Telling the “African story” « Afronline – The Voice Of Africa

Telling the "African history" "Afronline - The Voice Of Africa :. "the" African history "does not mean anything for journalists from all over the continent, where the work in the media is vitiated by a complex set of challenges, weaknesses and We often hear entrepreneurs and policy opportunities and Africanists talk about the need to "tell the story of Africa." For us, "tells the story of African" does not mean anything. In other words, it's a cliché of no value. We do not know what it is supposed to mean. It may be that the idea of an outright gains traction "African history", as a response to the representations of the continent bigots who have been influential in western journalism and thinking. But as the idea of the need for "positive stories about Africa," it is easy and unnecessary. Our suspicion is that the political and economic leaders say that when you feel uncomfortable with the airing of the real problems that ordinary African experience. The phrase takes on, as well as our blog title-mockingly suggests that Africa is a country. Journalists Africans rarely think or talk about their vocation in these terms. In most cases, they do not have the conscience to think or write continental in this way. The national solidarity trumps any continental or focus. So does the local. Their goal is very different from their counterparts in the West who report on "Africa." Journalists are under stress and the lack of resources for travel between report or elsewhere in Africa. organizations mostly republish news stories of wires or cut and paste the Western media reports. In South Africa, for example, it is not unusual for the papers of the first floor to take their coverage "international" and directly from Continental Western publications, often those that stereotype Africans. For example, the Independent Group newspapers republish copy of the extreme right "Daily Telegraph" Britain and the tabloid " Daily Mirror ". The worst thing is the Sunday Independent, where a copy of the New York Times and Washington Post and make whole sections of the Mail and Guardian that reposts copy in the British Guardian mass on its news pages in the world with very few changes. There are a couple of homegrown networks (eg SABC Africa, which may not be longer operates) or controlled by the "global" or American networks such as CNBC Africa, ABN News-attempting a continental bias, but you can not help parroting cookie-cutter stories Western tone or foci. "



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