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The cost of media stereotypes to Africa: The relationship between media, investment and economic development

Marie Wilke, Matthew Ferreira, Chuma Mashita, Sheena Shah, Steen Joffe, Stephen Adjignon, Luel Hagos

Africa No Filter;africapractice (2024), 32 pp.

"Africa could be losing up to $4.2 billion annually in interest payments on its loans primarily due to stereotypical narratives that dominate global media coverage of the continent. The media’s portrayal of Africa has long been dominated by persistent stereotypes. This report explores the economic ... more

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Aid and the news agenda: Examining the forces shaping NGO-produced humanitarian media

Michael Sunderland

Bournemouth University, Doctoral Thesis (2024), 268 pp.

"This study examines the external influences that shape NGO-produced news content concerning humanitarian crises in East, West and Central Africa. Employing a thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with humanitarian communicators and a content analysis of the humanitarian press rel ... eases of four major NGOs, it seeks to establish the types of content NGO communications staff consider most effective for achieving mainstream media coverage, how they access such content, and any forces influencing their eventual production of news. In line with notions of media logic (Altheide and Snow 1979; Cottle and Nolan 2007) and news cloning (Fenton 2010), it uncovers a reliance on hard-hitting humanitarian statistics and powerful first-person testimonies, which are considered essential for achieving news coverage. Statistics are found to be most often sourced from publicly available humanitarian datasets, often managed by the United Nations, and are considered susceptible to politicisation by authorities implicated in certain crises. First-person testimonies are usually gathered in-person by NGO staff and are affected by issues of physical access to crisis zones including monitoring by local authorities and demands for media sign-off. Additionally, a humanitarian NGO’s decision on whether to speak out publicly about a crisis is found to be often weighed up against threats to staff and programme safety. Examining these issues through a lens of agenda building theory (Cobb and Elder 1971), this study introduces the concept of agenda erosion, describing the phenomenon by which powerful actors, including host authorities and western governmental and intergovernmental donors, exert influence to undermine agenda building activities by NGOs in the context of humanitarian crises. Methods of agenda erosion might include demanding sign-off of media content, the control of physical access to crisis zones for communications staff, and the politicisation of humanitarian data. Unlike the traditional view of NGOs being producers of information subsidies (Gandy 1982), this concept recognises that, as news producers, NGOs also accept information subsidies, including humanitarian data, from other actors. These subsidies are used by NGOs to increase their own agenda building effectiveness but can also allow other, potentially conflicting, priorities to influence the media agenda too. NGOs are now widely regarded as important players in the production of international news (Cottle and Nolan, 2007; Cooper, 2011; Powers 2018) and these findings suggest agenda erosion is in-part responsible for the continuing adherence of aid organisations to established patterns of news construction (Cottle & Nolan 2007; Fenton 2010; Waisbord 2011; Powers 2018). Only crises with hard-hitting data or emotive personal stories are likely to achieve mainstream media coverage but exposure to such sources is often closely guarded by the most powerful actors in certain crises. As a result, some crises continue to go underreported and NGOs risk being silenced or, worse, used as proxy mouthpieces by powers implicated in the humanitarian context to which they are attempting to respond." (Abstract) more

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Global Media Index for Africa 2024

Wallace Chuma, Rutendo Faithful Nyaku, Trust Matsilele, Grace Itumbiri

Africa No Filter;Africa Center (2024), 46 pp.

"The Global Media Index for Africa assesses and ranks online news stories of the 20 leading news providers that offer primary coverage of Africa for the world. It is also a tool that aims to provide much needed regular 'health checks' on how Africa is framed in the media. The outlets selected are th ... more

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COVID-19 and the Constructions of Africa in African News Media

Mphathisi Ndlovu, Maame Nikabs

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 15, issue 2 (2023), pp. 179-198

"This article examines the constructions of Africa in COVID-19-related stories that were produced by African news media. Dominant scholarship indicates that western media generally reproduce and perpetuate harmful stereotypes on Africa. Given that there is scant literature on how African media cover ... more

