General News of Friday, 4 October 2013

Source: XYZ

International media must stop disgracing Africa - Mahama

The President of Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has hit out at the international media asking them to stop disgracing Africa by focusing on negative stories on the continent.

According to President Mahama, focusing on the negative images and stories on the African continent creates a perception in the Western world that there is nothing good coming out of Africa.

Many international media houses are notorious for projecting negative stories and images of Africa leaving positives to a few media houses. This situation has created a negative perception about Africa which has been a concern by several African states.

However, in an interview with CNN’s Fionnuala Sweeney on issues affecting Africa, President Mahama said it is about time the international media projected some of the good things coming out of Africa and stop disgracing Africa by showing only the negatives.

“Over the years Africa has been looked at as a continent that nothing good can come out of and this perception has been re-emphasized by the kind of images that are shown on the international networks,” President Mahama said.

He added: “Showing children starving, showing a continent plagued by HIV/AIDS, showing economies that are stagnating, but I believe that there is something good happening in Africa and the international media needs to showcase that.

“I don’t think that the kind of images shown are representative of what is happening in Africa, the continent is moving on, Africa is standing on its feet, there are a lot of success stories coming out of the continent and so if you just focus on the negative and continue to re-enforce that on the eyes of the developed countries then that negative perception about Africa continues to persist”.

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