Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,324 members, 7,780,806 topics. Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 10:44 PM

The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa - Politics - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa (15413 Views)

Yinka Aiyefele & Donald Trump’s Portrayal Of Nigeria And America / How The Western Media Portrays Africa, China, And India Differently / Wole Soyinka Attacks Bbc Portrayal Of Lagos 'pit Of Degradation' (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (3) (Reply) (Go Down)

The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Nnenna1(f): 3:15am On Mar 07, 2006
Why do most people believe in the western media? When they always do things like this to keep on stereotyping Africa? Here's how I feel: cry embarassed angry

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Nobody: 11:16pm On Mar 07, 2006
Ok, here's a website i found that purpotedly talks about the history of AIDS,

In 1981, the first cases of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) were identified among gay men in the United States, acquiring the designation, GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency); however, scientists later found evidence that the disease existed in the world for some years prior. By the end of 2003, twelve million children in Sub-Saharan Africa were orphaned by AIDS.
In an article, "1959 and all that: Immunodeficiency viruses," by Simon Wain-Hobson of the Pasteur Institute in Nature (Volume 391, 5 February 1998, pp. 532-533), Wain-Hobson wrote: "Where did HIV [Human Immunodeficiency Virus] come from? Both of the AIDS viruses, HIV-1 and HIV-2, originated in Africa, As is often the case with microbes, a jump from one species to another is probably to blame, chimpanzees (for HIV-1) and sooty mangabeys (for HIV-2),
http://fohn.net/history-of-aids/

Behold the face of HIV!

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Nobody: 11:21pm On Mar 07, 2006
images of africa as seen by foreign lenses

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Seun(m): 9:00pm On Mar 08, 2006
I have nothing against western media. They are just showing what they think will engage their users. They tend to cover wars and disasters in the Middle East, and wherever because bad news attracts a lot of attention. That's the same reason why they tend to show more of the bad side of Africa. If they didn't, they would be accused of insensitivity to the needs of Africa. They wouild be accused of pretending that Africa doesn't have problems.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by SIBLI06(m): 11:10am On Mar 09, 2006
Unfortunately pictures of a graphical nature are usually required to grab the viewers attention and help people understand. Let's not forget that charity events such as Live Aid used such pictures to show the rest of the world the suffering in parts of Africa to help raise money. Would you prefer that charities stopped sending money because some African's that are not poverty stricken are against the media that is used to help others. I do agree that more positive NeWS should be aired to the rest of the world. I don't personally believe that the pictures are attacking African's only opening people's eyes. Just my opinion though!! Respect to all!!
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by larger20(m): 5:13am On Mar 10, 2006
They are doing good job, where do u think the largest aid funds go to ? It is due to these news events, or would u rather die or seek help from people who will give u??
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 12:08pm On Mar 10, 2006
Seun:

That's the same reason why they tend to show more of the bad side of Africa. If they didn't, they would be accused of insensitivity to the needs of Africa. They wouild be accused of pretending that Africa doesn't have problems.
undecided oh dear. By portraying it as "Africa's problem", it overlooks all positive development happening in a lot of African countries. Are people dying of hunger in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia etc.
The western media portrays Africa as if it's one country suffering from war, poverty, Aids etc. No other continent in the world is portrayed this way, yet every single continent has its own problems.

Its double standards which is only applied to Africa.
Here's an example, Los Angeles with thousands of homeless people in the downtown area. Out of the images i've posted which one do you think the media will use to portray LA ?

2 Likes

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Seun(m): 12:14pm On Mar 10, 2006
The pictures you displayed above were used generously by the western media during the hurricane Katrina crisis.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 12:21pm On Mar 10, 2006
Actually these are not pictures from New Orleans, these are pictures i took while travelling around California in 03. Every single part of the world i've been to has its good side and bad side. Pictures of Lagos in the western media will be areas like Ajegunle, mushin etc not Marina or VI. While pictures of their cities will gloss over their slums and only show the good side.
There's a word for it, hypocrisy

