Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

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Section 4: Access to Information Time to get beyond stale stereotypes By Suzanne Franks Suzanne Franks was formerly a journalist with BBC Television on programmes such as Panorama and Newsnight. In 2008 she moved to work at <strong>the</strong> University of Kent. She has written several books and many articles. Her research interest is on <strong>the</strong> coverage of foreign news and <strong>the</strong> relationship between media and humanitarian aid. If <strong>the</strong> international media reported American news <strong>the</strong> same way as <strong>the</strong>y do Africa’s, this is what we would we would know about <strong>the</strong> USA in <strong>the</strong> opening <strong>years</strong> of <strong>the</strong> 21st century: • In 2000 <strong>the</strong>re were dodgy elections which were contested and in which <strong>the</strong> presidency was eventually seized by a candidate who had gained fewer votes than his rival. • A year later <strong>the</strong> centre of a major American city was reduced to rubble by a massive terrorist attack. • Then in 2005 ano<strong>the</strong>r important city was flooded, with its homes destroyed and a thousand dead, and in <strong>the</strong> <strong>after</strong>math <strong>the</strong> dominant tribe left <strong>the</strong> minority tribe to rot. • More recently a candidate from <strong>the</strong> minority tribe finally got to become president – but many members of <strong>the</strong> majority tribe continue to be angry about this and vociferously doubt his au<strong>the</strong>nticity as a US-born citizen. If this was all we knew, <strong>the</strong>n surely <strong>the</strong> USA would qualify as <strong>the</strong> ‘dark continent’? But of course this is not all we see and hear because <strong>the</strong> news that is reported from <strong>the</strong>re is far more nuanced and comprehensive. Yet Africa in 2011 is still covered by a series of stale stereotypes. Some <strong>years</strong> ago Binyavanga Wainaina wrote a brilliant satire in Granta about <strong>the</strong> stream of clichés inspired by writing on Africa. “In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions.” Alas, <strong>the</strong> caricature continues to ring true. So, for example, when sporadic fighting broke out in Kenya over <strong>the</strong> disputed election results in 2007/8, many in <strong>the</strong> press dusted off <strong>the</strong>ir tired old “tribes fighting each o<strong>the</strong>r” line to report what was mainly a politically-based conflict. The word ‘tribe’, evocative of those spear-carrying ‘natives’ from <strong>the</strong> old Tarzan movies, has become racially loaded shorthand. It says, basically: <strong>the</strong>y’re savages, <strong>the</strong>y’re irrational and <strong>the</strong>y’ll fight over anything. So <strong>the</strong>re is little need to explain <strong>the</strong> details, or <strong>the</strong> often complex history, of a particular issue. “The word ‘tribe’, evocative of those spear-carrying ‘natives’ from <strong>the</strong> old Tarzan movies, has become racially loaded shorthand.” Media in Africa - 2011 | 177
This was how stories such as <strong>the</strong> Rwandan tragedy were reported on and understood in <strong>the</strong> foreign media. Compare <strong>the</strong> coverage of similar conflicts in Europe, such as in Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Ireland or <strong>the</strong> Balkans, which could equally be described as tribal warfare but never are. Europeans don’t walk around carrying shields and wearing grass skirts – but nei<strong>the</strong>r do Kenyans. “We know so much more about New Orleans than <strong>the</strong> location of a hurricane, whereas <strong>the</strong> word ‘Ethiopia’ is still irrevocably associated with little o<strong>the</strong>r than famine.” Gareth Myers and Melissa Wall have produced some interesting work about reporting on <strong>the</strong> Bosnian slaughter compared with <strong>the</strong> Rwandan genocide. The former was an understandable religious and political war in comparison with <strong>the</strong> ancient tribal barbarians fighting each o<strong>the</strong>r in Africa. The issue is not only <strong>the</strong> nature of <strong>the</strong> coverage, but what it leaves out. Foreign reporting has to be more than just about disasters or wars. We hear of white people – be <strong>the</strong>y in Australia, South Africa, Europe or, of course, <strong>the</strong> USA – not only when <strong>the</strong>y are witnesses of horror but also when <strong>the</strong>y have riding accidents, when <strong>the</strong> sprinklers on <strong>the</strong>ir golf courses run dry or when <strong>the</strong>y have embarrassing reality TV encounters. All of <strong>the</strong>se stories bring us closer to <strong>the</strong> citizens of those countries. We see <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong>ir full humanity; as more than just victims of atrocities 178 | Media in Africa - 2011 or natural disasters. Even when <strong>the</strong>y are suffering <strong>the</strong> picture is more complete. Think back to <strong>the</strong> coverage of flooding in Australia in 2011: <strong>the</strong>se were real people with identities and stories, very different from natural disaster victims in <strong>the</strong> developing world. As Wainaina points out, Africans are portrayed as a series of cardboard figures. Richard Dowden calls it <strong>the</strong> “New Orleans syndrome”. We know so much more about New Orleans than <strong>the</strong> location of a hurricane, whereas <strong>the</strong> word ‘Ethiopia’ is still irrevocably associated with little o<strong>the</strong>r than famine. There is of course <strong>the</strong> strain of ‘good news’ in reaction to Afro-pessimism. Yet <strong>the</strong> prospect of endless upbeat news about successful African businesses or <strong>the</strong> like would also do journalism no favours. Replacing <strong>the</strong> starving child with <strong>the</strong> mobile phone billionaire is not <strong>the</strong> whole story. George Orwell demonstrated that bad news does not exist in authoritarian states – but what democracies need is accurate and