A couple of random facts :

- 60% of people who access the BBC Africa website from their mobile phones do so from Nigeria.
- Angola has the continent's best economy

http://adamwestbrook./2007/05/06/why-dont-we-promote-the-positive/#comment-2451

If you're a journalist/blogger freelancing in Africa please make your way to this blog and share your opinions!

Angola has the best economy?

best growth rate of 26% yes, but thats due to mostly oil and some diamonds, there is still a lot of corruption there. We still need to clean our act up in Africa, when we do, we won't need Western Media to say good things about us, it will be obvious for all to see

I don't really see the 'achievement' in the mobile phone stat, at least we are improving somewhat

Negativity. Well, when we have so much within us, we shouldn't expect any more from others, really.

who cares what the western world reports about Africa, u expect better? the time wey Nigeria do election, every media wrote about how bad it was, Nigeria sent a satellite into space, no mention was made by the same media only a few wey no get better thing to write about the thing.

this is one of thebest threads i have seen since i started visiting nairaland!

i use to practise as a journalist and most of our African stories were soured from foreign media
we always raise the same question
is African all about Genocide
war
hunger
fake election
sit tight rulers

bla bla

whatever happened to arts and culture?
sports
our own celebrity etc

even children see Rwanda as a country that is synonymous with sadness
Nigeria with theft

it is just too sad

this is even more evident when u read our own papers
we dont have anything good thing to say about other African countries because a bulk of our stories come from the west.

this is one problem i strongly believe can only be solved by African!

the sucess recorded by the likes of MNET should be extended to news coverage and also be emulated by he likes of NTA

online journalism is one of the richest source of information and Africa journalism is yet to fully comprehend this.

we need to challenge the West not by expecting them to do the job for us but by telling them through our action how the job should be done

while im not calling for an all positive reports, i will like to see a balanced report
where both our good sides and bad sides are evenly portrayed
of course i expect our bad side to be far greater since they is really not much to celebrate here
but the little we have to celebrate , should be celebrated from an African point of view.

i use to practise as a journalist and most of our African stories were soured from foreign media

60% of people who access the BBC Africa website from their mobile phones do so from Nigeria.

so they look up to the bbc for news about their country hmm

this is even more evident when u read our own papers
we don't have anything good thing to say about other African countries because a bulk of our stories come from the west.

of course i expect our bad side to be far greater since they is really not much to celebrate here

Ahhhh Bless

when people are talking in Nigeria they don't make reference to local newspapers. you hear them mentioning BBC and CNN you cant go to Nigeria website to get updated news. sometimes you even see News culled directly from BBC.

the fact that 90% of Nigerian newspapers are owned by politicians and praise singing quacks doesn't help either!

closetpervert:

who cares what the western world reports about Africa, u expect better? the time wey Nigeria do election, every media wrote about how bad it was, Nigeria sent a satellite into space, no mention was made by the same media only a few wey no get better thing to write about the thing.

Mr. closetpervert, the news of the satelite launch was reported by the western media you hear see the link below. And let me ask you, was the technology indigenous and developed by Nigeria, did we launch the satelite ourselves and you want to be celeberated. Well the link is down here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6653067.stm?ls

I really don't know what you guys are on about. 60% of those that check the BBC from their mobile phones do that from Nigeria. Extremely good news to celeberate indeed but i guess you didnt ask yourself why?? What percentage of the population have internet access at homes? 

Angola's economy is the best growing in Africa. Whats the standard of living let me help you, output per capita in Angola is among the worst in the world, agriculture remains the main source of livelihood to 85% of the population, GNP per Capita in 2005 was just a bit above $1,000.

The point is that using African standards Angola can celeberate but not using global standards, when will we realise that we are in a global world and for recognition you must be at the top internationally. This warp sided thinking pattern is partly responsible for our slow growth and economic decline, mediocrity is celeberated, i just don't understand.

I wont bother on these western media issue again because its clear its sychophants you guys like. You want those that will sing your praise when you are going backwards. Keep looking for them maybe NTA will do that, but don't expect it from the BBC or western media. Perhaps you guys should start by researching the annual budget of the BBC and you will understand why when Nigerian journalist is looking for information on Nigeria they go to the BBC.