1 Like

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by romeo(m): 1:52pm On Mar 10, 2006
why are so worried about our image when we are dying of hunger in africa, if we want good images for the whole world to see then we better demand that from our respective govts. it is their work to promote our image, it is their work to protect our image. and can somebody tell me the kind of image we are talking about here? i don't think there is anything wrong here in calling a kettle black when everybody knows that the kettle is black, take for e.g. a country like kenya where millions of it's citizens are dying of hunger because of drought and the government was busy spending millions of dollars in luxury cars for their official use ( 50 mercedes benz s-class and some luxury 4x4's) and this is my africa that is asking for good image abroad. show the whole world this in news and tell me where the hell we will get our much needed foreign aid to run our nations, and talking about good image in my motherland naija!! VI is filthy and abuja too, when ur living outside nigeria you'll come to find out that there is nothing good bout our nation to be shown abroad and boys are really hiding there nationality these days concerning naija


peace from spain
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by pearl2(m): 4:16pm On Mar 10, 2006
@Ijebuman.One of your pics of LA displayed still showed a blackman sitting,dressed in brown jacket over blue jeans cutting a pathetic figure of despair.Do all the continents have problems?yes.Does Africa has more than the others? it is certainly so.Do the media cover more bad news than good news? yes,but not only in Africa.I think on the whole Africa has got more crisis at the moment than other parts,hence the 'negative' media attention.That's the purpose of the media anyway.
Would u hav prefered that the media played more role to halt the genocide in Rwanda in 1994?
Its good we get our argument right,a lot of  the journalists that report African crisis do so for altruistic purposes,they are hardworking professionals who wants to prick the conscience of the world not just for the sake of 'Heart of Darkness' curiosity.
Although I would say it's good to strive to have a balanced view at all times.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 10:16pm On Mar 10, 2006
I think people don't understand the point i was trying to make apart from Pearl2. All i'm asking for is balance, you hardly hear anything positive reported about Africa. The whole continent is tarred with the same brush despite the fact that there a lot of positive things happening in many African countries.
Countries like Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, SA etc are making a lot of progress but no one hears about them. Only the negative is portrayed. The average viewer in a western country has no idea about what Africa is really like apart from what he keeps seeing on TV.
Its so sad that even Africans born outside the continent associate Africa with only poverty and disease. I know Nigerian kids scared of visiting Nigeria because of all the stuff they "hear about Africa"

romeo:

show the whole world this in news and tell me where the hell we will get our much needed foreign aid to run our nations,
This is such a sad statement to make, how much foreign "aid" are we talking about here. How many African countries do you think gets foreign aid (which is quite different from loans). If this is the basis for supporting the negative portrayal of Africa then i'm sorry brother, you're playing the "victim". 
You think the paltry sums they throw our way to ease their consciences is because of the sad scenes politicians see on TV. For all the foreign aid sent to Africa there are always conditions attached to it, nothing is free my brother.
Its like here's some aid but you need to remove all restrictions to imports from our country or here's some money but we need to set up a military base in your country.
The amount of aid provided to Israel alone is far more than what the US spends in the whole of Africa. Does the US give money to Israel because the israelis are starving?

As Africans we don't need aid from these countries, what we need is for them to stop interfering in the affairs of the continent
- by allowing fair trade agreements so African raw materials are sold at fair prices not at prices determined in western countries.
- by not encouraging conflicts by selling weapons to both sides of a conflict (e.g Sudan, Congo, Rwanda)
- allowing their multinationals to pollute and degrade our environment
- allowing our corrupt politicians to stash money in their banks and providing them safe havens
- Supporting dictators that end up destroying their countries (e.g Mobutu in Zaire supported by US et al throughout his tyrannical reign, Rwandan Hutu leadership that carried out the Tutsi genocide was supported by France etc)

I could go on, hope you get the gist.
It's hypocritical, because western governments and their multinationals are part of the problems in Africa yet their media will highlight the problems without providing a proper historical analysis of why the problems are happening.

Oh and another thing that is becoming prevalent in western countries is 'donor fatigue'. This is a situation where people are so tired of seeing negative images from Africa that it doesn't prick their consciences anymore.

romeo:

and talking about good image in my motherland naija!! VI is filthy and Abuja too, when your living outside nigeria you'll come to find out that there is nothing good bout our nation to be shown abroad and boys are really hiding there nationality these days concerning naija
Well the people i know (myself included) are proud of our Nigerian heritage and we're constantly working to improve things and change perceptions. If you're so ashamed of your country/continent you can do something about it by supporting African charities. You can start by sponsoring an African child at Plan - http://www.plan-uk.org/becomeasponsor/

1 Like

Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by romeo(m): 10:56am On Mar 11, 2006
As Africans we don't need aid from these countries, what we need is for them to stop interfering in the affairs of the continent
- by allowing fair trade agreements so African raw materials are sold at fair prices not at prices determined in western countries.
- by not encouraging conflicts by selling weapons to both sides of a conflict (e.g Sudan, Congo, Rwanda)
- allowing their multinationals to pollute and degrade our environment
- allowing our corrupt politicians to stash money in their banks and providing them safe havens
- Supporting dictators that end up destroying their countries (e.g Mobutu in Zaire supported by US et AL throughout his tyrannical reign, Rwandan Hutu leadership that carried out the Tutsi genocide was supported by France etc)

the only thing i agree with you here is about the trade agreements so that we can sell at fair prices and compete with others
you should know that those arms they use in conflicts are mostly smuggled arms
banks in western world are private institutions and they accept money from everybody and they are not govt. controlled
and on about supporting dictators, we Africans are to be blamed on that because ethnicity plays a lot on this. and in Nigeria a new dictator is being created by the lawmakers
why are we waiting for the western media houses to give us good image? can't we promote our own image with our own media?