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Beyond Western Afropessimism: The African Narrative in African and Non-Western Countries

Rebecca Pointer

Journal of African Media Studies, volume 15, issue 2 (2023), pp. 151-160

"Although some studies have previously indicated that the stereotypical western mainstream media narratives about Africa may be shifting, this Special Issue highlights the stickiness of the stereotypes, and some of the platforms on which they continue to be repeated. Some of these studies further sh ... more

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Das Afrikabild in der visuellen Kommunikation von Entwicklungsorganisationen

Alia Herz-Jakoby

Lausanne et al.: Peter Lang (2023), 417 pp.

"Die visuelle Kommunikation von Entwicklungsorganisationen ist geprägt von Spendenplakaten. Anhand einer eingängigen Bildsprache wird Aufmerksamkeit generiert. Mit einer postkolonialen Perspektive zeigt die Autorin auf, wie das vermittelte Afrikabild visuellen Stereotypen folgt, die bis in die Kol ... more

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Who is Influencing Who? Unpacking Youth and Influence in Africa. A Summary of a Nine-Country Survey

Rebecca Pointer, Natasha Kimani, Moky Makura

Africa No Filter (2023), iv, 18 pp.

"Africa is a diverse and complex continent, consisting of 54 countries, 5 regions and about 2,000 languages. This report identifies what influences African youths' attitudes and decisions. It is based on a survey of 4,500 people, aged 18–35, in nine African countries: Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Ivory ... more

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Global broadcast media still relying on stereotypical narratives about Africa

Gideon H. Chitanga

Africa No Filter (2022), iii. 20 pp.

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The Business in Africa: Narrative Report

Richard Addy

Africa No Filter;AKAS (2022), 56 pp.

"The report found seven significant frames to stories about business in Africa: 1 More negative coverage: International media are more likely to negatively frame issues that impact on business in Africa while African media are twice as likely to reference corruption in their coverage of business in ... Africa compared to international media. 2 Foreign powers scramble for Africa: 70% of international coverage about business in Africa is dominated by references to foreign powers like China, the USA, Russia, France and the UK. 3Africa is two countries: Business in Africa coverage focuses on South Africa and Nigeria while business stars like Mauritius, Botswana, the Seychelles and Namibia get little coverage and research attention. 4. Silencing creativity, amplifying technology: Despite Nollywood being the world’s second-largest film industry and the growing influence of musical influences like AfroBeats and AmaPiano, creative businesses were only featured in 1% of all articles across African and global media. 5. Youth and women are underrepresented: Africa claims the top three spots in the Mastercard Index for the highest concentration of women business owners in the world. It also has the youngest population globally. However, youth and women are underrepresented. In fact, online news coverage of young people has declined since 2017, falling from 12.5% of articles referencing young people in 2017 to 8.1% in 2021. 6. Government, policy and regulations dominate: Around 54.5% of business news in 2021 was framed through government action and policies. Additionally, African media focused more on themes related to government than on those related to entrepreneurship. Yet, African countries make up six of the top 10 countries whose populations were most likely to search for the topic of entrepreneurship in 2021. 7. Missing Free Trade Area and investment: It makes up 1% of news and academic research, yet the agreement is expected to lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boost the incomes of nearly 68 million others. It’s also projected to boost Africa’s income by $450 billion by 2035 and increase Africa’s exports by $560 billion, mostly in manufacturing." (Executive summary, pages-5-6) more

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Africa’s Global Media Image in a Digital World as an Exclusive Western Preserve?

