The Global Media Index will put 20 leading
global media platforms under the microscope to analyse how they tell Africa’s
stories, whose voices are being heard, which topics are prioritised, and how
they are covered. The Global Media Index will also highlight best practices in
reporting on the continent.
The project will draw on a range of
methods, including content analysis, institutional analysis and interviews with
journalists working for global media outlets. The aim is to establish the
dominant themes, narratives and journalistic practices shaping the image of
Africa. The Index is important as one-third of all African stories in news
outlets on the continent are sourced from foreign news services. Global media
reports are often criticised for viewing the continent through the lenses of
disease, poverty, conflict, corruption, and poor leadership.
The
Global Media Index is the latest project funded jointly by Africa No Filter and
The Africa Center focused on media narratives of Africa. The research will be
led by Herman Wasserman, Professor in Media Studies at UCT’s Centre for Film
and Media Studies, working with Associate Professors Tanja Bosch and Wallace
Chuma and Dr Meli Ncube, also from UCT, in collaboration with William Bird from
Media Monitoring Africa.
The
Global Media Index will complement a suite of initiatives under Africa No
Filter’s disruption pillar, including Africa’s first news agency for human
interest stories, bird, and the ethical storytelling handbook, How to Write
About Africa in 8 Steps.
Moky
Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter, said: “Very few institutions
are as powerful as the global news media. As storytellers to millions of
audiences, the news media set agendas for policy-making, frame political debate
and shape global public perceptions.
The Global Media Index is part of our
watchdog role and is designed to show what’s right rather than wrong with
reporting on Africa. There is progress, and we have seen evidence that global
news outlets have become more thoughtful about their coverage, but we are not
entirely there, and our hope is for this Index to shine a beacon on who is
doing this right.”
Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center,
called the Index necessary and timely. “If we are going to change narratives
about the continent and its Diaspora so that they are more representative and
reflective, we must have a baseline understanding of what those narratives are
and where they reside.
This Index is a step in the right
direction. It will help to create a new qualitative and quantitative approach
to understanding how journalists report on Africa and its people in addition to
where the messages they share are most resonant in the international media
landscape.”
Herman Wasserman added: “The objective is
not to promote uncritically positive ‘sunshine journalism’, but rather to
showcase well-crafted, properly investigated, ethically sound and impactful
journalism that takes the African continent seriously in all its diversity and
complexity, empowers African citizens to participate in democratic
participation and meaningful conversations about the continent, and contributes
to a better understanding of African societies, politics and culture within a
globalised world.”