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Ross 1 Austin Ross ENGL-1030 Mr.

Caleb Milligan 3 December 2013

Media Misrepresentation of Africa Through western media and humanitarian agencies the entire continent of Africa has been greatly misrepresented as a place of severe economic problems, widespread disease, and starvation. In the past few decades Africa has received millions of dollars in financial aid because of this media coverage. This financial aid is beneficial for the African economy, but also causes the outside world to highly stereotype all of Africa. The reason for this stereotype is due to the fact that the media covers only the devastating issues occurring in Africa today. The media portrays all the countries in the same conditions, when that is in fact false. The Western media convinces the minds of the public that Africa is a mono-cultural country in which the population is either dying of starvation, disease and war, most Africans live in terrible conditions and are impoverished. Contrary to popular belief there are fifty-four countries in Africa and a very broad range in culture and diversity. Interestingly enough, Africans are more genetically diverse than the inhabitants of the rest of the world combined, according to a sweeping study that carried researchers into remote regions to sample the bloodlines of more than 100 distinct populations (Achenbach). Major news organizations such as CNN, The Economist and National Geographic, severely generalize African Culture and ignores diversity it encompasses. Africa is certainly not National Geographic's image of drum beating Africans in grass skirts, or CNNs notion of

Ross 2 dancing naked Africans eating bush meat, or even the Kora player playing in a European night club(AHS). Africa is incredibly linguistically diverse, There are an estimated 2,000 languages spoken in Africa. (FOAC) Africa is home to many different tribes of people all with their own history and different traditions. Africa as a whole has no single culture and tradition. Each country has separate traditions, for example in the country of Botswana the average daily meal contains corn meal and soured milk, whereas in Ghana they make vegetable stew. In Libya All meals are eaten out of a communal bowl. Meals are of great symbolic importance; in the houses or the tents of prominent men, the major meal of the day rarely is taken without invited guests (Every Culture). In a satire written by Binyavanga Wainaina on how you should approach writing about Africa, he remarks, In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Dont get bogged down with precise descriptions. He is clearly alluding to how Western reporters generalize all of Africa into one country with similar simpleton people that are helpless and live in desolate, undesirable landscapes, amongst wild animals. There are plenty of media sources that categorize Africa as a severely poor place where the entire population is living in poverty. This is a misrepresentation of the entirety of Africa, because Almost two dozen of Africas 54 nations have now reached middle income status, and more undoubtedly will do so by 2025 (Geldof). Although there are some countries that do struggle with many different economic issues, all African countries should not be shadowed in such a bad light. The media covering all of Africa with the same culture is as deceiving as the media saying that all American states have the same culture. In fact, in the half century since most African countries achieved independence . . . the continent has moved forward in some

Ross 3 critical areas of governance and economic development (Maathai 10). Even when Africa is improving, people still conceive Africa in diminishing fashion. This issue stems from the fact that a simple google search of African children yields pictures of malnourished children, covered in dirt reaching out to the camera with a clear look of sadness and hopelessness of their faces (The Africa Image). Google, being one of the most used search engines, highly influences the majority of its users. When people want to learn more about a specific topic, the first thing they usually do is research it on the internet. When searching African homes on google, the very first result is a hut made of straw, sticks and mud. This image is ingrained into most American children at a young age and now its what most Americans think of when they think of a house in Africa. Even when parents say things to kids like; eat all of your food because there are starving kids in Africa, contributes to the stereotyping of African countries (Africa House). The majority of houses in South Africa, which are considered to be small houses as of January 2013 were priced at $89,301 USD (Global Property Guide). Generalizations by the Western Media hurt the image of South Africa and other countries that get grouped into the term Africa. Yes, many countries in Africa do need help and have an excessive poverty rate, however to generalize Africa as a whole in the many commercials and pictures produced by the western media aimed at citizens of richer countries to donate to Africa is unfair and counterproductive. A better way to approach the problem would be to single out countries in most need for help and concentrate funds on them, while also providing some positive insights in the progress being made inside Africa. The Western media brainwashes many viewers into thinking Africa is disease ridden with most children starving to death or being used as child soldiers. In a commercial funded by Australian organization SavetheChildren, small African children have hopeless looks on their