Well the people i know (myself included) are proud of our Nigerian heritage and we're constantly working to improve things and change perceptions. If you're so ashamed of your country/continent you can do something about it by supporting African charities. You can start by sponsoring an African child at Plan -

sorry my friend i am sponsoring families and not just one kid in Nigeria, 5 families depend on me
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 1:25pm On Mar 11, 2006
romeo:

the only thing i agree with you here is about the trade agreements so that we can sell at fair prices and compete with others
you should know that those arms they use in conflicts are mostly smuggled arms
Smuggled arms??. The Rwandan Hutu leadership was heavily armed by the French government (they even had French military officers helping them), there are loads of books on that conflict if you want to know more about it. What about Sudan? who is secretly selling arms to the south via Uganda. Angola - Jonas Savimbi and co, who was selling them arms for more than 20 years.
Nearer home, Who is currently training the Nigerian military and selling them weapons to use in the Niger delta? (Answer: the US)

romeo:

banks in western world are private institutions and they accept money from everybody and they are not govt. controlled
I suggest you test that theory out and take a large amount of money to a western bank and see if they won't ask you where you got it from. Banks are subject to money laundering laws and must report any large deposits to the authorities.
In the past they turned a blind eye to it because they couldn't really care but now that they've realised terrorist organisations are using their banking systems for money laundering, all the western countries have come out with tough money laundering laws.
The knock on effect is that it’s more difficult to deposit stolen African money in their banks (as the Alams episode proved)

romeo:

and on about supporting dictators, we Africans are to be blamed on that because ethnicity plays a lot on this.
Yes we Africans play our own part. But wait a minute, when most African countries got their "independence" and elected visionary and forward thinking leaders, who ensured these leaders were removed from power. I'll give you some easy examples - Ghana (Nkrumah) and Congo (Lumumba). If you know your African history i'm sure you know what happened to them and why it happened.

romeo:

and in Nigeria a new dictator is being created by the lawmakers
This topic is not about Nigeria, its about Africa, I only used Lagos as an example in an earlier post. The issue is about the overall portrayal of Africa (not Nigeria alone). I'm really not interested in arguing about the political situation in Nigeria on this thread.

romeo:

why are we waiting for the western media houses to give us good image?
No one is expecting them to give us a 'good image'. providing balanced reports will be fine. Look at the whole controversy over Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is doing exactly what western media has been doing to the rest of the world, providing news from their own point of view. But the US doesn't like it and keeps complaining that it's an Al Qaeda mouthpiece. To show you how hypocritical they are, they "accidentally" bombed Al Jazeera's studios in Afghanistan and Iraq even though the station provided its location and coordinates to the US military.

And just to throw in a bit of irony, who helped in setting up Al Jazeera? The BBC cheesy

romeo:

can't we promote our own image with our own media?
That’s why its important for us to continue to support our own stations like AIT, BEN TV (in the UK) as its the only way we can counter the negative portrayal of Africa.

romeo:

sorry my friend i am sponsoring families and not just one kid in Nigeria, 5 families depend on me
well you're doing your part (sorry i have no cookies to give out  smiley) however the African kids we're talking about here are not in Nigeria and they have no family to help them.
It's a true act of charity to African kids that you don't even know. The money they get makes a difference between life and death. One of the kids i sponsor is somewhere in Burkina Faso, its a small price to pay every month to make a difference in the life of a kid who would not have had any chance at all.