Its always a a serious headache writing an essay or doing research on issues affecting African nations because of the problem of data, the governments don't keep detailed records, theres always an attempt to hide something its always so clear. If the west has to carry out its own research on Africa and get the figures that we ourselves don't have on ourselves and we have to use it in analysing ourselves.

buluti:


I wont bother on these western media issue again because its clear its sychophants you guys like. You want those that will sing your praise when you are going backwards. Keep looking for them maybe NTA will do that, but don't expect it from the BBC or western media. Perhaps you guys should start by researching the annual budget of the BBC and you will understand why when Nigerian journalist is looking for information on Nigeria they go to the BBC.

you are loosing sight of the point here
i personally said that there isnt much to talk about in terms of the positive side
it dosnt also mean that they is nothing at all to talk about in this countries!
while im not expecting to get to BBC or anyother media at that and read how good our government officials are
i expect to read some good stories as well

from a journalist point of view, i know that there is always something good to write about a particular country irrespective of the negative media it has been receiving!

buluti:


Its always a a serious headache writing an essay or doing research on issues affecting African nations because of the problem of data, the governments don't keep detailed records,

exactly the point!
lack of data!
which was why i said that the sucess of MNEt should be spread to news coverage as well!
i remember quite well that during the series of plane crashes we witnessed in Nigeria, the most realiable source of information came from foregn media even when the incident happened right here in Nigeria.
we could not even do proper coverage let alone expect stations like NTA to good when other African countries are concerned.

in terms of delibrately withholding information, tell me any government that dosnt do that?
i expect the argument here to be a challenge for the journalist to work even harder


basically, i still believe though i stand to be corrected that the wet portray us the way they do simply because bad stories make front page.
who is intrested in finding out that Tuface just won an award?
or the highest goal scorer in ugandan league?

it takes African journalist to raise the African case and make it appealing at least to Africans
and spread the news across the world

as i said before, it is only Africans ( journalists) that can tackle Africans case

viee:

you are loosing sight of the point here
i personally said that there isnt much to talk about in terms of the positive side
it dosnt also mean that they is nothing at all to talk about in this countries!
while im not expecting to get to BBC or anyother media at that and read how good our government officials are
i expect to read some good stories as well

from a journalist point of view, i know that there is always something good to write about a particular country irrespective of the negative media it has been receiving!

I really am lost as to your statement above sounds contradictory to me. I am loosing sight of the point what point?? That there isnt much to talk about in terms of the positive side, but it doesnt mean that nothing is happening!!!. Theres always something good to write about anything except the personality of the devil that is. The question is whats the overall impact, when the positive side is clearly and obviously overwhelmed by the negatives what should an objective media report. From a journalist point of view as you stated whats the role of the journalist? To report a few positive as seen in Nigeria, say a pipe borne water built with N1 billion when the actual cost is about N20 million (my exaggeration but am sure you get the point). Such cannot be reported by the international media, what will make news is a sustainable project to take water to all rural areas in the country, which should have been in its implementation phase and seen to be working not just paper projects as we see everyday.

In addition saying no good news on Africa is reported is being economical with the truth. Read this article on Namibia that is reported and please say why it shouldnt be reported. Its a clear case of progress and use of initiative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6668535.stm

Furthermore you stated that which government doesnt hide info, why am i not surprised at your statement. Whats the role of the media if not to expose such acts. Dont you read everyday on the western media where they are forcing their own govt to declassify memos and the serious attack the govts come under when any info is leaked. Ministers are forced to resign and statements made to defend positions its taken so seriously you just have to commend the system of accountability.

Rather than push for that we say all govt hide things?? We fail to realise that the search light and negative publicity is also applied on their own systems but there are people/government ministers seriously at work to ensure the media don't get so much to report, because they jump at bad news to show the failure of any govt. As simple as economic data is hidden thank God for the last Minister of Finance we now see revenue figures, we never used to have access to that.