It's Not All About Naked Women

Africa is not a country, it’s a continent. If you already knew that then give yourself a big round of applause because in the United States you are probably in the minority.

If you watch much of the media in America you probably think that kids in Africa ride through their villages on the backs of lions in their loin cloth. Doesn’t sound familiar to you? Well, maybe this is a more appropriate picture: naked women with sagging breasts carrying baskets of wheat on their heads. Yep, I bet you’ve probably seen that image on some Discovery Channel show or wild in Africa programming.

OK, I can’t lie. Women do carry baskets of food on their heads. It’s an effective way of transporting food. You also may see an old woman hanging outside her house with exposed breasts. It’s rare, but it does exist. If the image of a kid riding a lion is something you believe actually exists then you’re hopeless. As much as all the above are part of the culture of Africa, there is still so much more that the media in the U.S fails to show.

Type in the general word “Africa” into the Google News search engine and up comes headlines such as “Burned villages and a year in the bush: in Central Africa, displaced live in fear” or “A lesson for US: Somalia is not Iraq.” It’s a skewed image that paints the continent as a savage, violent and ungovernable land.

In fact, nestled amidst these negative headlines is “Malians vote in an election seen as model for Africa.” But a headline like this is a rarity. Clearly, I’m upset. I’m tired of hearing only about civil wars breaking out. Children suffering in a refugee camp cannot be the only thing that is happening in Africa. Where is the balance? At the end of the day, violence will happen in some countries. These issues have to be covered, but along with this coverage Americans should also be aware that many countries are celebrating years of independence free of civil wars. Cities are prospering. Yes, cities, not just mud hut villages.

Journalists need to keep in mind that while they are covering stories of violence or corruption in the countries of Africa, there are a million others that illustrate the progress that the continent is making. All I ask is that they keep this dynamic in mind. Balance is key.

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A group blog exploring our media world. Produced by the Digital Journalism: Blogging course at New York University, Spring 2007.

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