I'll get off my soap box for now  smiley
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by segun06: 7:00am On Mar 12, 2006
Ijebuman, u should think about running for presidency. You definitely have my vote. However, u said:
It's a true act of charity to African kids that you don't even know. The money they get makes a difference between life and death. One of the kids i sponsor is somewhere in Burkina Faso, its a small price to pay every month to make a difference in the life of a kid who would not have had any chance at all.
God forbid but, what if something bad was to happen to you, then what will happen to the child you are sponsoring? I do not think money is the best answer to the problems in Africa. I think what we all need is the right type of knowledge and its apllication. Because knowledge is much more easier to pass on than money, and being that we are in the "information age" you can get the right type of knowlegde and its application, through the internet. If you can pass the knowlegde and its right apllication to those less fortunate, then it wouldn't matter what happens to u, because the child would have the knowlegde to succeed. I'm not saying u shouldn't sponsor a child or a whole tribe, i just don't see where it will lead like what will happen when the child grows up and he/she is still hungry and homeless, will u still b there?
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 11:45am On Mar 12, 2006
segun06:

Ijebuman, u should think about running for presidency. You definitely have my vote.
Thanks for the vote. Unfortunately i have no political plans grin

segun06:

However, u said:God forbid but, what if something bad was to happen to you, then what will happen to the child you are sponsoring? I do not think money is the best answer to the problems in Africa. I think what we all need is the right type of knowledge and its apllication. Because knowledge is much more easier to pass on than money, and being that we are in the "information age" you can get the right type of knowlegde and its application, through the internet. If you can pass the knowlegde and its right apllication to those less fortunate, then it wouldn't matter what happens to u, because the child would have the knowlegde to succeed. I'm not saying u shouldn't sponsor a child or a whole tribe, i just don't see where it will lead like what will happen when the child grows up and he/she is still hungry and homeless, will u still b there?
I do agree with you
The worst thing one can do is to feed a man fish instead of teaching him how to fish. However the whole point of charities like Plan is to break the cycle of poverty in these communities by providing money for education and training of Africans kids. Most of the parents are so poor that educating their kids is not a priority, which means the next generation is stuck in that vicious cycle of poverty.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by romeo(m): 6:53pm On Mar 12, 2006
This topic is not about Nigeria, its about Africa, I only used Lagos as an example in an earlier post. The issue is about the overall portrayal of Africa (not Nigeria alone). I'm really not interested in arguing about the political situation in Nigeria on this thre

where is nigeria?? in south america? nigeria is part of africa and a big part of it and was just an example from me.

well you're doing your part (sorry i have no cookies to give out Smiley) however the African kids we're talking about here are not in Nigeria and they have no family to help them.


keep ur cookies for your burkina faso kids, these families i am helping out really needs somebodies help too, charity is not only about giving money to unesco or to oxfam, our people still need us
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by allonym: 1:18am On Mar 13, 2006
this is a fallacious argument.

One big misunderstanding is that the media is portraying "Africa". It most certainly is not. It is portraying new of AIDS, rape, war, famine, strife, religious conflict, etc. It does that for EVERY country in the world.

Media always portrays its country in a good light. Since when is it the US or UK or some other country's media's obligation to showcase the goodness of Nigeria. . .or some other african country? That is that country's media's job.

If you want to look at portrayls of africa in the US at least, look at PBS documentaries. Those attempt to provide an unbaised view of life in whatever specific country or region they are profiling.

If you watch the news, then you have chosen to only see sensational stories. . .and success stories of anyone who is not a celebrity is generally not sensational.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by allonym: 1:22am On Mar 13, 2006
ijebuman:

I think people don't understand the point i was trying to make apart from Pearl2. All i'm asking for is balance, you hardly hear anything positive reported about Africa. The whole continent is tarred with the same brush despite the fact that there a lot of positive things happening in many African countries.
Countries like Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, SA etc are making a lot of progress but no one hears about them. Only the negative is portrayed. The average viewer in a western country has no idea about what Africa is really like apart from what he keeps seeing on TV.
Its so sad that even Africans born outside the continent associate Africa with only poverty and disease. I know Nigerian kids scared of visiting Nigeria because of all the stuff they "hear about Africa"
This is such a sad statement to make, how much foreign "aid" are we talking about here. How many African countries do you think gets foreign aid (which is quite different from loans). If this is the basis for supporting the negative portrayal of Africa then i'm sorry brother, you're playing the "victim".
You think the paltry sums they throw our way to ease their consciences is because of the sad scenes politicians see on TV. For all the foreign aid sent to Africa there are always conditions attached to it, nothing is free my brother.
Its like here's some aid but you need to remove all restrictions to imports from our country or here's some money but we need to set up a military base in your country.
The amount of aid provided to Israel alone is far more than what the US spends in the whole of Africa. Does the US give money to Israel because the israelis are starving?

