The way Forward for the Media in Africa

“The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook” Proverbs 18:4.

The media is the greatest tool that the world has today in influencing ideas and opinions. It is accessible to most people in one form or another. How the news is portrayed and what becomes news is determined by the media. It also influences how people think about a particular item or event by how the news is reported. This is why the media must be careful at what it reports and how it reports. One way or another it will covey a message which may have great ramification on those reading or receiving the message.

The western media has for the most part portrayed the African continent as backwards and inferior in every aspect while glorifying the animals found in Africa. All that one reads about Africa is the perceived ignorance, poverty, and corruption of the Africans. This seems to have become the symbol of Africa and has been done so with a motive which the ignorant reader may not even recognize.

To most people in the western world poverty, disease and animals is what Africa is about which opinion is based on how news from Africa is reported. Good things happening in Africa is not news, but a continuous report about calamities, diseases and roused civil conflicts and poverty is acceptable news. The same media reports to the African a glamorized Western world; perhaps an ideal of what is good.

The idea here is to portray one as superior and the other as inferior to the other. Some of the comments that I have read on an article on Africa, from those in the Western world are despicable and full of ignorance yet it is the acceptable view. No wonder then that the African has for a long time perceived himself as inferior because of this deception while the person from the West erroneously believe he is superior.

This is why the media from localized African countries have as of necessity a duty to campaign for Africa in order to change perspective on Africa. The media has to go further and plant seeds of pride and acceptance among Africans for themselves and their culture. It should promote what is African and create a spirit of accountability by following up on issues that promote integrity and honor among Africans. The media should influence by suggestions and not just analysis.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/333965_the-way-forward-for-the-media-in-africa