Challenges in reporting on Africa

Simon Robinson, Africa editor of Time magazine, believes that Africans in general and South Africans in particular are suspicious of foreign reporters whom they see as their enemies.

"We are not your enemies," Robinson told delegates, adding that foreign reporters trying to cover Africa have often run into serious difficulties ranging from visa delays to insufficient human resources (few people to cover mostly huge territories), ineffective communication and the complexity to deal with the official and the unofficial.

"Most governments and major pan-African bodies' spokespersons do not return emails and phone calls, and this is very damaging to the image of such an important continent," Robinson noted.

"Communication people in Africa are disempowered. While 'unofficial' communication people happily welcome foreign reporters, the 'official' ones are like a brick wall rather than welcoming doormats and are often reluctant to talk, let alone provide information to foreign reporters."

Govts need to improve communication

Robinson, who has covered Africa since 1999, has reported from 35 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Recounting his multiple experiences in the bid to cover a 'hostile' Africa, he said - for instance - there are many foreign journalists who still do not understand what NEPAD really is because of lack of effective communication.

He lashed out at many African governments that resort to unconventional means to silence the foreign media. "Some governments just would not invite foreign reporters to their press briefings, suspecting perhaps that we have a hidden agenda," he said regretfully.

While reassuring African delegates that none of the foreign reporters want to make Africa look bad, he called on government spin doctors to communicate effectively. "Governments should talk to us, explain their policies to us. Improve communication between you and us to get the message across," he urged.

Randolph Walerius, editor for Enterprise Reporting, Middle East, Europe and Africa, Dow Jones, said that foreign reporters are not neo-colonialists and racists - just a dedicated bunch of lads who are serving their audiences with very limited staff.

He stressed that Africa was not being worse reported than other parts of the world. "Just look at the reporting on Katrina, Russians drowning on vodka and Saudi Arabia's dreadful treatment of its women," he said.

"News is not positive or negative but Dow Jones looks for news to profit by - bad news in one country may be good news for another - so also for companies," he emphasised.

"In every case, audiences must be well informed to make a decision on their financial affairs, either to profit by the report or to limit loss."

Citizen journalism trend

Nick Wrenn, CNN International managing editor for Europe, said that evolving technology has dramatically changed the relationship between journalists and audiences. "Citizen journalism is a new trend of media. Because of new technology, everybody can now report and record," Wrenn said. "At some stage, it makes it so much more difficult to check the authenticity, but we at CNN do so with a very watchful eye."

Patrick Smith, Africa Confidential editor, drew the distinction between investigative and interpretative reporting, saying that there is too much of the latter because the former is too complex and expensive.

While praising some sections of African media for progress made in investigative journalism, Smith nevertheless said there is still a long way to go for African investigative journalism before it claims victory.

"South African journalists need to report on more than just petty bureaucratic corruption." There are big stories out there but he suspected that since the advent of democracy, instinctive opposition is no longer necessary, there are grey areas, smear tactics abound and it has become uncertain who is batting for whom, Smith concluded.

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