As Africans we don't need aid from these countries, what we need is for them to stop interfering in the affairs of the continent
- by allowing fair trade agreements so African raw materials are sold at fair prices not at prices determined in western countries.
- by not encouraging conflicts by selling weapons to both sides of a conflict (e.g Sudan, Congo, Rwanda)
- allowing their multinationals to pollute and degrade our environment
- allowing our corrupt politicians to stash money in their banks and providing them safe havens
- Supporting dictators that end up destroying their countries (e.g Mobutu in Zaire supported by US et al throughout his tyrannical reign, Rwandan Hutu leadership that carried out the Tutsi genocide was supported by France etc)

I could go on, hope you get the gist.
It's hypocritical, because western governments and their multinationals are part of the problems in Africa yet their media will highlight the problems without providing a proper historical analysis of why the problems are happening.

Oh and another thing that is becoming prevalent in western countries is 'donor fatigue'. This is a situation where people are so tired of seeing negative images from Africa that it doesn't prick their consciences anymore.
Well the people i know (myself included) are proud of our Nigerian heritage and we're constantly working to improve things and change perceptions. If you're so ashamed of your country/continent you can do something about it by supporting African charities. You can start by sponsoring an African child at Plan - http://www.plan-uk.org/becomeasponsor/

Paltry sums huh. . .the billions in USD that african countries get in AID every single year is paltry. This either shows just how bad the problem is in africa, or suggests to some ignorance on your part.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by segun06: 6:47am On Mar 13, 2006
Everyone keeps talking about this financial aids being sent to "Africa", but how many people have actually seen or noticed any improvement entirely due to this "Foreign Financial Aid"? This guys show adverts of bony black kids, trying to get people to donate, but if you look close enough at those kids you will realise that they are the same kids that were used some years back, and the child shows no improvement or anything. As we say it: won pass, won fail won kuro n class (dem no pass, dem no fail, dem no comot class). Do they mean to tell me that the same child they showed me two years ago still looks the same way as he did the last time they showed him.

keep your cookies for your burkina faso kids, these families i am helping out really needs somebodies help too, charity is not only about giving money to unesco or to oxfam, our people still need us

You make it sound like this is some kind of competition to see who is helping the most.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Seun(m): 7:03am On Mar 13, 2006
I just want to reiterate the point that the media is motivated almost exclusively by their desire for profit. They get to be big and powerful by serving the needs of the majority of their viewers. You shouldn't talk as if they are sitting down somewhere discussing strategies for marginalizing Africa or Africans. They are sitting somewhere thinking about how to increase profits and boost their stock price. If they are not doing a good job, then an opening exists for a competitor to come in and do better. I just look at it that way, and I don't think further than that!
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by romeo(m): 9:14am On Mar 13, 2006
You make it sound like this is some kind of competition to see who is helping the most.

i was only making a point there by saying that charity is not all about sponsoring a kid some where in Africa, you can still sponsor a kid in Nigeria because they need that too and if you can do more by sponsoring more kids in other countries that would be marvelous .

Everyone keeps talking about this financial aids being sent to "Africa", but how many people have actually seen or noticed any improvement entirely due to this "Foreign Financial Aid"? This boys show adverts of bony black kids, trying to get people to donate, but if you look close enough at those kids you will realize that they are the same kids that were used some years back, and the child shows no improvement or anything. As we say it: won pass, won fail won kuro n class (them no pass, them no fail, them no comot class). Do they mean to tell me that the same child they showed me two years ago still looks the same way as he did the last time they showed him.

because these people are still fighting wars, destroying there resources and so on. the pictures you see of kids with sticking out backbones are real my friend. More than 2 million people are dying of real hunger in Kenya, even "camels" are dying because of drought and the government of Kenya spent millions of dollars in buying 50 new Mercedes s-class luxury cars and more 4x4 jeeps, for the government officials and this is Africa my brother, just imagine what that money could have done for this people that needed it most and that is not the end of it
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 4:16pm On Mar 13, 2006
allonym:

Paltry sums huh. . .the billions in USD that african countries get in AID every single year is paltry. This either shows just how bad the problem is in africa, or suggests to some ignorance on your part.
Actually your statement is exactly what the western media will say about Africa as par the billions sent to Africa
You want to know how the money is spent. Let me give you a quick break down on "foreign aid politics"

Furthermore, foreign aid sometimes has more benefits for donors than recipients. In a report released by Action Aid in June 2005, the organization claims that two-thirds of donor money goes back to donor countries and, thus, is not available for poverty reduction in developing countries. In addition to a large portion of funds going to Western consultants, the report argues that donor governments often require money to be spent in certain ways--having only American pharmaceutical companies provide drugs used in HIV/AIDS programs, for example.

