Mr. Sanneh:
I have felt for a longtime that most Western Media outlets, including
the BBC, benefit financially from their biased reporting on Africa and
other so-called "Third World", "Developing" countries. In fact, the
"news" headlines in these media outlets chronicle one "problem" spot
after another without providing a balanced context. What is reported of
these countries is often gloomy. In the end, the impression they create
is both misleading and negative, while "news" items in the West are
often balanced and positive. At the domestic level minority communities
in the West are poorly potrayed in the media. In a nutshell, Western
Media outlets in general, harbor all the hang-ups, prejudices and racism
of their white supremacist societies.
Thanks for your postings.
Abdoulaye
Sidi Sanneh wrote:
>
> There are at least three postings all concerning economic prospects for
> African economies in the 21st century and all with a different slant. Take
> the one culled from the BBC, to which I have already replied. It makes
> dismal reading, the "gloom and doom" scenerio which, as those in the news
> media very well know, sells papers. Not that the figures are inaccurate but
> they have been selectively treated in isolation from the broader framework.
> Looking at it from a slightly different perspective, African economies in
> the past year have registered some encouraging performances despite the
> difficult economic climate characterised by natural and man-made
> calamities, including inappropriate policies. Several countries have
> registered
> GDP growth rates above 5 percentage points, well above their
> respective population growth rates-a prerequisite for poverty reduction.
> For example, Mozambique's economy grew by 9.7 percent, the highest in
> Africa, and was poised to register one of the highest growth rate in the
> world in 2000, had it not been for this year's floods which devastated its
> economic infrastructure. The economies of Botswana, Ghana, Mali, Gambia,
> Ethiopia, Cape Verde and over a dozen others grew by 4 percent or more in
> 1999.
> All this to say what? The African media should provide equal time and space
> to the bright spots in the African economic landscape.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