Ross 4 faces, most covered in dirt, while sad music plays in the background as the commentator begs viewers for donations and explains that today children are dying in their mothers arms, and it doesnt have to be this way. Binyavanga Wainaina writes in his satire essay that the best writing on Africa should include Dead bodies, or better, naked dead bodies, and especially rotting naked dead bodies. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the real Africa, and you want that on your dust jacket. Do not feel queasy about this: you are trying to help them to get aid from the West. The biggest taboo in writing about Africa is to describe or show dead or suffering white people. Wainaina sarcastically refers to the Western media and their tendency to write the majority of articles on suffering black Africans that are dirty and helpless, because of the popularity in reading these articles (94). Countries such as Sudan, Somalia, and the DR Congo have many internal and external problems leaving the average life expectancy from birth in the mid-50s. However Libya in the midst of a civil war boasts an average life expectance of 75 years old, which is not too far behind the United States that has a life expectancy of 79 years. Egypt and Algeria are not too far behind Libya with a life expectancy of 71 years and Morocco with 70 years. These statistics disprove the fictitious theory nestled in the minds of many western people that Africa as a whole has a very low life expectancy. If there were so many child soldier and disease deaths in all of Africa, why are the life expectancies so high? (The World Bank) Many people also credit the high death rate to the pandemic of diseases. The most prevalent diseases discussed in the news are HIV/Aids. What the media does not disclose is that the Aids rate in the United States and Somalia have percentages of .6 and .7 percent of the population respectively. In countries such as South Africa the Aids rate is about 25 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. Somalia and South Africa have drastically different statistics, but would both be generalized

Ross 5 under the same assumption that Aids rates are high everywhere. In fact both Libya and Madagascar have an aids percentage about half of what the United States aids percentage is, and Morocco boasts an even smaller rate than that (CIA). Africa should not be viewed in such a negative light at all times. The media should provide some stories that are not full of despair and violence, and instead provide some positive insight on different countries of Africa. Or if talking about such despair is necessary the media need[s] to provide context and background information, and underlying root causes of issues like AIDS and other poverty-related concerns. To simply present them independent of any other information is to represent people as helpless, hopeless victims who need saving (Araya). Reporters should provide concrete reasons and ideas to why AIDS and starvation are problems in Africa. In doing this more people would understand the roots of the problems and seek more efficient ways to fix them. Without the information of the underlying cause, many people assume that all of Africa is doomed and that there is absolutely no hope for its people. The large consensus in Africa is that the foreign press, with its relentless focus on the negative, distorts the picture of Africa. Many have even called the coverage racist. Such coverage has fueled what in recent years has come to be known as Afro-pessimismthe belief that there is no way out of the sinkhole that postcolonial Africa has become( Hunter-Gault 116). This has become another reason that wealthier countries and industries wont invest in African land or the businesses because outsiders believe the economy is totally unstable. Being said, the African economy clearly needs help in most of its countries but if the media displayed the efforts Africa is making to try and improve, more first world businesses would feel more confident in investing. Africa needs outside help that isnt just money donations from privileged people who

Ross 6 feel sorry for Africas citizens. In order to see real results for Africa, the Western media needs to be encouraging improvement in the progressive areas of African culture. The western media misleads great numbers of people into thinking that Africa is a place where children die constantly of disease and hunger, where everyone lives in terrible conditions and that the entire continent has a single culture. In reality Africa is not doomed, and it is not helpless. Africa is a diverse place, rich in different culture and ethnicities. The popular Swahili phrase, Hakuna Matata, meaning no worries, is not the way Americans should be thinking about this issue. If Americas start worrying about the misinformation they are receiving and want to get the full story, this would be the first step to reforming Western media coverage of Africa.

Ross 7 Works Cited Campus Times. "Kenyan Student Addresses Many Common Misconceptions about African Culture." Kenyan Student Addresses Many Common Misconceptions about African Culture | Campus Times. University of Rochester, 18 Nov. 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Achenbach, Joel. "Africans Have World's Highest Genetic Diversity, Study Finds." Editorial. Washington Post, 01 May 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. AHS. "The African Culture Complex." African People. African Holocost Society, 2001. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. FOAC. "Languages of Africa." Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The People's Republic of China, 12 Nov. 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Advameg Inc. "Countries and Their Cultures." Every Culture. Advameg Inc., 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. Geldof, Bob. "Why Africa Still Needs Aid." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. The Africa Image. N.d. Photograph. Africa Rise. Africa Done Suffering, 29 Oct. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://louxfamilyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Starving-Child5.jpg>. African House. N.d. Photograph. Thomasmears.com. Omega Christian Ministries International, 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://www.thomasmeares.com/photogallery/Traditional%20African%20Houses.JPG>. "The South African Housing Market Is Now Gaining Momentum." South Africa. Global Property Guide, 15 May 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Africa/South-Africa/Price-History>. Wainaina, Binyavanga. "How to Write about Africa." Granta (2005): 92-95. Granta 92, 2005. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. "Life Expectancy at Birth, Total (years)." Data. The World Bank, 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. CIA. "The World Factbook." The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. Araya, Selome. "The Misrepresentation of Africa." Pambazuka News, 14 Feb. 2002. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

Ross 8 Hunter-Gault, Charlayne. New News out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print. Maathai, Wangari. The Challenge for Africa. New York: Pantheon, 2009. Print.

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