A new U.N. study on African economies also claims that donor money that comes with strings attached cuts the value of aid to recipient countries 25-40%, because it obliges them to purchase uncompetitive imports from richer nations. Njoki Njoroge Njehu, director of a coalition of over 200 grassroots NGOs called 50 Years Is Enough, notes that such conditional aid raises project costs. She cites Eritrea's recent decision to build a more cost effective network of railways with local expertise and resources rather than using foreign consultants, experts, architects, and engineers imposed on the country as a condition of development assistance.

Is Aid Working for the Poor?
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/oda/2005/0919aidpoor.htm

Using the US as an example, Here's a recap of what US foreign aid is about
The major objectives of U.S. foreign aid have been to assist the American government in implementing its foreign policy goals around the globe. They tend to concentrate on achieving the following objectives:
1. Enhancing the U.S.'s national security and its international role and prestige;
2. Facilitating U.S. access to the world's major markets, energy resources, and strategic minerals;

<snip>
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94457839

Like i've said before there's no free lunch in life
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 4:58pm On Mar 13, 2006
according to the ActionAid report: Real aid - An Agenda for Making Aid Work, released in June last year. Aid in many countries has not done an effective job of reducing poverty or protecting basic rights. According to the report, the world's richest nations greatly exaggerate their aid to poor countries. Some donor countries are known for conditioning aid, which inhibits its effectiveness to the beneficiaries.

About 60 percent of the money donated by G8 countries is phantom aid, that is, it does not represent a real resource transfer to the recipient. Phantom aid is defined as aid diverted from economically poor nations for other purposes. Much of the debt relief, for instance, provided to poor countries simply closes the gap between what countries were scheduled to repay and what they actually were able to repay, and has often done little to relieve budgetary pressure on poor countries.
<snip>
In 2003, $18b (Shs32b) of donor money, or more than a quarter of total aid, was allocated to technical assistance. However, more often, aid has failed to reduce poverty because it has never reached the recipient country, but has instead been paid to donor country companies and consultants, often for overpriced and inappropriate goods and services that have few sustainable benefits. Technical assistance pays for consultants, either long or short term, to support and advise recipient governments on policy issues. In Africa alone, donors employ an estimated 100,000 technical experts.

read full article at globalpolicy.org
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/oda/2006/0121morethanaid.htm
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by ijebuman(m): 5:54pm On Mar 13, 2006
finally found the New African article from 2001 that covered a seminar on how western media report events in Africa.

European journalists now accept that there is more to their reporting of Africa.
And it was all revealed, voluntarily, at a recent media seminar organised in London by the Conflict and Peace Forum’s ?Reporting The World? project, under the theme: ?Is coverage of Africa racist?? The seminar looked specifically at the reporting of the current war in Congo and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
<snip>

Speaking at the seminar, Baffour said from personal experience, he had ?isolated five main factors that drive the Western media?. These were:

(1) National interest, this determines whether a story is published or rejected, and how big or small it is played;

(2) Government lead, which decides who is a good boy or a bad boy to be praised or demonised;

(3) Ideological leaning, of the various papers and broadcasters — leftwing or rightwing — determining sympathetic treatment of stories;

(4) Advertisers and readers power, in influencing coverage and selection of stories;

(5) Historical baggage — the Western media still seeing Africa through the eyes of the explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries.

<snip>
When it comes to reporting Aids in Africa, Baffour said the Western media resort to the use of black and white photos because black and white photos have the ability to convey ghoulishness and scariness?.

He showed the seminar hard examples of this — copies of Newsweek, Time, Fortune, The Economist, and The Guardian’s (weekend colour magazine) which all had everything in colour, except the section on Aids in Africa.


What is the message here,? Baffour asked. ?Are they out to frighten the Africans into submission or help them to understand what is Aids and its consequences??

Anne Koch, executive editor of current affairs of BBC radio, said ?, when people think of Congo, they think ?heart of darkness’, they’re not right but that is the case?.

To which, Baffour said the Western media had the responsibility to educate their people rather than perpetuate those prejudices and misconceptions. ?It is the responsibility of the media,? he said, ?to tell the people that the sun shines more in Congo than in the UK, and thus Congo cannot be the heart of any darkness.?

full article here:
Home truths by European journalists
http://www.africasia.com/archive/na/01_0708/cover2.htm
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Chxta(m): 6:30pm On Mar 13, 2006
Nice little spat going on between ijebuman and romeo,

romeo let me ask you a question, when did you start watching CNN?

One of the worst days of my life still remains a comment made by Bob Fiscella a CNN correspondent during the 1996 Confederations Cup: Being the poorest country in the tournament, Nigeria certainly needs the $ 1.5 million prize money.

Such comments show it all in terms of these people's bias and mentality.

