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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 economic
growth 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 countries
would 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 growth
will 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 investor
confidence 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 international
community 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 areas
of 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 agencies
across 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 things
are 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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