Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

Section 4: Access to Information
Covering Africa for African audiences
...via non-African news flows
By Professor Umaru A. Pate
Umaru A. Pate is a Professor of
Media and Society and <strong>the</strong> Chair,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri, Borno State
in North East, Nigeria.
The global debate in <strong>the</strong> ’70s
and ’80s about a New World
Information and Communication
Order (Nwico) can be declared
dead, but it needs to be revived.
The Nwico debate was principally
provoked by reporting on Africa,
and o<strong>the</strong>r developing countries,
with regard to <strong>the</strong> quantity and
quality of coverage by international
news media. Critical concerns
were raised by <strong>the</strong> developing
countries about negative and
insufficient media coverage, and
<strong>the</strong> resulting poor images on <strong>the</strong>
international scene, as well as <strong>the</strong>
bombardment of a one-way flow
of information from <strong>the</strong> Western
world. There was minimal opportunity
for <strong>the</strong> continent to constructively
cover its own stories
and define unique personalities.
Back <strong>the</strong>n, developing countries
were encouraged to streng<strong>the</strong>n
media relationships among <strong>the</strong>mselves.
The idea was that instead
of relying on Western media and
news agencies, <strong>the</strong>y could be
<strong>the</strong> major sources of news about
<strong>the</strong>mselves. The local media were
encouraged to accord increased
positive attention to issues of fellow
emerging nations.
But a study in 1992 of <strong>the</strong> reporting
of international news in <strong>the</strong>
Nigerian press over a period of 10
<strong>years</strong> found that despite <strong>the</strong> huge
influence of <strong>the</strong> country’s Afrocentric
foreign policy, <strong>the</strong> local
press still concentrated <strong>the</strong>ir foreign
news coverage on <strong>the</strong> issues
of conflicts and politics and <strong>the</strong>
direction was dominantly negative.
Although <strong>the</strong> general focus
was overwhelmingly African,
it was also mostly on countries
which shared historical and linguistic
ties with Nigeria. Francophone
neighbouring countries received
very little coverage despite
<strong>the</strong>ir physical and psychological
proximity.
“Francophone
neighbouring
countries received
very little coverage
despite <strong>the</strong>ir physical
and psychological
proximity.”
The Nigerian media relied heavily
on <strong>the</strong> big news agencies for news
on <strong>the</strong> neighbouring countries
as <strong>the</strong>y could not afford to
despatch correspondents <strong>the</strong>re.
More importantly <strong>the</strong>y could not
transcend <strong>the</strong> variation between
French and English languages
and <strong>the</strong> linkages between <strong>the</strong>
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