Has anyone noticed that with the exception of one report, Jeff Koinage has never had a good shot of anywhere in Naija? Sometimes I get the impression that the moment they see street lights in a place they take their camera crews elsewhere,
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by pearl2(m): 7:58pm On Mar 13, 2006
I have to say kudos to Ijebuman for a well marshalled argument.
The portrayal of Africa,despite all the problems we know we have is not fair enough.Unfortunately,this stereotype stays in the mind of people in the Western world.
I read an interesting write-up sometimes ago in a NIJA paper about some kids from a college in the US bro't to Senegal on exchange programme or something.When they got to the airport,they were surprised to see fine cars coming to collect them.They told their teachers theywere expecting to see donkeys come and convey them,they didnt know there were cars in Africa!
This is just a,well, funny one.The stereotypical images of Africa takes on more pernicious form.
But I still like to think that we Africans are not doing enough for ourselves.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by demmy(m): 8:52pm On Mar 13, 2006
As usual I have to agree with ijebuman on this one too. Bad images of Africa has crystallized into prejudiced opinion on Africa here in Europe. They believe that we do nothing else in Africa outside of sit around and die of AIDS, hunger and other various afflictions. Lets be frank most of those bad images are encouraged by the so called non-profit organisations (africans and non) calling for aids on Africa's behalf to do big business.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Nobody: 10:24pm On Mar 13, 2006
Great analysis on the issue of foreign aid to africa by the western nations coming from Ijebuman.

[Njoki Njoroge] Njehu [director of the 50 Years is Enough campaign] cited the example of Eritrea, which discovered it would be cheaper to build its network of railways with local expertise and resources rather than be forced to spend aid money on foreign consultants, experts, architects and engineers imposed on the country as a condition of development assistance.

Strings attached to US aid for similar projects, she added, include the obligation to buy products such as Caterpillar and John Deere tractors. “All this adds up to the cost of the project.”

Njehu also pointed out that money being doled out to Africa to fight HIV/AIDS is also a form of tied aid. She said Washington is insisting that the continent’s governments purchase anti-AIDS drugs from the United States instead of buying cheaper generic products from South Africa, India or Brazil.

As a result, she said, US brand name drugs are costing up to 15,000 dollars a year compared with 350 dollars annually for generics.

AGOA [African Growth and Opportunity Act, signed into US law in 2000] is more sinister than tied aid, says Njehu. “If a country is to be eligible for AGOA, it has to refrain from any actions that may conflict with the US’s ‘strategic interests.’”

“The potential of this clause to influence our countries' foreign policies was hinted at during debates at the United Nations over the invasion of Iraq,” she added.

The war against Iraq was of strategic interest to the United States,” Njehu said. As a result, she said, several African members of the UN Security Council, including Cameroon, Guinea and Angola, were virtually held to ransom when the United States was seeking council support for the war in 2003.

“They came under heavy pressure,” she said. “The message was clear: either you vote with us or you lose your trade privileges”.


— Thalif Deen, Tied Aid Strangling Nations, Says U.N, Inter Press Service, July 6, 2004
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp


Europe subsidizes its agriculture to the tune of some $35-40 billion per year, even while it demands other nations to liberalize their markets to foreign competition.
The US also introduced a $190 billion dollar subsidy to its farms through the US Farm Bill, also criticized as a protectionist measure.
While aid amounts to around $50 to 55 billion per year, the poor countries pay some $200 billion to the rich each year.

In effect then, there is more aid to the rich than to the poor.

Many in the first world imagine the amount of money spent on aid to developing countries is massive. In fact, it amounts to only .03% of GNP of the industrialized nations. In 1995, the director of the US aid agency defended his agency by testifying to his congress that 84 cents of every dollar of aid goes back into the US economy in goods and services purchased. For every dollar the United States puts into the World Bank, an estimated $2 actually goes into the US economy in goods and services. Meanwhile, in 1995, severely indebted low-income countries paid one billion dollars more in debt and interest to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) than they received from it. For the 46 countries of Subsaharan Africa, foreign debt service was four times their combined governmental health and education budgets in 1996. So, we find that aid does not aid.

— Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Eyes of the Heart; Seeking a Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization, (Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 13
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by allonym: 1:23am On Mar 14, 2006
@ ijebuman,

you are confusing aid given by a country's government with aid given by organizations or private citizens. I'm not surprised that government aid mostly translates into reducing the debt owed by other countries. Perhaps you've never bought anything on credit or taken out loans. . . but there is a HUGE benefit when you reduce the principal amount of your loan. It does nigeria no good if it owes the us $100 million which grows at 5% interest per year if nigeria only produces $10 million in gdp. (for this example, I'm making up numbers). In this case, the 20% of the GDP would go towards paying the INTEREST on the debt alone . . . there is probably very little opportunity for many African nations to actually reduce their debt other than the aid your so despise.

