The men came on motorbikes, searching the streets. They rode through the Ghanian suburb at midnight and soon found their target. Journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale was left bloody on the pavement with three bullets in his dying body (“Ahmed Hussein-Suale”).
It’s no secret that African journalism is rife with problems. Most would come to that conclusion after reading blaring headlines about the assassinations of African journalists. But perhaps surprisingly, the real root of Africa’s journalism problem is more mundane; it’s funding and resources—cash—that are the real problem (Allison).
African news outlets suffer from chronically low funding and therefore struggle to compete with the large and powerful western media. Why is this a problem, one might ask?
“Africa... is not allowed to tell its own stories,” South African journalist Simon Allison said. “The agenda for African news is decided... by dashing foreign correspondents who do not understand the local complexities and base their narrative on sweeping, misleading generalisations” (Allison).
Oftentimes this might lead to incorrect assumptions, like assuming that African politicians assassinate and imprison journalists left and right; it happens, just not as frequently as you might think.
The real problem is that journalists in Africa simply lack the funding and expertise to be able to do their job (Gordon).
When western correspondents can fly around on rented private planes, how could a local journalist who travels using the cheapest public transportation even try to compete?
According to Allison, many African papers simply cut and paste articles from western “Africa” sections.
But the problems don’t stop at simply finding funding. Oftentimes, journalists have pretty good reason to refuse funding when they finally do find it.
“Aid can be used to coerce journalists to change their norms and practices unduly,” wrote the authors of a study at the University of Cape Town (“How Foreign Aid”).
Even papers in the West suffer from this same problem—accepting large donations from third-party benefactors can lead to bias in their journalism. But African journalists suffer from an additional layer of complexity: their benefactors are foreigners not only from the West, but also from places like China.
Americans and Chinese disagree on what it actually means to be a journalist. Americans see themselves as “watchdogs,” policing the government and keeping democracy healthy (“How Foreign Aid”). On the other hand, Chinese journalists see themselves as extensions of the state, looking down on the harsh coverage of their western counterparts.
This means that the African journalist is left torn between two competing ideological systems. To accept funding from one or the other essentially means committing to that ideology and form of journalism.
African news outlets have to choose between either cripplingly low funds, or publishing potentially biased or altered coverage.
Either way, the result is the same—there’s no good way for media outlets to get the resources they need. African journalism could very well die out without a solution.
Works Cited
“Ahmed Hussein-Suale: Ghana Journalist Shot Dead.” BBC News, BBC, 17 Jan. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46902748.
Allison, Simon. “African Journalism Is Being Stifled by a Lack of Resources.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Mar. 2013, www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/01/african-journalism-stifled-lack-resources.
Duodu, Cameron. "Undercover! The power of investigative journalism in Africa." New African, no. 557, Jan. 2016, p. 10+. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A442285893/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=9036f713. Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.
Gordon, Nick. "A new approach to African journalism needed." African Business, no. 400, Aug.-Sept. 2013, p. 6. Gale In Context: Global Issues, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A341131269/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=d6bd8c4a. Accessed 11 Mar. 2020.
“How Foreign Aid Shapes Journalism in Africa.” UCT News, www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2019-07-08-how-does-aid-influence-journalism-in-africaa.
I loved the flow of this article. It was really easy to follow while also being very concise and effective. I think the takeaway is that journalism is in a loophole between getting funding and posting bias info. How do people get reliable info? Or is it somewhat like a communist country where they only get info that they are told to receive?
ReplyDeleteI like how you clearly illustrated Africa's perspective and how choosing between the US or China highly sways the outcome of their journalism ideology. My takeaway from this article is that the problems in Africa's journalism isn't as much internal corruption as many assume, but actually the influence that foreign investment that divides African journalism. What is the best solution to fix this problem?
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting article. I had never even heard of this issue but I loved the way you expressed the mundane situation in a dire way. I can see that African journalists go through hardships everyday and struggle between the toll of right and wrong in their writing. I would love to know more about the life after being published- what happens to that writer and who reads their work?
ReplyDelete