Senior Int'l Correspondent Glad Prime Minister Raised Idea of Africa Wide Media House Establishment - ENA English
Senior Int'l Correspondent Glad Prime Minister Raised Idea of Africa Wide Media House Establishment
February 09, 2022 (ENA) Al Jazeera English Senior International Correspondent, Mohammed Adow told ENA that he is glad Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed brought again the idea to have an Africa wide or regional media house that covers Africa affairs and issues.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed proposed the establishment of an African Union Continental Media House at the opening of 35th African Union Summit last week.
Africa is often portrayed in the international media negatively and the endless representation as a continent troubled by civil wars, hunger, corruption, greed, disease and poverty is demeaning and dehumanizing and likely driven by a calculated strategy and agenda, he noted.
“Telling our own stories and shaping our own narratives must (therefore) be our top priority,” the premier underlined.
According to Mohammed Adow, Senior International Correspondent of Al Jazeera English the issue the premier raised “is something that has been debated so many times; and it is necessary and I am glad that the Prime Minister brought it up again.”
The idea has been there for a very long time, the international correspondent said, adding that the only problem has been the resource necessary to have an Africa wide or regional media house that covers Africa and the best way Africans can cover their affairs and issues.
“It is only when you tell your story that you will be able to do that story justice,” the journalist stressed.
“Many of the times we (Africans) are covered by people who have never been to Africa, who have never seen Africa, and whose expectations are different from the expectations of African people,” Mohammed Adow elaborated.
That has become the problem because the narrative is where the real problem is, he added.
The correspondent further said, “The narrative is always based on the expectations of not just people back home for those journalists who are coming in to cover the continent, but also the expectations of their editors.”