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oyceterHunter-Gault begins this book by telling a story about one of her professors asking for a new, not news, then noting that much of the "news" coming out of Africa today isn't news, but olds: poverty, genocide, AIDS, famine, and military coups. What follows are three essays about news in Africa, from post-apartheid South Africa to democracy across Africa to African journalism.
The book and essays are a combination of political analysis and memoir: Hunter-Gault goes back to her own status as one of the two first black students to attend the University of Georgia and her own experiences with the Civil Rights Movement, along with her later work reporting on apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.
I'm sadly too ignorant to even figure out how to assess the book -- most of my knowledge of Africa comes from a college class on colonialism and, of course, the endless news feeds of what Hunter-Gault calls "the four D's" (death, disaster, disease, and despair). So I don't know if this is a useful or helpful book to read for those who know more than me, but for me, it was both. Theoretically, I know that Africa is many countries and peoples and cultures, that there is a lot going on there, that what we get from the news is both fed by the media's desire for sensationalism and racist to boot. Practically speaking, I know pretty much zip.
To me, it seems as though Hunter-Gault reports with a sense of optimism, although she is not hesitant about critique, nor does she downplay the challenges that the people and governments of Africa must face. Much of the book is focused on South Africa, and I particularly appreciated the look at how the African National Congress-dominated government is handling the policy of nation-wide affirmative action for black people to make up for decades of apartheid, how they are trying to grow business and investments, how they are working on education and enfranchisement. Though the second essay focuses on various African countries' steps toward and away from democratic government, much of the story behind the scenes has South African president Thabo Mbeki working with other African political leaders to provide incentives for other African countries to hold free elections.
Though most of the book focuses on Africa, Hunter-Gault is particularly critical of the role most of the Western world has played in the past decade or so, from the waffling about what to call the Rwandan genocide to Darfur to the US funding corrupt military governments in an attempt to keep out Communism (Cold War, I hate you so much for all the havoc you have wreaked on the so-called Third World).
The final chapter sometimes got a little too self-referential for me; possibly I wouldn't have thought so had I been more familiar with Hunter-Gault's other work. But I wanted more focus on African journalists and less on international correspondents, even though Hunter-Gault calls other international journalists and editors to task for their "drop in, get story, fly out" attitude, for the pre-existing bias that the only reportable news out of Africa is death and disease and despair and disaster. But she does focus a lot on African journalists in the second half of the essay, particularly on the struggles they have with a free press (or lack thereof), and how intl. journalists can help by reporting things that African journalists may not be able to, for fear of repercussions.
This was a much-needed read for me, and I have to start a) reading up more on history and b) reading up more on current news.
The book and essays are a combination of political analysis and memoir: Hunter-Gault goes back to her own status as one of the two first black students to attend the University of Georgia and her own experiences with the Civil Rights Movement, along with her later work reporting on apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.
I'm sadly too ignorant to even figure out how to assess the book -- most of my knowledge of Africa comes from a college class on colonialism and, of course, the endless news feeds of what Hunter-Gault calls "the four D's" (death, disaster, disease, and despair). So I don't know if this is a useful or helpful book to read for those who know more than me, but for me, it was both. Theoretically, I know that Africa is many countries and peoples and cultures, that there is a lot going on there, that what we get from the news is both fed by the media's desire for sensationalism and racist to boot. Practically speaking, I know pretty much zip.
To me, it seems as though Hunter-Gault reports with a sense of optimism, although she is not hesitant about critique, nor does she downplay the challenges that the people and governments of Africa must face. Much of the book is focused on South Africa, and I particularly appreciated the look at how the African National Congress-dominated government is handling the policy of nation-wide affirmative action for black people to make up for decades of apartheid, how they are trying to grow business and investments, how they are working on education and enfranchisement. Though the second essay focuses on various African countries' steps toward and away from democratic government, much of the story behind the scenes has South African president Thabo Mbeki working with other African political leaders to provide incentives for other African countries to hold free elections.
Though most of the book focuses on Africa, Hunter-Gault is particularly critical of the role most of the Western world has played in the past decade or so, from the waffling about what to call the Rwandan genocide to Darfur to the US funding corrupt military governments in an attempt to keep out Communism (Cold War, I hate you so much for all the havoc you have wreaked on the so-called Third World).
The final chapter sometimes got a little too self-referential for me; possibly I wouldn't have thought so had I been more familiar with Hunter-Gault's other work. But I wanted more focus on African journalists and less on international correspondents, even though Hunter-Gault calls other international journalists and editors to task for their "drop in, get story, fly out" attitude, for the pre-existing bias that the only reportable news out of Africa is death and disease and despair and disaster. But she does focus a lot on African journalists in the second half of the essay, particularly on the struggles they have with a free press (or lack thereof), and how intl. journalists can help by reporting things that African journalists may not be able to, for fear of repercussions.
This was a much-needed read for me, and I have to start a) reading up more on history and b) reading up more on current news.
(no subject)
Sun, Feb. 10th, 2008 10:18 pm (UTC)(I should confess, I get almost all of my news on African countries from NPR, which has an awesome correspondent based out of Dakar, but I think she might be their only on-staff, permanent correspondent for the whole continent since Jason Beaubiennes stopped reporting from Johannesburg. Notably, she's been the one reporting on unrest in Kenya, despite the fact Kenya and Senegal are two very different, and distant, countries.)
(no subject)
Sun, Feb. 10th, 2008 10:21 pm (UTC)I think I need to overcome my aversion to talk radio. I am not quite sure why I have it, but I find it hard to listen to something without visuals without my attention wandering.
(no subject)
Sun, Feb. 10th, 2008 10:37 pm (UTC)I knew I'd mangle spelling her name, so I looked up NPR's West Africa correspondent: Ofeibea Quist-Arcton (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318).
(no subject)
Sun, Feb. 10th, 2008 11:26 pm (UTC)Hi, I friended you a while back, but I don't think I've commented before, I tend to lurk for an awfully long time.
(no subject)
Mon, Feb. 11th, 2008 07:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Feb. 11th, 2008 07:07 pm (UTC)And thanks for the recs.