The miscategorization of Africa and the misrepresentation of Africans: The role of the Western media January 27, 2007
by OSA IYINBO. Albany NY osaiyinbo@hotmail.com
Africa, the cradle of human kind and once the toast of the world has all but attained a different height. The continent has been defamed and her peoples mocked of by the rest of the world, thanks to prolonged disasters (natural and man-made), mismanagement, corruption, and a barrage of negative Western media reports. It is difficult to imagine that anything good has emerged, or will emerge, from this “Dark Continent.” Sadly, many in the West have, without justification, bought into this idea. This is disconcerting.
Consequently, and by virtue of my experiences of both cultures, I have decided (as have others) to undertake the Herculean task of correcting this negative impression of Africa and Africans. I hope I can accomplish this objective in a dispassionate manner and without the fears of political incorrectness. First, let us take a historical look at the continent and her peoples.
Long before the European invasion, Africa was comprised of several great empires and vassal states whose prowesses in every facet of human endeavor are well documented. In 1884-1885 at the Berlin Conference, the continent was partitioned among several colonial powers including Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, France, Great Britain (GB) and Italy. This resulted in the creation of “false” States consisting of separate tribes and archrivals. It also saw the elevation of vassals and subjects over their erstwhile overlords.
To ensure effective governance, Britain and France, introduced the “Indirect-Rule” system and the policy of “Assimilation,” respectively. However, in spite years of Statehood many groups remained loyal to their tribes rather than to their so-called States. On attaining colonial independence, the quest for tribal independence and resource control became the precursors to some of the conflicts that have engulfed the continent.
Presently, Africa, is comprised of over 40 nations and Islands and is the ancestral homes of Blacks, Jews (Falashas), Arabs, Caucasians and Asians. The peoples speak hundreds of ethnic languages and have had to adopt the languages of their former colonial masters as their official languages. For instance, the West African sub region has about 16 countries whose colonial overlords included GB, Germany, France, and the United States (US). Nigeria, the world’s most populous black nation (with over a hundred and forty million people who speak over two hundred and fifty ethnic languages!), is one of the countries in this Sub-region. Like the US, it is an English speaking country, settled by GB.
The Western media often portrays Africa as a single entity or country made of a homogenous group thus conveying the impression that the incident in question transpired within a State or region. For instance, and without denigrating the colossal effects of these disasters, one wonders how the AIDS epidemic (Southern and Eastern Africa); wars, drought and starvation (Central and Eastern Africa); oil disasters (Niger-Delta, Nigeria); Muslim extremist (the North and Horn of Africa); bombings in Kenya and Tanzania (East Africa); “The Great Migration” (Kenya) ascend to the status of continental issues. The list is endless. Imagine referring to, and treating, everyone in North America (Canadians, Mexicans and US citizens) as Canadians; or referring to the bloody IRA conflict (United Kingdom), deadly Basque Separatist Movement (Spain), the Italian mafia, the massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina, ethnic cleansing in Albania and Kosovo as European conflicts. It would not hurt to distinguish events in Africa in like manner as doing so may provide an understanding of the continent’s peoples and crisis as well as prevent thrusting her with one-size-fits policies.
Today, Africa is considered an anathema, and Africans, burdens to the world. On the contrary, Africa is endowed with abundant human and natural resources, which, unfortunately, have been mismanaged. The positive accomplishments of Africans and their offspring traverse all spectrums of human endeavor. Quite often, they are underreported or their African heritage downplayed, unless it is a criminal enterprise. For now, it will suffice to mention a few notable sons and daughters of native Africa. They include Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winners), Wole Soyinka (Nobel Laureate), Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan (former UN Secretaries-General). Others are the late Kwame Nkrumah, John Agwunobi (Assistant Secretary, HHS), Ali Mazuri (historian), Chinua Achebe (author, “Things Fall Apart”), Kase Lawal (one of the world’s richest black person), Manu Dibango, Seal and Sade Adu (music), Djimon Hounsou, Adewale Agbaje (movie), Ernie Els (golf), Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo (basketball), Samuel Peter (boxing), Alek Wek (supermodel), and not forgetting Senator Barack Obama (politics). (The plight of African immigrants and their offspring will be the subject matter of another article.)
