It's cash!

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.

The Ray of Hope

The Ray of Hope

A. “But it was not a shoe, it was a suitcase. A ray of light bounced off the glossy lid. It was an elegant suitcase, a little worn but made of fine leather, and it gave off a whiff of civilization” (48-49).

B. “We were beside ourselves. My head reeled, as if I’d had too much to drink. I took the novels out of the suitcase one by one, opened them, studied the portraits of the authors, and passed them on to Luo. Brushing them with the tips of my fingers made me feel as if my pale hands were in touch with human lives” (99).

Sijie uses Four-Eyes’s suitcase to represent the gateway to intellectual liberty for the two re-educated boys. The suitcase, which the narrator accidentally stumbles upon in Four-Eyes’s room, is an object of mystery and wonder throughout much of the book. Ironically, the suitcase itself is never described in much detail; it’s what’s inside that the narrator and Luo really care about. The suitcase with its trove of Western literature gives the two boys hope that there is more to their situation as they’re now enabled to explore new and foreign ideas which they were never exposed to. Furthermore, the suitcase embodies the narrator and Luo’s hope for the freedom to think as independent entities, separate from the ideals of the Communist Party. Once Luo and the narrator read Ursule Mirouet by Balzac, they are unable to resist the intellectual liberty brought by the literature and therefore steal the suitcase. The suitcase, being a symbol of their aspiration for intellectual liberty shines a ray of hope into the well of their reeducation.