When one considers that Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent, taking up 20% of the Earth’s land area and accounting for 14% of the world’s population, the question of whether it can be covered by one person should be ludicrous.
And yet the question remains relevant because many international newspapers have only one person covering all the news on the continent. In fact, the question is so important to editors that it will be the subject of a panel discussion at the 14th World Editors’ Forum, to be held in Cape Town from June 3 to 6.
“Covering an entire continent alone can be equated to counting the number of hairs on your head. You will get confused before you do a square inch,” says Kimani Chege, editor of the East African monthly magazine Technews Africa.
Chege, who is based in Nairobi in Kenya, says a reporter who tries to cover the more than 50 countries will “rush to all the places and achieve [only] insignificant information”.
Most would agree that this is an unsatisfactory way to report on major events. Chege likens a solitary reporter covering such a vast and diverse geographical area to a colonial governor who needs to update his masters.
“He seems to know much of what is happening to his region, but doesn’t have an idea how and why it happened,” says Chege, who is also a correspondent for the international science and news website SciDev.Net.
He admits that portable computers, email and Skype have made it easier for journalists to cover larger areas, but adds that a substantial monetary investment is needed to do the job properly.
“With a good budget, we can arm ourselves with the latest tools of the trade … [such as] a satellite-enabled laptop, a digital camera and video phone,” Chege says. “Without such a budget the world still seems too large.”
Building up news networks
The Africa editor of the Mail & Guardian, Stephanie Wolters, agrees that covering Africa with only one person is extremely difficult.
“Of course it is a far cry from sufficient,” she says, but adds that coverage of the continent can be improved by building up a network of stringers (freelancers) and contributing correspondents from all the main centres. “While there are many problems associated with covering Africa, there are also many people willing and able to provide news from their areas.”
Because of the shortage of foreign correspondents dispatched to Africa, many news organisations have only one person on the continent and there is very little coverage of breaking news. She says the emphasis is placed on producing in-depth feature pieces.
Wolters says she does not regard Africa as being neglected by the international media, but feels that it is rather a case of too few resources being assigned to the continent. She also does not agree with the argument that the costs of placing more people in Africa are prohibitive. She says the costs of sending one person to different places on the continent are as high as having people based in the relevant areas.
She adds the BBC and the Reuters news agency have a widespread network of correspondents on the continent and they provide very good coverage. The same can be achieved by other news organisations.
“I have spent time in Africa recruiting stringers and part-time correspondents in an effort to build up a news network in the continent. Although covering news in Africa is a challenge, I believe we can be successful,” she says.
‘Someone in a hotel room’
Christina Scott, the editor of the British-based Science and Development Network website, says the question of whether one person can report on Africa is based on the impression that a continent can be covered by “someone in a hotel room”.
“I find the question insulting. Do we ask if it’s possible to cover the United States from Mexico? Africa spans 53 countries, three time zones, two hemispheres and has five major languages.”
Scott says there is an assumption that people living in the West have no interest in Africa. She believes, however, that interest in Africa can be created or generated by increasing the coverage, even though attitudes towards Africa as a whole are fairly deeply entrenched.
Especially important is to inform people that Africa is not just a place of war, famine, refugee camps and corruption.
“There has been a phenomenal rise in blogging among the African diaspora, which suggests that there is international interest in Africa in a globalised world. So perhaps there are specific niches which are interested in Africa,” she says.
Scott, who has first-hand experience of travelling in Africa to cover stories, said it is a physically difficult continent to cover because of a lack of infrastructure, poor communication and difficult flight schedules, especially if one is trying to travel across the continent, rather than north to south.
She agrees that coverage can be improved by making use of more stringers.
Using only one person to cover the continent could lead to what she calls the “all over Africa” phenomenon, whereby reporters make generalised statements about the whole of the continent based on isolated incidents. She says generalisations of this type occur frequently and in some cases convey racist attitudes whereas wider coverage would lead to a more balanced impression of events.