Chilkaire Wilfred, Williams Ezeru

International Communication Gazette, volume 84, issue 5 (2022), pp. 379-400

"Who constructs Africa’s global media image? That is the main focus of this longitudinal study. It looks at both the journalists and the news sources applied in the British press coverage of Africa between 1992 and 2017. Four British national newspapers (The Guardian, Financial Times, The Times, a ... more

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The German Image of Africa: Colonial Continuities in Media Reporting

Tina Adomako

In: Continuity of Injustice: The Colonial Legacy of Development and Missionization

Bonn: Missionszentrale der Franziskaner (2022), pp. 37-44

"Misery and poverty do exist, and the media should not be ignoring that. However, the status of the African continent cannot be judged without addressing the 500 years of slave trade. Our prosperity has been built by the unpaid labour of Black people and with the resources stolen from their countrie ... more

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Africa's soft power: Can Africa's creativity transform the continent? A summary of a nine-country survey

Natasha Kimani Rebecca Pointer, Moky Makura

Africa No Filter (2022), 16 pp.

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Reframing Africa? Reflections on Modernity and the Moving Image

Cynthia Kros, Reece Auguiste, Pervaiz Khan (eds.)

Cape Town; Bethlehem, PA: African Minds;Media Studies Press (2022), ix, 246 pp.

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Diskurse und Praktiken der Schulbuchproduktion in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und England am Beispiel von Afrikawissen

Lars Müller

Göttingen: V & R Unipress (2021), 560 pp.

"Was ist aus Schulbüchern über Afrika zu lernen und woher kommen diese Wissensbestände? Schulbuchproduktion wird in diesem Band als Knotenpunkt gesellschaftlicher Diskurse und Praktiken verstanden und Schulbuchwissen im Kontext seiner Produktionsbedingungen sowie der gesellschaftlichen Debatten a ... more

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Post-koloniale Erinnerungsdiskurse in der Medienkultur: Der Genozid an den Ovaherero und Nama in der deutschsprachigen Presse von 2001 bis 2016

Kaya de Wolff

Bielefeld: transcript (2021), 476 pp.

"Die Debatten um die Anerkennung des Ovaherero- und Nama-Genozids (1904-1908) im heutigen Namibia haben in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten wachsende öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Kaya de Wolff hat die deutschsprachige Presseberichterstattung in den Jahren 2001 bis 2016 über den Umgang mit de ... more

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How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps: An Ethical Storytelling Handbook
Key Guidance

Rebecca Pointer

Africa No Filter (2021), 31 pp.

"Storytelling is the most powerful way for donor and non-governmental organisations to convey their work because stories allow audiences to connect on both intellectual and emotional levels. However, much of the storytelling about development work in Africa is unethical and perpetuates harmful and s ... more

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The Image of Africa in Ghana's Press: The Influence of Global News Organisations

Michael Serwornoo

Cambridge: Open Book Publishers (2021), 258 pp.

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Koloniales Denken weit verbreitet: "Afrika" in den deutschen Medien

Marcel Kolvenbach

Forum Weltkirche, volume 139, issue 4 (2020), pp. 12-17

"Ein Blick in die Archive zeigt: die Berichterstattung in deutschen Medien über das südliche Afrika während der Apartheid wurde fast zwei Jahrzehnte lang von der südafrikanischen Propaganda gesteuert. Das verstärkte ein koloniales Afrikabild und hat Folgen bis heute." (Seite 12)

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La distribution en France des films d'Afrique sud saharienne francophone

Patricia Caillé, Claude Forest

Présence Francophone: Revue Internationale de langue et de littérature, volume 95, issue 1 (2020), 23 pp.

"Depuis leur apparition apres les independances politiques, les films realises par les Africains originaires des anciennes colonies françaises subsahariennes ont ete tres peu diffuses dans les salles de l'ancienne metropole. A de tres rares exceptions pres, ils ont egalement tres peu ete vus par le ... more

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African Narratives: A Gloomy Picture, with Some Emerging Positive Trends. Literature Review of Academic Writing on African Narratives

Rebecca Pointer

Africa No Filter (2020), 12 pp.

"In 2018 the fictional country Wakanda from the film Black Panther was the fourth most mentioned African country on Twitter, after Egypt, South Africa and Kenya. The fact that Africa’s 4th most talked about country doesn’t exist tells us two things: pop culture is a powerful tool for narrative w ... more

How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps: An Ethical Storytelling Handbook Key Guidance

How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps: An Ethical Storytelling Handbook
Key Guidance