How should African media look like?

The Brookings Institute launched a search for the top 50 keywords in the headlines of Africa-related articles in 20 major Western and African media sources for the period January-November 2015, and captured in its forecast report, Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent in 2016, revealed a familiar trend. It bore out what for long has been the obvious, that “western outlets [focused] more on the negative, with ‘death,’ ‘crisis,’ ‘refugees,’ and ‘attack,’ much more common.” I bring this up following the African Information Day observed in Kigali early this week under the theme, The Africa Media We Want. The theme sounded accusative of a seriously deficient situation. So, what topped the 2015 list in African media? Among the top key words was “Buhari”, with reference to President Muhammadu Buhari on account of the Nigerian election he won; “Burundi” on account of the ongoing political crisis in the country; and “EAC” and the general regional trade taking off on the continent. It is also of interest to note that “Rwanda” came off as a keyword ranking high in the headlines of which, going by the general trend of more positive reporting in the African media, it mainly related to the forward socio-economic development strides and the accolades the country continues to receive. It did not feature as a keyword in the Western media headlines. But, if there’s some fairer reporting on Africa-related issues on the continent’s media, why the theme “The Africa Media We Want”? The concern is that the reporting is probably only a modicum of it, as hinted at the concurrent National Media Dialogue during the African Information Day and reported in this paper: Challenged by issues around the ability to tell Africa’s own and actual stories, the media fraternity at the dialogue noted the need for more professionalism and state support for financial avenues to allow independent media. Having been engaged elsewhere I could not attend the dialogue, but was keen to note the emphasis in the report that, more importantly, African media should invest into “how to get rid of the often Western narratives on the status quo of African affairs.” This pointedly makes African news outlets part of the problem – it is a fact that most of them are dependent on western-based international wires to tell Africa’s story despite their perpetuating and disseminating the news and features in blinkered western perspectives, biases and stereotypes. Emphasising the media’s role, a Ghanaian media consultant at the National Media Dialogue was quoted at a panel reminding participants that by telling the African story, journalists should not be mouthpiece of their states but rather people’s representatives fronting public needs, even as they educate, inform and set the agenda. But should the media merely be a watchdog? While we vilify the Western media, we should not ignore the somewhat counterbalancing Chinese flavoured in-roads into the continent with their often free-to-air news and features media channels. Indeed, as one Chinese communications expert has argued, the Western media adopt a “watchdog” role while Chinese media practise what she describes as “constructive journalism”. Though constructive journalism can be both positive and negative, its purpose is to find solutions, she avers. Then she poses: The Western media may be telling the truth, but if you are telling the truth and things are just getting worse and people are afraid of travelling to Africa, for whose good is this? Recall the travel advisories by Western governments to their citizens whenever something happens in Africa? It is true that bad things happen on the continent, of which it would not be helpful to ignore them to the detriment of anybody concerned. But the point being made here is how the story is being framed. As one Kenyan journalist working with a Chinese media organisation summed it, perhaps the focus should be more “constructive” with emphasis on “security measures rather than the security threats.” Back to the African Information Day in Kigali, my only concern is that it should have received wider media attention on the continent and beyond.

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How should African media look like?