International Journalism. International Journalism Visual Journalism. Features International Journalism Watchdog. September 15, Share this article. Africa: Stories to Be Told.
A young American journalist about to fly to his first posting abroad as foreign correspondent contacted me early in He said he had no previous experience, needed to talk to somebody who could possibly help him overcome this handicap, and my name had been recommended.
In due course, he traveled by airplane and we had lunch in Cambridge and, on departure, I assumed he felt confident and prepared to face the new challenges ahead as African correspondent based in Johannesburg. While his approach was certainly beyond reproach, our brief encounter left me with a great sense of misgiving.
Was this vast African continent generally receiving the best coverage possible in the Western media? Could African journalists not make a greater contribution towards the coverage of their own continent in the Western media? Citing certain alleged inadequacies on the part of African journalists, news organizations in Washington, New York, London and Paris routinely assign their own journalists, some with little or no previous experience covering a foreign country, to cover vast tracts of or even the whole of the continent of Africa.
In some instances, this tradition effectively denies African journalists the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the coverage of countries they understand better than the average Western journalist. Yet Western correspondents frequently file copy based on the input of local stringers or on what they glean from the output of local journalists in local publications.
