147 Global News Post 2
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How does African media portray African countries?
This article from Sub-Sahara African co-editor Njeri Wangari details the portrayal of Africa as a whole and African countries by African reporters and media outlets, and how oftentimes these are the sources perpetuating harmful narratives about the continent. In addition, Wangari discusses how it has been found that many African media outlets don’t have correspondents on the continent, finding that, “63% of African media outlets don’t have correspondents in Africa,” and are often sourced from international news agencies. Among other reasons, funding was found to be a large constraint for African media outlets and limits outlets from being able to fund writers to produce original stories and content. While the report includes some recommendations for improving these issues, Wangari shares that it is likely many of these recommendations, especially paywalls, “won’t save journalism,” and that good journalism requires investment.
Wangari utilizes data and evidence sourced from the 2021 “How African Media Covers Africa” report from Africa No Filter, a donor collaborative focused on shifting harmful stereotypes of Africa – the report can be found here. The report gathered media practitioners from different outlets in seven different countries to participate in focus group discussions to identify patterns and behavior in African media reporting.
I found this article be to very interesting and provide a unique perspective on media literacy and where information truly comes from. This article is particularly interesting because it was written by Njeri Wangari, a writer and editor currently based in Nairobi who specializes in African media and digital rights in Africa. Wangari brings a unique perspective to this article as a media specialist who does not fit this mold. One missing piece of information, which more information can be found in the 2021 report is more from the companies to who this issue pertains to – media outlets who are sourcing information from international sources and have no correspondents in Africa. It is important to recognize that while Wangari writes about an important issue, she is writing from one perspective and it would require more reading and research to see this issue from all sides.