Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Africa and the Media
Assanatou Sow
Faculty Mentor: Pearlie Strother-Adams
English and Journalism
The U.S. shares a common feature with other western media in their reportage on
Africa which features the continent with contemporary depictions of tropical jungles or
grassy plains with wild animals and exotic tribal people. The reportage often includes
tribal groups portrayed as living in isolated traditional villages, enthusiastic to perform
welcome dances and cultural rituals for tourists. On one hand Africa is represented as
poor and ignorant, on the other as uncivilized. Starvation is another representation of
Africa. Africa continues to be represented today as it was during the pre-colonial and
colonial era. Walter Lippman (1922) reported, media representations of minorities were
stereotypical at best. The purpose of this paper is to show that media paints an imagery
of Africa and its people as "otherness."
In this research I will explore broadcast media’s coverage of Africa. This work is
important because people around the world view these images of Africa and therefore
may make judgments about this group base on stereotypes. This is significant because
people vote on foreign policy and may be involved in legal matters where decisions are
made about members of this group and may be influenced negatively as a result of
these representations. Hopefully, this work will contribute to this body of literature in this
area and seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) Do media represent
Africans as uncivilized? 2) Are Africans represented as ignorant? 3) Is Africa
represented in poverty with diseases? 4) Do the media represent Africans as the other?