When asked why Africa’s stories are going untold by the media, David Mutua, Regional Communications Advisor for CARE East, Central, and Southern Africa, said:
“There are a number of systemic factors at play here, including access, geopolitical interests, international politics, and global power structures that drive media coverage.”
He continued:
“The media report what their audiences are most interested in. Media houses have undergone drastic changes that have impacted the size of their staffing and therefore the scale of resources that can be deployed for crisis reporting. It is important to find ways to get the audience interested in crises and thus drive more media interest.”
At its best, the media has the power to set the tone and interests of the rest of the world, it also has the platforms to call on governmental powers to boost support for the crises that need it most.
A qualitative study published in the 2021 global journal, Journalism Studies, looked at the media’s impacts on humanitarian aid support.
It ultimately showed that media coverage has the ability to increase, or at least influence, humanitarian aid budgets for the crises reported on.
The study states that, “such coverage triggers multiple other accountability institutions… who then apply pressure on aid bureaucracies.
This pressure obliges them to announce additional funding, in order to retain their legitimacy.”
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