How the World Views Africa

Laura Seay has an important piece in Foreign Policy, “How Not to Write About Africa.” In addition to pointing out what not to do Seay also argues that coverage of Africa ought to derive from within Africa by and large by Africans. This is a useful prescription, but I would shift the remedy slightly — yes, by all means, Africans ought to write about Africa, and more to the point, Ivorians about Cote d’Ivoire,  Nigerians about Nigeria, and so forth. But even more important is that those who work as Africa correspondents, whether from within Africa or from “The West,” should actually have some demonstrable background and strength in African affairs. I am always astounded how fungible the elite media believes foreign correspondents to be. After a few years in Africa a reporter will move on to Latin America or Europe, the belief apparently being that the skill set of a correspondent is more important than actual knowledge.