However, many times, aid is specifically designated for food, healthcare, clothing, housing. Guess what happens to it when it winds up in Nigeria. . . . somehow, it evaporates. . . its kinda hard to take your argument seriously when the african nations themselves are a significant problem unto themselves.

private citizens give plenty of aid to organizations which work towards funneling money to the country or actually work housing, feeding, clothing, ppl, among other things. So, even if you discount the aid from foreign governments, what say you about this?

Until african goverments stop leaking money like a water tank that has been struck by a missile. . . i don't think you'd see that much of a difference. . . .and blaming the people who are doing the most to help. . .probably doesn't help your case either.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by allonym: 1:25am On Mar 14, 2006
davidylan:

Great analysis on the issue of foreign aid to africa by the western nations coming from Ijebuman.

[Njoki Njoroge] Njehu [director of the 50 Years is Enough campaign] cited the example of Eritrea, which discovered it would be cheaper to build its network of railways with local expertise and resources rather than be forced to spend aid money on foreign consultants, experts, architects and engineers imposed on the country as a condition of development assistance.

Strings attached to US aid for similar projects, she added, include the obligation to buy products such as Caterpillar and John Deere tractors. “All this adds up to the cost of the project.”

Njehu also pointed out that money being doled out to Africa to fight HIV/AIDS is also a form of tied aid. She said Washington is insisting that the continent’s governments purchase anti-AIDS drugs from the United States instead of buying cheaper generic products from South Africa, India or Brazil.

As a result, she said, US brand name drugs are costing up to 15,000 dollars a year compared with 350 dollars annually for generics.

AGOA [African Growth and Opportunity Act, signed into US law in 2000] is more sinister than tied aid, says Njehu. “If a country is to be eligible for AGOA, it has to refrain from any actions that may conflict with the US’s ‘strategic interests.’”

“The potential of this clause to influence our countries' foreign policies was hinted at during debates at the United Nations over the invasion of Iraq,” she added.

The war against Iraq was of strategic interest to the United States,” Njehu said. As a result, she said, several African members of the UN Security Council, including Cameroon, Guinea and Angola, were virtually held to ransom when the United States was seeking council support for the war in 2003.

“They came under heavy pressure,” she said. “The message was clear: either you vote with us or you lose your trade privileges”.


— Thalif Deen, Tied Aid Strangling Nations, Says U.N, Inter Press Service, July 6, 2004
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp


Europe subsidizes its agriculture to the tune of some $35-40 billion per year, even while it demands other nations to liberalize their markets to foreign competition.
The US also introduced a $190 billion dollar subsidy to its farms through the US Farm Bill, also criticized as a protectionist measure.
While aid amounts to around $50 to 55 billion per year, the poor countries pay some $200 billion to the rich each year.

In effect then, there is more aid to the rich than to the poor.

Many in the first world imagine the amount of money spent on aid to developing countries is massive. In fact, it amounts to only .03% of GNP of the industrialized nations. In 1995, the director of the US aid agency defended his agency by testifying to his congress that 84 cents of every dollar of aid goes back into the US economy in goods and services purchased. For every dollar the United States puts into the World Bank, an estimated $2 actually goes into the US economy in goods and services. Meanwhile, in 1995, severely indebted low-income countries paid one billion dollars more in debt and interest to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) than they received from it. For the 46 countries of Subsaharan Africa, foreign debt service was four times their combined governmental health and education budgets in 1996. So, we find that aid does not aid.

— Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Eyes of the Heart; Seeking a Path for the Poor in the Age of Globalization, (Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 13





There is more aid to the rich than the poor? Tell me how does a european nation or the united states. . . subsidizing its OWN business. . .count as aid? How can you even compare it to the aid they give to african nations? That is ridiculous. . .its like if you were a homeless man living out of a box on my street, and you yell at me because I make sure my kids are well fed before I toss a dime to you.
Re: The Western Media's Portrayal Of Africa by Chxta(m): 7:24am On Mar 14, 2006
@ allonym your argument holds no water IMO. Will reply properly when I collect my thoughts,

(1) (2) (3) (Reply)

Oshiomhole Cant Ban Okada For He Belongs To The Working-Class, / THE IGBO AGENDA AGAINST THE YORUBA IN LAGOS - / 37 Soldiers Involved In Accident In Kano

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 128
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.