How do you count Africa? Who and where is the continent’s news published in the media written by? Do we really know the causes of the movements that are currently shaking some countries? What opportunities do new technologies offer to promote mutual knowledge, and what risk does the misinformation brought about by the rapid adoption of the Internet in Africa? These are some of the questions asked by Spanish and African journalists on Wednesday at a meeting in Madrid to analyze the challenges and deficiencies in reporting.
For Donato Ndongo, writer and journalist from Equatorial Guinea, the information about Africa remains vague, stereotypical and in great ignorance of the reality of the countries. “The movements we are currently seeing in Africa were unforeseen for the Europeans, foreseeable for the Africans and even took a while to arrive. The current unrest would not occur if Africans felt that the benefits of their natural resources had a positive impact on their lives,” he said during the IV Africa-Spain Journalists Meeting co-sponsored by Casa África and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was organized in collaboration between the Anesvad Foundation and the “la Caixa” Foundation.
According to this experienced journalist, the illiteracy, the health deficit or the lack of infrastructure, which in many cases have caused the recent protests or uprisings in countries such as Senegal, Niger, Mali or Sudan, have their origins in the “unacceptable exploitation that exists” . “It didn’t stop at independence,” but they are often overlooked in the news. “Fictitious independences that created states without sovereignty, where stability took precedence over freedom, and of governments that represent an obstacle to coexistence and development,” he added.
The movements that we are currently experiencing in Africa, unforeseen by Europeans, were foreseeable by Africans and even took a while to arrive.
Donato Ndongo, journalist
Many of the speakers agreed that disinformation also has a major impact on the social problems exploding on the continent and “fighting against it” allows us to address them, but it requires our own solutions, urged Caroline Anipah, director the Ghanaian organization Verification Medium Dubawa. . “We know that there is a lot of misinformation on social networks, but in Africa the penetration of social networks is also not that high; “There are still a lot of people who continue to get information through television and radio.”
For Ndongo, Europe and its press “continue not to listen to Africa’s needs,” which he summarized in three categories: freedom, development and dignity, and they seem increasingly “elusive and distant” from the continent’s concerns.
Inform with context and nuance
How can one report on Africa when there are no Africans present at the meetings, when publishers “banish the continent’s authors to a ghetto,” or when European universities pay little attention to African culture? The participants also asked themselves this question and emphasized that one of the reasons for providing more and better information about this region of the world is that in 30 years one in four people will be African.
During the meeting, the sources used in the media were analyzed, the often scarce investments made by the Spanish media in correspondents or permanent collaborators in Africa, and also the selected topics that are rarely discussed. Away from migration, food security or global health.
According to Tobi A. Oluwatola, director of the Center for Innovation and Development of Journalism in Nigeria, the African issues that appear most often in the Spanish press are bad news or issues that reflect a negative reality. “We need to increase the quality of dialogue and journalistic stories about Africa in Europe, where quick analyzes are published that emphasize the negative and often deprive African people of their dignity.” “We need to report with more respect, context and nuance” , he said.
Dani Madrid-Morales, a disinformation expert and doctor from the University of Sheffield, pointed out that foreign powers are struggling to impose their narrative in the African communications space. “Information has become a commodity for which countries such as Russia, China, Turkey and the United States are fighting,” he emphasized.
“Is it not reported because it is not of interest, or is it not of interest because it is not reported?” participants asked themselves. “Where are the real people: the trade unionists, the artistic avant-garde and the African women?” they insisted.
Can we reflect the impulse of African youth who are increasingly connected to the Internet and do not identify with their parents’ country?
Alicia Rico, MAE
Eva Trindade, a Mozambican journalist, rows against the tide to show on her television show a face of her country that is unknown even to her own fellow citizens. “When women in my country appear in the media, they are only witnesses or victims. About violence, poverty, climate change. But we never talk about women leaders, women with power. “I do this on my show, where I also talk about laws that we already have that are unknown to the general public and that affect women, such as a law against domestic violence or against child marriage,” she said.
Spanish journalist Jaume Portell, who has just published Per què no es queden a l’Àfrica (Why don’t they stay in Africa, Aledi’s Editorial), invited us to change the questions asked when reporting on the continent. “My question is not what Africa would do without Europe, but what Europe would do without Africa,” he began, also asking us to think about what would happen if African oil-producing countries started industrializing. “To some extent they have to be like that,” he added.
In this sense, Alicia Rico, Director for Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that “a new look” is needed as African reality is changing rapidly. “Do we know how to reflect the impulse of African youth who are increasingly connected to the Internet and do not identify with their parents’ country? “70% of Africa’s population was born after independence,” the official said.
You can follow Future planet In XFacebook, Instagram and TikTok and subscribe to our newsletter here.