The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is not alone when it comes to expressing concern that media coverage of Africa focuses on war, famine and poverty almost to the exclusion of everything else. We wanted to check our assumptions and assess whether western humanitarian donors share this view and - without trying to distort the news agenda - would support efforts to promote more positive images and success stories from Africa. Through Dalberg consultants and GlobeScan, we surveyed the views of ministers and senior officials from Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the US and the European Commission (EC). The interviews were carried out throughout 2008.
Nineteen respondents said they were "optimistic" about Africa's future but none was "very optimistic". Seven were neutral. Only two were "pessimistic".
The greatest concerns for Africa's future centre on economics and governance, followed by conflict and external relations, then food security, climate change, HIV/AIDS and slow progress toward the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
"Economic development is still too slow in Africa," according to one EC policymaker. "It is not reaching all parts of society."
A Swedish official said: "Without peace and stability, there is little prospect of development and poverty reduction. Linked [to] and aggravating this is climate change, which...has the potential to fuel conflicts."
"There are a growing number of countries in Africa showing very good GDP growth"
Equally, respondents see hope in continued economic growth, democratization, nation building and accountability, as well as Africa's human capital, conflict resolution in some countries, regional cooperation and international support.
Officials cited economic growth over the past half decade, as well as rising income from resources and commodities, expansion in the private sector and market reforms.
On the political front, more than half the interviewees mentioned continuing democratization, new leadership, accountability, decentralization and Kenya's "return from the brink".
According to a British respondent: "...the conflict situation is better than it was five years ago. The political process is better..."
"There are a growing number of countries in Africa that are showing very good GDP (1) growth," said a US interviewee, "serving as examples of very market-oriented, democratic, secure countries that are improving the lives of their people."
A German official wished Africa could be "not just a producer of raw materials but also increasingly a processor" of them.
A Spanish interviewee's hope was to "get very basic social services all over...Africa" in the next five years.
When asked to name a humanitarian challenge facing Africans today, policymakers pointed to continuing crises in the Horn of Africa and Sudan (Darfur) and the Great Lakes, food insecurity, health issues and (20 per cent) climate.
Policymakers saw most hope from stories of African cooperation and of conflicts resolved. More than a decade on, many said they still drew inspiration from South Africa's peaceful transition from apartheid, and more recent developments in Ghana, Botswana and elsewhere.
"Strengthen civil society by building capacity"
Perhaps one of the most significant areas of consensus our survey uncovered centred on the role in African development of business and the private sector.
"Development has to be indigenous," according to a Canadian policymaker. "The drivers and the basis of wealth creation have to come from Africans themselves: through their own resources, models and structures."
Respondents tended to agree that business and private enterprise play the primary role in the development of Africa; they were less likely to agree that development plays the primary role. Those who elaborated on this emphasized the key role of African business and the limitations of development aid, but most policymakers do not see business and aid as mutually exclusive.
Some interviewees pointed out that the private sector will play a key role only if it includes not just multinational companies but also the small and medium-sized firms that drive economic growth, create jobs and generate tax revenue.
Respondents emphasize the limitations of aid, arguing that it is not a "determining factor" of development but a "tool", and in any case is diminishing in absolute terms. One observed that good policy is more important than money.
A small majority agreed that the best way to strengthen civil society is for external actors to help build capacity, but African governments should ensure civil-society participation in policymaking.
The media "are branding Africa in a negative way"
Policymakers perceived a strong degree of bias in media portrayals of Africa. The media "are branding Africa in a negative way", said a Netherlands respondent. According to a Norwegian official: "We talk about South America as full of politics and Africa as full of suffering. [But] Africa is as replete with politics as South America."
Some policymakers observed that the western media's coverage of Africa is exclusively concerned with problems; successes and normal activities are not portrayed. And almost all agreed that humanitarian actors such as the International Federation must do more to publicize success stories from Africa to help restore hope.
Monitoring print-media coverage of Africa
Six "positive" and five "negative" terms were searched in the online archives of leading newspapers and news magazines from the donor countries surveyed, in the two-year period to 3 August 2008. The majority of articles returned were about war, poverty, business and negative portrayals of HIV and AIDS.
The positive terms were: peace, [economic] growth, progress, prosperity, entrepreneurship and business. Negative uses of these terms - as in "the peace talks collapsed" - were excluded from the count.
The negative terms were: war, poverty, HIV, crisis and corruption, mostly used in neutral or negative contexts.
War, poverty and HIV make up almost two thirds of the total
Most of the coverage is negative, with the negative terms making up three quarters of all mentions, and war, poverty and negative portrayal of HIV making up almost two thirds of the total.
Business rates highly, with about a fifth of the mentions. The remaining positive terms score less than 100 each, in less than 10 per cent of articles.
The overall score for the five negative terms against the six positive terms was 1,932 - 675.
The monitoring exercise was intended only to be illustrative, not a thorough analysis of actual coverage.
Note:
(1) Gross Domestic Product