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Images of Africa on U.S. Television: Do you have Problems with that?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Folu Ogundimu
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Extract

As references to the “Evil Empire” on American television recede into memory, sublime images of Africa as a dark continent nevertheless remain an enduring presence. This, despite the debate in foreign policy and media circles about the need to redefine now the role of the press in coverage of global affairs. No doubt, the media, television especially, have provided compelling images of the changing world order: Tiananmen Square, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, Somalia, Bosnia, the Soviet coup and the Berlin Wall. To most Americans, vivid memories of these events are in all likelihood shaped by images gleaned from CNN or one of the three networks.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , Winter 1994 , pp. 7 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1994

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Footnotes

*

Folu Ogundimu, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, East Lansing where he teaches broadcast news, international communications, and media and society.

References

Notes

1. The World News Prism, Ames, 1992, p.142.

2. See MacBride Report, (Many Voices, One World. Paris, UNESCO, 1980).

3. The Media and Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War World, New York, The Freedom Forum, 1993, p.5.

4. Many Voices, One World, Paris, UNESCO, 1980.

5. “Benign Neglect Of A Continent,” Wire Watch, August/September 1992, p.16. Also, see “Africa Coverage Lags,” Wire Watch, August/September 1992, pp. 17-18. For a compendium of issues and findings about foreign news in western media, see: Foreign News and the New World Information Order, Ames, 1984.

6. See: “Network News: We Keep America On Top Of The World.” In Watching Television, New York, Pantheon Books, 1986.

7. The Known World of Broadcast News, New York, Routledge, 1990.

8. For example, see: The Manufacture of News: Social Problems, Deviance, and the Mass Media, London, Constable, 1973; Agents of Power, New York, Longman, 1984; Inventing Reality, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1993; The Media and Foreign Policy, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

9. Journalism Monographs, February 1991.

10. The group consisted of eight whites, six blacks.

11. Public Opinion, New York, Free Press, 1922.

12. Interview on “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story, Special Edition,” Producer: David Royale, 1986.

13. Interview on “Today In Africa,” “NBC Today, Special Series,” Correspondent: Katie Couric, November 17, 1992.

14. Interview on “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story, Special Edition,” Producer: David Royale, 1986.

15. “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story, Special Edition,” David Royale, 1986.

16. Interview with Gary Strieker, “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story,” 1986.

17. Interview with William Pike, “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story,” 1986.

18. Interview with Gary Strieker, “Assignment Africa,” “Inside Story,” 1986.

19. “Today In Africa,” “NBC Today Show,” November 17 1992.

20. The Known World Of Broadcast News, New York, Routledge, 1990, p.7.

21. “Somalia: Hell On Earth,” “60 Minutes,” CBS, October 18, 1992.

22. “Somalia: Hell On Earth,” “60 Minutes,” October 18, 1992.

23. Global Glasnost, Cresskill, Hampton Press, 1992.