All entries for Tuesday 04 April 2006

Is TV reflecting the real world? No!

Writing about web page http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1745303,00.html

It was the 2nd of July 2005, and Live8 was in full swing amid extraordinary hype. That afternoon, I wrote a short blog entry, expressing my concern that Geldof's crusade would only damage the world's view of Africa, mashing dozens of diverse countries into one desperate famine ridden lump.

Nine months on, and I've been proven right.

A report released this week by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and VSO has found that in 'the year when the world cared about Africa' the public's opinion of the continent is more stereotyped than ever.

The survey, entitled "Reflecting the Real World? used focus groups to assess how television had changed our views of Africa. The results showed that nothing had changed since a similar report four years ago: people still primarily viewed 'Africa' as a continent of war and hunger.

According to the VSO:

Even the Make Poverty History campaign and the Live 8 concerts, which enthused millions of people, appear to have inadvertently contrived to confirm a stereotype of Africa as a continent on its knees and added to a sense that nothing has changed over the last 20 years.

The people surveyed gave an overwhelming impression that they wanted a more balanced view of the continent, with more "good news" stories.

I wholeheartedly agree. This shouldn't mean propaganda, but balance. Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby puts it better:

I do not expect, or wish, news and current affairs programmes to become ‘good news’ propaganda, but they could offer a wider and more balanced perspective. Similarly, documentary, drama, and entertainment producers should use their range of talents to embrace people of the ‘poor’ world as well as the rich world.

There was some praise offered to broadcasters last year. The BBC's Africa Lives series, and Rolf on African Art were picked out for their creativity. It was their mixture of factual and entertainment that won them favour, and the a Holby City episode set in Ghana was similarly applauded.

The answer then is that broadcasters need to produce programmes like this, that bring a realistic/balanced reflection of Africa in the 21st century, not just in straight news programmes but in entertainment as well.

The key is creativity.

News producer need to be more creative in the stories they find, reporting the good and the bad, in new and original ways that are more reflective of the continent, as well as the rest of the developing world.

And producers from other genres must broaden their horizons. The survey has found that audiences do want to see more from the outside world, but they're tired of the same repetitive formats.

I hope broadcasters will take note of the report, because as I see it right now, the media is yet another institution that's letting the developing world down.

: 04 Apr 2006 11:06 |  Tags: Broadcast Journalism Politics |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem