The Africa You Never See


In an article in Sunday's Washington Post, journalist Carol Pineau writes about "The Africa You Never See".

She looks at the reasons the international media either neglect Africa, or contribute to its simplistic stereotypes of war, AIDS, corruption, etc. Not that those issues should be ignored obviously, but it's a good reminder of the need to think critically about media portrayals. As if we needed another reason, sorry but especially in this country...

For example, according to the Post piece, did you know that many African stock markets are booming? That the adult literacy rate in Cameroon and Botswana is 79%? (In Zambia, Swaziland, and South Africa it's over 80%.) That Uganda has reduced its poverty rate by 21% in only eight years? That Senegal, Angola, Chad, Mozambique, Sudan, and Tanzania have GDP growth of 6% or higher?

I guess positive stats, and the stories behind them, are considered boring, like most good-news stories. But in most media, African tragedy has become as predictable and 'easy' as the running-away-from-the-fireball shot in every action movie. It wouldn't take much thought to do something better. I should say BBC does a good job covering Africa in a balanced way.

Pineau produced a film "Africa: Open for Business", on entrepreneurship and private enterprise in Africa, which just premiered in the US.

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Posted: Sun - April 17, 2005 at 06:48 PM          

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