Notwithstanding the foregoing, one cannot underscore the impact of Western media reports on the unending African crises; for that, they deserve commendations. However, more could be accomplished if issues are put in proper perspectives. Under the current dispensation, the consequences of their misrepresentation of Africa and Africans are dire: belittling the people, undermining their accomplishments, destroying their self-esteem and heritage. It does also, albeit inadvertently, provide “arms” to bigots (on all sides). It does not augur well to incense the situation with mis- and dis-information all in the name of profits or ratings. The words of Edward Lytton (1803-1873) that “the pen is mightier than the sword” can not be truer than in this instance. One can only hope that, in view of current global developments, the Western press will look beyond monetary gains to the social and moral obligations they owe societies in general. Hopefully, they will allow temperance to be the better part of valor.
Western media war on Africa
by OBI IFEANYI, ifydeman@yahoo.com January 25, 2007
Our world today is bedeviled with a lot of war and rumors of war. To say the least, there is war in Iraq, Afghanistan, democratic republic of Congo, Israel and Lebanon, North Korea in their intransigence is building a nuclear weapon, Iran is at the verge of completing their nuclear ambition, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has taken to a verbal war with American President George Bush.
These are all wars with course and the people propagating these wars are looking forward to achieving one form of physical benefit or the other which can be deducible from each country’s foreign policy objectives.
But as an African of Nigerian dissent living in the United States of America, I have come to understand that the western media have dragged themselves into a war with Africa. This war is not like any other explicated above. It’s a new frontier in perpetually keeping the psyche of an average African person low in the eyes of the world. The media’s poor sense or lack of it on how Africans live is posing a lot of problems with the way we are perceived by even by our own children.
If you have ever seen the portrayal of Africa in the media; CNN, FOX, ABC, etc, it’s always when there is war or starvation. I’m not saying it’s wrong to bring to the worlds attention a certain patricidal war that has refused to go away that often times some countries of Africa brings to bear on themselves, but in an attempt to do this, Africa is a continent and continents at least most of it, are made of a countries. There is nothing wrong in being specific about which country a certain event is going on.
This lack of awareness or socialization on the part of the media is largely responsible for the seeming ignominious behavior of an average American towards event outside the United States. In all of these, I’m really compelled to ask; is there any particular crime committed by Africans to deserve this level of disrespect by the western media? Or is it a question about race superiority?
On the contrary, if you live in Nigeria for instance and have the opportunity of watching most western media channel, you will begin to have the erroneous and misleading thinking that all Americans are well to do. This reasoning has however proven to be inductive and untrue. In spite of what they try to portray, we now know the difference. It’s not possible for instance to show any part of Newark, Camden or Detroit that is not only drug infested but are also ghettoized in African edition of CNN or FOX. It’s my conviction therefore to conclude that the media is engaged in a war where they are not only the initiators of the case, but are also the judge of their own case.
The last of this one sided wars on Africa reached its peak when ABC network , the self proclaimed second largest network in America showed a documentary on the activities of fraudsters in Nigeria preying on what the presenter Mr. Brian Ross described as the gullibility of American citizen. In the series of event that led to this conclusion, I’m convinced that it must have being difficult to for the ABC anchorman to accept the fact that other group of people could outsmart his American wise men and women.
The truth of the matter is that any American citizen who is so obliged to make such easy money which he did not clock the time for, tax free, away from the prying eyes of the IRS is a thief. Maybe I would have been so assuaged if the ABC anchorman had put it bluntly rather than euphemized the criminal intention of his country men.
In a swift reaction to the supposed documentary, the Nigerian foreign affairs minister Mr. Frank Nweke indeed added what I consider a very brave and incontrovertible insight into the American cooperate scandals which led to the liquidation of Enron and World Com. And advised Mr. Ross to concentrate on those as the are much more than a handful and presents a more threatening and worrisome implication in the world today than what is going on in Nigeria. To this end, I will relish the confidence exhibited by the minister knowing full well that if a verbal war was to ensue, Nigeria will hold its own end of the propaganda. But come to think of it the WorldCom and the Enron cooperate scandals were real and real people were disproportion ally denied their life savings known as 401k using the popular parlance.
The part of the show that really made me sick in the stomach was the fact that the only place Mr. Ross took his cameramen to showcase as the economic hub of Lagos state was a daily market [Oshodi market] which in the American representation is a flea market. And he had the effrontery to describe Lagos as a “poor and crime-ridden shame of a city.” But in all these conclusion of the ABC anchorman, I’m compelled to ask if he was so lodged in ‘Oshodi market Hotel too’? I would not be surprised to know that he and his crew member were lodged at the Los Angeles part of Lagos that has all the world-class amenities and hotels and even more expensive buildings than those inhabited by the presenter. What about the Lagos Island with all the high-rise buildings and skyscrapers? The beautiful nature land of the Victoria Island that harbors about six beaches where people go and unwind. I suppose the camera could not work for those magnificent and well construed nature land which intentionally were subdued but could not be denied in his subconscious.
