Opinion poll:

Africa beyond clichés, conflicts, crises, and catastrophes: Illusion or reality? Why do promising ideas and projects receive so little attention in German media?

Andreas Mehler, Director, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
Thomas Mösch, Deutsche Welle
Michael Monnerjahn, Director Public Relations, German-African Business Association
Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Hornhues, Chairman, German Africa Foundation

“Africa’s image in German media is dominated by crises and catastrophes. No one denies that there is war, drought, corruption, and disease in Africa. Reporting on those issues is necessary, but it doesn’t do justice to the complexity of an entire continent. Some industrial sectors are developing very dynamically – telecommunications, for example – and there are people poised to take advantage of those market opportunities. There are citizens who demand democracy, and around half of the governments meet those demands with free and fair elections.
The main reason for the one-sided image of Africa is a stubborn tendency to generalize whenever we talk about the continent next door. Does anyone talk about the ‘image of Europe’? If there were simply more reporting about Africa – whether affirmative or critical – media consumers would have the chance to create their own images of particular countries and phenomena. But when the continent remains underexposed, a few opinion leaders dominate the media, and only the most dramatic events break through to our awareness.”

Dr. Andreas Mehler, director of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), AEGIS board member, member of the West Africa Steering Committee, Global Conflict Prevention Mechanism; board member, Partnership with Africa (sponsored by Germany’s President Köhler); executive director and treasurer, Association for African Studies in Deutschland (VAD).

“The Africa beyond the wars, droughts, and refugee crises is certainly present in German media, but it seldom plays a prominent role. A few of the newspapers with national distribution, as well as publicly financed radio and television, report regularly on daily life, intriguing personalities, or promising projects. But their stories are often hidden on back pages, or broadcast outside prime time or on niche channels. People interested in Africa can take advantage of a wide range of offerings, if they go out of their way to use the possibilities of the internet and the diversity of digital broadcasting. But the broad mass of media consumers continues to see only capsule news items on disasters, or the clichés in travel and wildlife documentaries or filmed novels like The White Massai, happened on in passing.
An additional challenge for reporting from Africa is the paucity of correspondents on the continent. West Africa, for example, is conspicuously underserved. The offices of German radio are in Rabat, TV in Nairobi – so that an important country like Nigeria is barely perceptible in German media. At that distance, even the best reporters can fall prey to distortions. Changes are not in the works, so that people interested in Africa will continue to rely on French media and the BBC where current events are concerned.”

Thomas Mösch, director, Haussa language services, Deutsche Welle; 1994-2005 free-lancer in Hamburg, primarily for DeutschlandRadio and Deutsche Welle. Degree in history, African studies, and journalism in Hamburg und Jaunde, Cameroon. Active for many years with Pro Afrika e.V., an association working toward a more realistic image of Africa in Germany (disbanded in 2007).

“Africa, from continent in crisis to boom continent – the general public’s image of Africa is in flux. For decades, Africa was presented as a place of crises, contagion, catastrophes, and conflicts. The continent was portrayed as a passive subject unable to help itself, incapable of making progress under its own steam, and therefore in need of our help. There’s no question that Africa needs help, but it can’t end with development assistance. More important are trading partnerships among individual African states and between them and the rest of the world. Many African countries have seen enormous progress in the last few decades in the development of democratic and private sector institutions as well as the rule of law. That progress is often not accorded the respect it deserves, because our perspective on Africa is largely oriented to platitudes about war and disaster. But in the meantime, change is becoming tangible, because other countries or entire continents are starting to exploit Africa’s development in economic terms. When Chinese companies invest in Africa, the public here starts to wonder whether Africa might not be the market of the future. Membership in the German-African Business Association has doubled in the past ten years to over six hundred, which shows that a large number of German companies have already recognized opportunities in Africa and see a future there.”

Michael Monnerjahn, with the foreign trade section of the German-African Business Association since January, 2005, edits afrika wirtschaft and handles the association’s public relations. He completed his degree in political science with minors in law and macroeconomics from the Universities of Bremen, Durham, and Hamburg in 2004, participating in association activities while still a student. He has written for newspapers including die tageszeitung and Hamburger Morgenpost, and has worked for both the German Bundestag and the University of Hamburg.

“Negative clichés about the dark continent in crisis thrive because they have a foundation in reality – in Sudan and Somalia, in Zimbabwe or in the ‘heart of darkness’ itself, the so-called ‘democratic’ Republic of the Congo whose opaque long-term conflict recently exploded yet again. That is Africa, unfortunately. As long as those conflicts and problems remain unsolved, negative headlines will continue to dominate our media image of Africa. You can’t expect unshakable optimism from journalists whose colleagues have been kidnapped, as recently occurred with a reporter from a major Frankfurt paper.
But still: Congo-Kinshasa isn’t Africa. The modern Africa with its democratic processes, economic dynamism, cultural riches, and broad involvement by civil society is also thriving, but our gaze has been schooled to see only disasters. The German Africa Foundation has been trying for a long time to highlight and encourage positive, self-reliant developments on the continent, for example by awarding the German Africa Prize. And over the last few years, we’ve been pleased to see that Africa is coming to be regarded in our media in a more differentiated way, not least because of President Köhler’s outstanding initiative.
Of course in future the principle will continue to hold that ‘Bad news is good news,’ but here we need to emphasize analysis more than we have in the past. Negative news from particular countries or regions should not be equated with Africa as a whole. Still, I remain convinced that in the long term, positive aspects will draw more and more attention. Because they, too, are Africa. Don’t forget, the African continent isn’t just dark: It’s also unforgettable, diverse, self-assured, and increasingly difficult to overlook.”

Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz “Charly” Hornhues, president, German Africa Foundation, a nonpartisan organization with the goal of encouraging relations on a level playing field between Germany and the countries and people of Africa. From 1972 to 2002, Bundestag representative for the CDU, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee 1994-1998. His father, hoping to become a teacher in the colony of German South West Africa (now Namibia), passed on a fascination for Africa that became one of “Charly” Hornhues’ consuming political passions.

By Sascha Hellmann