I have recently been spending a lot more time perusing the world of twitter. Now for those of you who are somewhat unsure what twitter is let me try and explain it the way I experience it.
People have 140 characters per message to express themselves, some use it to keep the world constantly updated as to their every move and others use it spread news and issues.
I use it primarily as a work tool, by paying specific attention as to what leading commentators and observers are saying and reporting about Africa. Last week a hot topic in the so-called Twitter’verse was an op-ed piece by the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/how-should-we-cover-africa/#more-9683
Kristof is a very smart man with an even more impressive resume of reporting from around the globe. The crux of his piece is how difficult it is to report on Africa when it comes to finding a balance between the good and the bad. He also looks at the way readership ebbs and flows depending on what he writes or even in some cases when the subject is simply an African issue.
Naturally some of the readers and tweeters out there were highly insulted, others in agreement and most somewhere in between. It is however an issue worth looking at and one which I am forced to confront as I continue to grow as a freelance reporter on the continent.
Personally I believe things are much more nuanced. Africa is firstly not a country, it’s a continent full of countries and people each facing their own issues and challenges.
Secondly, stories are simply not just a case of good or bad. To relegate the news coming out of the continent to either good news or bad news is to do the people and the places a massive disrespect, not to mention the audience.
Point very well made Sean -
What only one comment, Oh!! the Apathy about Africa that you only get from Africans, of all colour.