The
major Western media regard industrialised nations as superior to developing
nations. Africa is made up of 53 countries, yet it is constantly lumped
together and treated as one country – a savage place at the heart of darkness
where jungle life has eluded civilisation (Ebo, 1992). Nothing frustrates me
more than hearing someone (usually an American someone) talk about the cute
black baby from Africa. Africa is not a country, people. At the heart of the
misrepresentation of Africa is ignorance, which is continually perpetuated and
reinforced by the media.
Western
journalists continue to broadcast negative news rife with conflict and
violence. This because the media selects stories that will sell – dramatic,
sensational stories that set-up an image of Africa’s impending doom. (Ebo,
1992) Journalism is headline-drive, crisis-driven, superficial and without
context. When I met my boyfriend and he told his friends he was dating a South
African, they were surprised to see firstly that I wasn’t black; secondly, that
I survived living in Africa, that I hadn’t been shot at; and thirdly that we
have air conditioners.
Images
of Africa presented by the Western media are thus misrepresentations, and I can
certainly vouch for that hundreds of times over.
Africans
are not a savage, uneducated group of people; nor do they live in one country. There is so much more to every African country
than the media chooses to present to you and everybody else. There is food and
water and smiling faces; there is love and beauty and harmony. We are
innovative and intelligent and a force to be reckoned with.
References:
Ebo,
Bosah. “American Media and African
Culture” in Hawk, Beverly G.
1992.
Africa’s
Media Image. London: Praeger. (p15 – 25)
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