It must however be understood here that I’m not trying to make any briefs for any attempt by some disgruntled and eccentric individual in Nigerian society to engage in activities that will undermine the characters of hard working Nigerian in the US or any other part of the world. I personally feel so sad that the activities of a few idiots has become the definition of the strength of character of Nigerian who work so hard to put food on the table, provide for their family abroad and help solve real existential problems.
Corollarily, it must be noted that such criminal activities are also common in America with American citizens as the architect of such craft of obtaining from unsuspecting victims .Just a cursory look at the six o clock news in the local stations will readily prove that in such states as New York, its easy to pull out a deed in the internet and sell someone’s else house while they went out shopping for grocery.
The real issue here is to accept the juxtaposition of industrialization with all kinds of fraud since extreme capitalism will naturally lead to expropriation and exploitation of the underprivileged in the society The people so disenfranchised will naturally find a way to redress the injustice done to them by people who have so much and don’t know what to do with the surplus.
African societies are going through what is termed in the political literature as legitimization crises. The countries of Europe and Americas went through such experiences and even worse as the lot of most African countries today .But the mere fact that we all have to accept the concept of 21st century on the terms and definitions of the western countries cannot eliminate the natural process of political democratization which its end thereof are; political stability and highly developed political culture. Therefore to avoid any form of political fixation, the African societies should helped to and encouraged to exorcise any shred of characterization emanating from the philosophical hobbesian state of nature.
It’s about time the other races of the world begin to acknowledge the uniqueness and the exclusivity of other races. Nobody is superior to nobody in any kind of way and experience over the century has proved that beyond any reasonable doubt. There are avaricious black people so also are there avaricious white people or Asia people. There are stupid people from all races so also are there intelligent and very rational set of people from all races. Race superiority or inferiority is nothing but a myth and should be dismissed without any scientific and rational basis.
I’m from Nigeria and I’m very proud of it. In our organic style of living, especially in the small villages, nobody goes to sleep hungry because everybody can produce just enough for himself and his family. And a lot of extended family members add enchantment to the already colorful style of living. The so called western civilization is the reason for all these societal maladies. As it was aptly described in the American movie, I Robot, The police chief told Will Smith that ‘Guy creates monster, monster kills guy’ so why bother about it. The kind of social issues we face today is as a result of the supposed western civilization which encourages an unprecedented level of disparity between the rich and the poor. Put differently, interactive social forces created miscreants and cheats and which turn around to haunt their creators.
It’s so embarrassing that the ABC anchorman was aided by an EFCC agent or whoever it was that was awash with some stupefied presence on TV possibly savoring his new found friendship with a guys who only meant to undermine the country with his most biased and perverse portrayal of whatever issues that was being investigated. It’s my view that the guy whoever he is in the rank and file of the EFCC be reprimanded for feathering his nest against the image of our country.
I’m a member of the Junior Chambers Int. and I have taken an extensive and comprehensive look at the creed and had wished for a day when “the brotherhood of all men will transcend the sovereignty of all nation.“ It looks to me like this may be a mere travesty of good intentions but the media war on Africa will be a good place to start from.
THE WESTERN MEDIA AND ITS EXPLOITATION OF AFRICA Nov 29, 2006
by Raymond Tarek Belleh, Baden-Wurttemberg, GermanyHere's a warning to Africans viewers, avoid watching CNN news coverage of Africa, it can be bad for your health. Bad for your health because its portrayal of Africa is more often than not, in a negative light and may leave you mad, angry and frustrated. I know the temptation to watch 'Inside Africa' is especially strong for those in the diaspora, since it is one of the few visual links to the place you call home. But you stand to be disappointed more times than you will be pleased.
To think CNN believes this weekly 30 minute programme, dissected all the way by ads, is meant to provide a holistic overview of a large continent like Africa is quite laughable. Even the occasional injection of bits of good news here and there cannot camouflage the overall theme of the coverage. Neither does the clever use of mainly African presenters disguise the underlying desire to depict Africa as a tragic and wayward continent unable to fend for its self. A continent with a major chunk of its inhabitants dying of hunger, AIDS and war.
