> constant crisis. And that image is out of step with reality.
>
> As we consider the role of foreign journalists in shaping Africa's
> image, for better or for worse, we should not forget about the
> continent's own news media. If the international press is not telling
> the story of advancement, perhaps the rebirth of national news
> agenciesacross the continent could create the critical mass of
> positive stories
> needed to wake up the world. These agencies would also give the
> international news media access to independent and objective reporting
> from the front line.
>
> There are plenty of examples of nations that have built or
> re-established independent news agencies as part of their
> regeneration.In Iraq, for instance, an independent news agency is
> being created with
> help from the Reuters Foundation and the United Nations Development
> Program that will provide reliable news information within Iraq
> and from
> Iraq to the wider world.
>
> The news media have a responsibility to observe. They also have a
> responsibility to tell it like it is. Business already knows that
> thingsare changing. It is no coincidence that Chinese companies
> are investing
> heavily in Nigerian telecommunications companies or Richard
> Branson in
> short-haul aviation.
>
> In the face of an opportunity to resolve Africa's problems, we
> must show
> that Africa can rise to the challenge, confront the present and
> build a
> positive future. Much has already been achieved in some areas of the
> continent. That story must be told.
>
> (Niall FitzGerald is chairman of Reuters.)
>
>
> AS
>
> Aliko SONGOLO <[log in to unmask]>
> Professor
> *****************************
> - Dept. of French & Italian
> - Dept. of African Languages & Literature
> Van Hise Hall
> University of Wisconsin
> 1220 Linden Drive
> Madison, WI 53706
> Fr&It 608-262-5937,-3941,265-3892(fax)
> AL&L 608-263-3891,2-2487,265-4151(fax)
> ***************************
>
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