Speaking at an event organised by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) in partnership with Ismaili Council for Canada at the Ismaili Centre in Toronto, Nigerian-American journalist Chika Oduah lashed out at a lack of fair and balanced reporting on Africa in western media.
She singled out a recent BBC story on cannibalism in Nigeria, for which the British media outlet later apologised as the best example.”The BBC have two bureaus in Nigeria but yet failed to verify the story with their colleagues, before publishing the false story on their website,” Oduah said.
Africa’s journalists have in-depth knowledge of local stories — and with improved training and technology, they now also have the skills and resources to report on the international stage. Oduah also suggests international correspondents join hands with local African journalist and use African experts, who are in Africa for their stories.
Most of the news and images out of Africa shown on the 6 o’clock news and in print media is mostly reported by foreign correspondents, who have limited expertise on African matters. As a result, most of the time there is inaccurate reporting on Africa, Oduah said.
She said there is a situation where local content is vastly different from international content. For example, a newspaper in Kenya would feature a variety of stories including on education, culture or music. However, when scanning the world section of a major international media site or newspaper on Kenya, the only story covered is on Al-Shabab.
“When you ask the editors on this kinds of coverage they say that is what people care about,” Oduah, the recipient of the 2014 Trust Women Journalist Award from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, said.
Flanked by a couple of big TV screens showing decades-old images of the Ethiopian famine during her presentation, the award winning journalist says that is what popped up when she Googled Ethiopia — pointing out there have been astronomical changes in Ethiopia ever since the devastating famine over a decade ago.
Ethiopia has made great progress, including in education where the number of children going to school has doubled since 2006.
The Tuesday night event, “Think Local, Go Global: How Africa’s journalists can change the channel on global news,” was the first installment of The Aga Khan Foundation’s Speaker’s Series to be held at the Ismaili Centre.
