How we‘re rewriting the script on Africa reporting
For decades, news about conflict, disease and tragedy has dominated headlines about Africa, while stories about the region’s economic growth, social movements and innovative solutions to economic and social challenges have been ignored.
Having spent the first 10 years of my career reporting in my home country, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, I’ve always found most western media coverage of Africa overly simplistic and shallow.
So when I joined AJ+, a digital media channel launched by Al Jazeera in September 2014, I was keen to change how Africa is covered. It’s not just about how stories are told. It matters who tells them, and local voices are an irreplaceable part of every story.
In February 2015, AJ+ asked journalists and filmmakers working in Africa to pitch stories around a “Young Africa Rising” theme. We wanted to hear stories about how communities and young people in the region are confronting development challenges, from healthcare to education and the emerging startup scene. We called the project #AfricaReset, which reminded our audience that we were trying to change the way the continent is perceived.
We sifted through a lot of pitches and commissioned over a dozen short films. They ranged from stories about the emerging tech industry in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, to artists using music and film to express political dissent in South Africa, to individuals coming up with solutions to health problems in Somalia.
It’s not the method, it’s the model
In the 24-hour news cycle, anecdotes are sometimes mistaken for facts, and isolated incidents color entire nations and how they’re portrayed in the media. AJ+ is the most diverse newsroom I have ever worked in. I’m lucky to be surrounded by reporters from all backgrounds who are never satisfied with simplistic narratives.
Africa has been all over the news recently because of the Ebola crisis. And a lot of really powerful reporting has been done. But one major gaffe sticks out. In November, 2014, 60 Minutes produced a report from Liberia that somehow managed to feature an “Africa without Africans.”
Over the coming decades, Africa will become the backdrop of some of the most significant changes on the planet, from economic and population growth to urbanization and the wholesale reconfiguration of states. We would like to see 60 Minutes rethink its Africa coverage, and rise to the challenge of covering topics like these, and many more that go well beyond the bailiwick of the staid and stereotypical recent examples cited above. In doing so, 60 Minutes will have much to gain, as will the viewing public. Howard French, Columbia Journalism.
Africa rising?
With 54 countries, one billion people and some of the world’s fastest growing economies, Africa is a region on the rise and there are a lot of stories to be told. Parts of the continent are still marred by conflict, but those stories have been told for decades. There is a whole new angle to the African story that remains largely unexplored.
While it is easy to latch onto the latest tragedy and churn out a week’s worth of coverage, what we learned with #AfricaReset is that it takes a lot more time, effort and resources to tell stories that are complete and accurate.
One of the positive outcomes of our #AfricaReset coverage is that AJ+ has established an even stronger network of local journalists. Those journalists have built trust in the communities where they work and they’re helping people regain ownership of their voices and stories.
