Friday 4 May 2012

BBC defending their coverage of Africa

I don't know if BBC are just trying to engage in the debate that they know is already happening or if they are trying to defend their news reel, watch this video for yourself and decide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17951039

I would just add, BBC Africa is second only to Ghanaweb for my news, and yes, as Josephine Hazeley argues there are evils that need to be told. But BBC Africa has many a time had a slow news day and when I say slow I mean sloooowwww. There will be no new videos for days, no new news for days - in a world where we are told news is on a 24 hour rotation, constantly moving. A world where what is new news at 9am becomes old news by 6pm.

Currently sitting at Number 1 of BBC's most watched/listened is a video of an American kid unfazed by a lion in a zoo trying to eat him from behind a glass wall. This isn't a foreign policy article, nor a poverty reduction article, it's just humourous and presents the narrative that America is a super safe country. If we changed "US toddler unfazed" to "Congolese toddler unfazed" would you believe the authenticity of the video?

I think when African's complain about coverage in Western media it is unfair to rebut with the argument that atrocities need to be told. It is an insult to the African intelligence. No African is saying that they want to suffer in silence for the sake of good news, what they are saying is "when I have my birthday parties, make the effort to attend, don't just wait until my funeral before you see my face." (hehe I just made that quote up, go me!)

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