nuanced coverage which tells <strong>the</strong> good, <strong>the</strong> bad and <strong>the</strong> ugly news about Africa, portraying its citizens as fully rounded individuals and explaining its politics properly. Is that asking too much? “George Orwell demonstrated that bad news does not exist in authoritarian states...” REFERENCES: Myers, Garth, Thomas Klak and Timothy Koehl (1996) ‘The Inscription of Difference: News Coverage of <strong>the</strong> Conflicts in Rwanda and Bosnia’, Political Geography, Vol. 15, No. 1. Dowden, Richard (2008) Africa Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (London: Portobello Books) Wainaina, Binyavanga, (2005) ‘How to Write about Africa’ Granta 92 The View from Africa. Wall, Melissa A (1997) ‘A “Pernicious New Strain of <strong>the</strong> Old Nazi Virus” and an “Orgy of Tribal Slaughter”: A Comparison of US News Magazine Coverage of <strong>the</strong> Crises in Bosnia and Rwanda’, Gazette, Vol. 59, No. 6.
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MEDIA IN AFRICA Twenty</str
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This work is licensed under <strong
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A small publisher gets technology t
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Foreword By Janis Karklins Janis Ka
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This is MISA By Kaitira Kandjii Kai
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overview overvie Overview
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What then have bee
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and the results we
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critical to journalism as well as t
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matters. Some people could, for ins
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two publications for six months on
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4.2.2 Criminal defamation A major o
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as they made point
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Journalists at work, interviewing S
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5.4 Tabloid success One area where
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Journalists is that its strength re
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proposed codes not only for African
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Studies; African Communication Rese
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Overview Correlating this picture i
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that nourish journalism are not end
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watchdogs. A profile of Ugandan jou
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FREEDOM Freedom
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independent Namibia, set th
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Sierra Leone 39. Mr. Paul Kamara, E
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media that was independent of gover
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The February working session includ
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Media making for socio-political de
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timate the importa
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in corruption. The international co
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African journalists need protection
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Tribute to a committed photojournal
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Section 1: Freedom Anton Hammerl, a
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African media should inspire unders
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information and the</strong
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majority of the ca
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party of President Robert Mugabe to
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The real reasons for the</s
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Thus, the self-reg
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But the legacy of
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A visitor to Harare on a cold 19 Ju
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PLURALIS
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At the time, <stro
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Circulation of newspapers in South
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Misreading the mar
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African media have generally perfor
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Around Africa, the
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Community radio stations across Afr
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Fresh air-waves in Zambia By Mike D
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and consequently undermines media c
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How we started The Observer By Jame
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“Is media in the
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Audience research is essential By G
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to adopt applications beyond basic
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most popular stories, readers could
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While CJs are encouraged to monitor
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nected machines and a long waiting
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ties, as well as the</stron
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The CKWs already in the</st
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terms of the numbe
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to become commercially viable. O<st
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visuals and easy-to-read text). The
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INDEPENDEN INDEPENDENCE
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elow US$ 5-million. This was <stron
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Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

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