By: Jackson Mukuka Nawa
Media is one of the most powerful tools used to spread information. With that power comes responsibility, both on behalf of the producer and of the consumer. Information from the media should be absorbed with a grain of salt, and with awareness of the extent to which it creates and perpetuates profound paradigms that exist in our minds.
Over the last two decades or so, dissemination of information has evolved from merely radio and television to online through streamline on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc as well as podcasts on websites of media houses. Media houses like CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, CGNT and CBC have massive followers and a base worldwide, with no doubt, these media houses are basically white-county based, most in Europe and USA, with an exception of CGNT which is owned by Asia’s China.
It’s a well-known fact that those in control of the food chain control what you eat, those in charge of the Education system controls what knowledge you acquire and those in charge of mainstream media controls what you think and perceive. It is with this that we wonder if Africa is indeed as poor and violent and its people just as ignorant as the white mainstream media shows the world.
It is no doubt that when one tunes to CNN, BBC or Aljazeera, most content covered about Africa is negative, there’s a saying that goes “Bad news makes good news” but what exactly is the motive for the negatives of Africa being shown literally everywhere whereas, the owners of the media houses also live in Terror yet filter their anguish and social downside?
It has become more difficult to find a positive story about Africa in Western and European media, due to the fact that the only ‘viable’ news aired is on Africa’s corrupt politicians, deplorable state of health and education facilities, debt owed to China or world Bank, war in the Tigray region, the list is endless!
This same ‘Dark continent’ is Home to all the aluminium used to develop industries in white countries, the same impoverished continent as they call it, is home to one of the top five wonders of the world- The Victoria falls in Zambia, Africa is home to the big five wild animals, historical rivers, mountains, pyramids, ancient souvenirs which are flown to European museums, yet we wonder how the negative side of Africa is their main focus.
To control the minds of people and maintain their so-called white supremacy, they’ll show the whole world the beauty of new York city at night, they’ll reveal to us the Himalayas, the snow Tigers and their wonderfully made bridges, but what don’t they show us?–The terror against blacks, the unprecedented level of bullying and gun culture in schools, rape, poverty, not forgetting unemployment.
With the largest population, California also recorded the largest number of homicides in 2020, at 2,203 for the year. Texas had the second-highest number of murders, with 1,931 for the year. These high numbers are likely a result of population though, as both states had a murder rate per 100,000 residents below the national average.
There was a total of 21,570 reported homicide cases in the U.S. in 2020. When looking at murder victims by gender and ethnicity, the vast majority were male, while just over half of victims were African American. Geographically the rate of murders varied significantly between states. Louisiana was the most dangerous state with 15.8 murders per 100,000 residents, while New Hampshire was the safest with a murder rate of 0.9 per 100,000 population.
Therefore, it is really a wake-up call on all Africans to rise to the occasion and market out beautiful continent and expose all positives about it, we may not be able to change the perception overnight but with time, people must realize that the owners of mainstream media houses in the US and Europe don’t live crime/terror-free lives, neither don’t they have poverty and inequality in their nations.
To summarize, one cannot deny that there is poverty, conflict, and disorder on the African continent. However, Western media likes to focus on the negatives, supporting the West’s underlying assumptions that Africa is in need of help, and that the West should be the one to provide this help.
Framing countries (and continents) in a discourse of developed vs. underdeveloped, rich vs. poor, victims vs. non-victims, is largely reductionist and has detrimental implications on multiple levels. It is our responsibility to find a way to broaden our view of Africa, zooming out from just the negatives and seeing Africa for everything that it is. What Western media shows us is significantly limited, and it is up to us to change that — or to at least be conscious of it
