Africa without filter and Africa Center New York have started their Global Media Index for Africa (GMI) which tracks how 20 of the world’s most influential news providers cover Africa.
Details
The report, prepared by University of Cape Townshows that global coverage of Africa prioritizes the voices of strong menand often focuses on politics, poverty, corruption and related negative issues.
The Global Media Index for Africa evaluates and ranks its *online news CNN, Deutsche Welle, Russia Today, Bloomberg, Xinhua, Le Monde, The guardian, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, The economist, New York Times, VOA news, AFP, Reuters, BBC, CGTN, Financial Times, RFI, and The Washington Post.
Details
More more than 1,000 news articles were collected over a six-month period and assessed against four key indicators.
Indicators used to evaluate content include diversity of topics covered, sources interviewed and cited, number of African countries covered and depth of coverage, including balance, context, and avoiding stereotypes.
Results
The guardian was in first place in the index for the overall coverage of the continent, with a score 63%while the Washington Post ranked as low as 20th in rating 47%.
Overall performance across all online news content from all 20 media outlets falls under the category βMedium,β suggesting that coverage of Africa in terms of new, more progressive narratives leaves room for improvement.
On the plus side, most media organizations scored high on the βdepth of coverageβ index that assessed balance, context, stereotypes and context. proving that the world’s most well-funded media organizations that make up this index know the principles of good news.
What they say
Professor Wallace Chuma, lead researcher for the Global Media Index for Africa, he said: “Our research does not simply provide a snapshot of current media practices, but a call to action for the global media to critically examine their narrative of Africa and understand its impact. The index serves as a base from which to push for more diverse and fair media narratives. This study marks an important step towards challenging the status quo and enriching the global understanding of Africa.”
Dr. Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center, said:”Media narratives shape the perspectives that shape how global decision makers interact with Africa. Media coverage of Africa has become more balanced over the years, largely due to the emergence of social media that offers first-person counter-narratives of journalistic bias based on outdated beliefs.
GMI shows that there is room for more voices, more experiences and more coverage that reflect the changes happening across the continent, which will foster greater opportunities for Africans and ultimately the world.β
Moky Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter, he said: “The Global Media Index is a bold move, but we cannot ignore the enormous influence these global media have on how the world sees Africa and how Africa sees itself. It is in our interest as concerned Africans to watch and monitor what and how they write about us. But it is important to see the Index as a carrot and not a stick β we highlight what works and show what is possible when it comes to reporting on Africa. “
By The Numbers
The Global Media Index for Africa also found that:
- The guardian it is also number one for the variety of topics covered, with a score 57%. They are in second and third place overall in the index AFP and Reuters agencies, with scores of 61% and 60%, respectively.
- AFP also came out on top for coverage of the most African countries among the outlets rated, with a score of 56%.
- Three leading US media organizations were at the bottom of the index in 18th, 19th and 20th place. They were the New York Times (51%), Wall Street Journal (48%) and The Washington Post (47%).
- Wall Street Journal it came in last on the index at 20th place for the limited number of countries it reported, with a score of 31%.
- The Washington Postwith a score of 29%, it ranks lowest for “diversity of issues” covered, representing a continuation of previous patterns found in many media framing Africa through the lens of its stereotypes.
- The guardian ranks first with a score of 62% for the range of diverse voices in its articles. RUSA Today ranks 20th with a score of 36%.
- In terms of the “depth of coverage” of their stories, overall, all 20 outlets generally performed well on the four sub-indexes of balance, context, context and avoidance of stereotypes.
Between the lines
Without exception, the world’s media organizations devoted themselves to this study disproportionate space to powerful men β from politicians and businessmen to pundits β as primary news sources in their stories about Africa, showing that men still dominate news in and about Africa.
Most of the global media in the index covered only a few African countries in depth in their reporting, showing that the global media still largely treat Africa as a country.
There was no high performance in the reported “diversity of topics”, with the lion’s share of news about Africa being about politics, poverty, corruption and related negative topics.
Little attention was given to topics such as culture, arts, innovation, technology and other positive developments on the continent found in online stories.
Source: Africa without filter
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