Ofcourse the Western media has every right to report Africa's problems to the world. However its reporting tends to be grossly unbalanced and ever focused on the negative, giving scant regard to areas of notable progress, development and achievement. Almost like there's a desire to maintain an archaic and dire image of Africa. An image which it helped establish in the minds of its viewers since pre-slavery times. The Western media continues to have a field day at Africa's expense, doing a great disservice to the efforts of many Africans who have made significant changes and progress in their respective locations. Undermining its history, rich culture and tradition and overall historical contribution to world affairs.
There is no doubt Africa has problems. It would be foolish and irresponsible to deny a fact that is abundantly clear. My disapproval of the general reporting on Africa is not meant to overlook the tragedy of Rwanda or make the problems with AIDs any less troubling and dangerous. I am simply driving home the point that a lot of good news is deliberately ignored or goes unreported. Many parts of Africa are quite peaceful and have not known conflicts for a very long time. Military rule is virtually non-existent and many countries have been experiencing steady economic growth and improvements in their democratic processes. I guess stable working African countries are of no real appeal to the Western media. Every nation has its problems. A lot of Western countries are experiencing racial tensions, serious crimes, drug, alcohol, anti-social behaviour, juvenile delinquency and gang warfare problems.
So problems are not unique to Africa, but the Western media keeps propagating things by its continuous biased reporting. Africa has about 54 nations in all, yet the problems of a few are used to project and determine the overall image of the continent. Television viewers are inundated with news captions like " AIDS is killing Africa" or " Where have all the parents gone ". The BBC, CNN and SKY News are perpetual culprits of this kind of fatalistic overview of Africa. They make Africa the ideal dumping ground for all that's wrong or bad with the world. Then some get a chance to visit Africa and arrive to see a place teeming with jovial people, going about their daily lives - working, eating, sleeping and loving, just like people anywhere else in the world. They wonder where all the dying victims of AIDS are. How come they can still afford a smile and a friendly welcome, supposedly living on less than 1 Dollar a day. There's a sudden realisation that things don't quite add up and there has been some error in the calculations.
I am by no means pointing the finger of blame for Africa's woes solely on the West. They have been sufficiently aided and abetted by inept, corrupt and short-sighted African political leadership who in my opinion must take most of the blame. Leaders who sold their souls to the Devil and so misgoverned their respective states, they expose their people to all kinds of exploitation. The richest continent in the world, in terms of mineral and natural resources, is the poorest and most disenfranchised, and the West capitalises on this. We have all seen footages of food commodities being dropped from the sky just so the media can film a horde of hungry Africans scrambling for survival. Or some teary-eyed individuals demonstrating their absolute empathy by helping to feed emaciated children. What is seldom shown are the efforts of many African individuals and organisations who work endlessly to improve the lot of their fellow country folk. The media does not inform its viewers the role foreign policies and unfair trade deals of their governments play in creating and sustaining many of these dire situations.
There's no shortage of Western journalists, actors, charity workers and so-called celebrities heading for Africa, armed with cameras to capture every inch of their philanthropy, charity or display of sympathy. It is a rather trendy thing, for it could breathe life into a flagging career or be a springboard to fame for others.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are quite a number of people genuinely serious and passionate about helping the world's poorest, marginalised and disadvantaged. Former US Presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, along with the likes of Bob Geldof, Bono and Oprah Winfrey are good examples. Bob Geldof in particular is not new to this. His quest to help poor Africans began way back in the 80's with his Live Aid concert, which had a major impact and drew the world's attention to the plight of suffering Ethiopians. I vividly recall his famous outburst, where he slammed his fist hard on the table and charged the viewing British public to ' give him the money '. That clip really captured the anger, passion and emotion of a frustrated man and caught the attention of not just the British audience but the wider world. Even Africans politicians where somewhat bemused as to why a long haired, unshaven European artist felt so passionately about African lives, when they just took them for granted.
However I believe something has been lost along the way as reporting on Africa's problems has become mostly a bankable media activity. Geldof, unknowingly set a trend which numerous personalities have been trying to emulate since. After his famous outrage, a flurry of activities gripped nearly all media houses. Flight bookings to Ethiopia hit the sky, even though many were just learning of Ethiopia for the first time. Western reporters and their crew filled almost every seat on flights bound for Ethiopia. It was a real media feeding frenzy, for each team wanted to hurriedly capture the most graphic scenes of human suffering they could beam back to eager and now drooling viewers back home. This, I believe is how the plight and pain of suffering Africans became fantastic television for viewers in the West.
