INTERNATIONAL newsrooms that report on Africa are often full of white journalists, such as me. But just how white or how ethnically diverse are they? To get a better idea, we sent a survey to 47 international media outlets that cover Africa and spoke to some of the Black reporters they employ.
This conversation isn’t new. Foreign journalists have frequently been accused of racism or mischaracterising the countries they report on – whether justifiably or to deflect attention. We wanted to provide a quick snapshot of diversity in our industry today, to spark debate rather than provide any definitive answers.
We focused on journalists of colour reporting on Africa for practical reasons. We recognise that these questions are pertinent worldwide, but the continent is both my and African Arguments’ focus. We’re aware of the risk, however, that this approach might reinforce “typecasting”, as Howard French puts it: the
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