Still, it must be pointed out that a lot of good came out of this. Many lives have been saved and numerous useful projects put in place by individuals and countless charity organisations. What is questionable though, is if Africa still benefits from this kind of media attention today. Pictures of Africans in despair and desperation on Western TV screens appears to be a special and increasing media favourite. Despite the many positive strides being made across the continent, Africa still struggles to shake off this image of a doomed continent and remains an enchanting case study for the rest of the world. News about Africa is largely reported by non-Africans and focused on anything that will capture the interest of their home viewers. Annoyingly these reporters bypass city centres and areas of marked development and head straight for remote villages or slumps, where they can easily stick cameras in the faces of unsuspecting people. I suppose stories of Africans making progress or living normal lives is not half as interesting as gritty tales of abject poverty, famine, supposed child labour and disease.
This is not as harmless as it seems. Having lived in the West for about 18 years now, one comes to the realisation that this pattern of news coverage is a carefully choreographed mechanism designed to give the Western viewer a sense of comfort and superiority over other peoples and nations. And Africa holds a particularly titillating and amusing appeal, especially when things are not going well. Perhaps there is a secret desire for it to remain just the way it is, inherent with hunger and disease, war and famine, not peaceful, modernised with proper infrastructures and working towns and cities.
The media is a very powerful tool in shaping people's opinions and thinking. In my view, its use by the West has done more harm than good, and has given many a skewed perception of Africa and its people. It has discouraged business and tourism to many parts. It has wrongly stigmatised Africans in the eyes of many, partly why they often receive rather poor reception when they travel to many parts of the world.
One seldom sees broadcasts of the ills and shortcomings of Western nations. Yet they take their cameras into other parts of the world and surreptitiously intrude on peoples lives. How much coverage is given to the problems of xenophobia and racism, where in some European countries people of colour are being hunted down like game and snuffed out with seething hatred? Isn't this news worthy enough? Obviously not to the Western media, this will only depict them as barbaric savages, a trait much easier to bestow on Africans. The genocide in Rwanda is constantly revisited to affirm this notion. Although United Nations and many Western nations were repeatedly and adequately informed of this impending catastrophe, they folded their arms and did nothing. The possibility of a good long spell of gory media coverage was placed above the interests and lives of almost a million Rwandans.
The Western media wants the world to believe that Africans are pretty disposed to monumental savagery, and would probably point to the Congo, Dafur, Rwanda, Sierra Leone as clear examples. How often are the atrocities of the Bristish, French, American and Spanish aired on TV. Only Adolf Hitler and the Nazis get regular attention, and I suspect this is partly to comfort the Jews or to satisfy the secret fascination some have for der Führer's Aryan ambition. Speaking of genocide, aren't the Americans, the Spanish and Hitler's Nazis the most successful at this. One only needs to look at how the Red Indians (native Americans) have been sadistically wiped off the face of North America. Or the Spanish and their brutal eradication of the Aztecs and Incans in South America. And what about the brutal and savage enslavement of more than 30 million Africans, the very people the Western media wont leave in peace today. So do not be fooled into believing that Africans are the greatest perpetrators of the genocide.
Nevertheless changes are afoot. As more westerners begin to travel to various destinations around the world, they begin to see for themselves the truth and misrepresentation. There's no doubt they will see poverty, diseases and chaotic, poorly managed cities. But they will also see a vibrant people, who in spite of their disadvantages politically, economically and educationally, look for ingenious ways of surviving. That the lives of some these people does not differ greatly from theirs and in some cases may be even better. They may also learn that their own government's political decisions are partly to blame for some of the problems many of these countries face.
The world is wising up to the true history and politics of the world. The advent of the internet gives people anywhere in the world access to alternative news and information that might have otherwise been constrained by powerful governments and unreported by mainstream media organisations. People are beginning to tell their own stories and film their own events.
As far as Africa is concerned, it is up to its people and political leaders to shake off this image of a failed continent. They must run better governments aimed at improving the lot of their people. There's a need for more international media forums where Africans can report their own news and tell their own stories, instead of having someone else manipulate and contort these to suit their own ends. This way we can begin to correct the misrepresentation of Africa and re-educate people and draw the world attention to the varying aspects of this rich and diverse continent, still standing strong despite many decades of hardship, brutality and marginalization it has experienced.
Belleh64@yahoo.com