Afrasianet - Abd El, Qadir Mohamed Ali - The African continent has been plagued by negative stereotypes in the global media for decades that have established the continent as a hotbed of poverty, corruption, war, and everything that deters investors from thinking about breaking into its commercial markets.
Not only were these stereotypes offensive to Africa and Africans by creating misleading preconceptions about them among the recipients, but this kind of perception had repercussions in many vital areas, foremost of which is the economy, leaving its mark on the lives and future of millions.
How does the media create a negative image of Africa?
The African continent has long been the target of negative portrayal by the Western media, and many scholars consider the cover of the prestigious magazine "The Economist" on May 13, 2000 to be one of the most intense and moving examples of this contemptuous view, as against a dark black background stands out a map of Africa in the middle of which a man exerts himself to carry a weapon on his shoulder, and on the map is written in an interesting yellow script "Desperate Continent"!
Communications specialist Juliet Lancey points out in an article on the Wilson Center that this picture, which reached nearly a million readers of The Economist around the world, summed up a continent of nearly 1.5 billion people, living in 54 diverse, multicultural and multi-ethnic countries, in 3 condemned words and a picture of war and conflict.
Two decades after the cover, many recent studies point to the dominance of a misleading stereotype of the continent in the American media, which has a penetrating influence not only on American minds but globally.
A 2017 Brookings Center analysis article explains that during the historic U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington (2014), which resulted in billions of dollars in investment pledges, the media focused instead on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where the word "Ebola" was mentioned more than "U.S. and summit" combined.
Continent of Crises
In addition to the above, Lancey's article notes that a content analysis revealed that "crisis news" was the most common characterization of news related to Africa, and that, according to Columbia Journalism, while the ten most viewed newspapers and magazines in America included 245 articles on poverty in Africa, only 5 of them mentioned GDP growth.
In a masterful gesture, Tanzanian researcher Javas Ponsian points out in his study the role of African media in promoting negative perceptions of the continent: while very few African media outlets cover the continent positively, many fall victim to biased reporting and Western norms in their portrayal of the continent.
The danger of this constant stream of negative images and coverage is not only the widespread spread of misinformation and misinformation, but also the consolidation of a narrative that reshapes reality in the minds of the recipients.
Top Stereotypes
An analysis published on Aberian, a foundation that builds bridges between cultures, points to what he calls a set of "myths" linked to the prevalence of negative stereotypes about Africa, most notably the common belief that Africa is one country, not a continent with 54 countries, each with its own cultures and political and social context.
This myth is harmful because it fosters a unilateral vision that undermines accurate risk assessments and obscures the continent's economic and cultural disparity, and when an investor views Africa as a single entity, political instability or economic decline in one country can be generalized to the entire continent.
This prevents the identification of stable and high growth opportunities in other unaffected countries, leading to missed opportunities and misallocation of capital.
It is also widely believed that Africa is always hot or that it is a giant desert, despite having diverse climates including snow, rainforests, mountains and savannas.
The idea that Africa lags behind the rest of the world and lacks innovative technology is also a misconception, as Africans are innovators and have resources, with examples such as robots regulating traffic in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and drone technology in Nigeria.
While it is true that more than 218 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in extreme poverty, many fail to understand that not every African country is poor, as Nigeria and South Africa are among the world's middle economies.
One of the most common misconceptions is that Africa is a disease-ridden spot and an unsafe destination to visit or tour, overlook many countries that offer pristine beaches, stunning landscapes, and opportunities for adventure, such as Morocco, South Africa, Senegal , Ghana, and Tanzania.
Economic consequences
Hanan Morsi, deputy executive secretary and chief economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), argues that outdated regulations and narratives about African economies are not just distortions but have "real economic costs," and that the narrow perception that defines Africa through its real and imagined dangers is not only misleading and "destructive."
Morsi explains that this perception impedes investment and growth, and entrenches poverty, with disastrous consequences for millions of children who are deprived of education, families without electricity, and communities prone to drought, floods, and famine.
A lengthy study released in October 2024 by Africa No Filter, a nonprofit that works to challenge harmful narratives about Africa, details how biased media reporting amplifies Africa's perceived risks and raises borrowing costs.
Based on that perception, African countries consistently pay a "risk premium" in their bond yields, far exceeding those paid by non-African countries with similar political and economic conditions.
The average bond yield in Kenya during the election period was 16.98%, compared to the average bond yield in Malaysia at 4.5%, despite both countries being classified as medium risk according to global indicators.
This disparity is directly related to the media image of them, with 88 per cent of international media coverage of Kenya during the election period showing negative views, compared to only 48 per cent for Malaysia.
The study points to another angle related to African countries facing disproportionately high borrowing costs compared to their peers, with the average bond yield in Egypt being 15%, while in Thailand it is estimated at 2.5%, despite similar political risks, concluding that the "risk premium" and disparity in bond yields for similar countries indicate that the financial system itself, including credit rating agencies, is affected and perpetuated by these stereotypes.
The danger of this perception is that when credit rating agencies, which assess risk for investors, are influenced by prevailing narratives, ratings will reflect this bias, leading to increased perceived risk and consequently higher borrowing costs.
In summary, the cost of media bias in covering borrowing expenses in Africa is prohibitive, with sovereign debt interest payments inflated by up to $4.2 billion per year, stemming from the inflated risk premiums demanded by investors, fueled by the persistent negative sentiment surrounding Africa in the global media.
Investment Deterred by Illusion
Persistent stereotypes deter potential investors by portraying Africa as a high-risk environment, and CNBC Africa points out that while investors are increasingly interested in African private capital, preconceptions still play a disproportionate role in determining where and how capital is allocated.
Many African fund managers face entrenched perceptions that they are more risky or less sophisticated than their foreign counterparts, regardless of the various objective information associated with economic performance or success.
In this context, Niger 's coup in 2023 caused Kenyan bond yields to rise by 40 basis points, despite the geographical distance and lack of direct economic linkages, which strongly illustrates how a unilateral perception of Africa leads to irrational market reactions that go beyond objective risk assessment, leading to capital flight or increased costs even for stable economies.
The aforementioned African No Filter study sheds light on the profound impact of media perceptions on sensitive sectors such as tourism and aid, where media discourses are key factors in shaping the perceptions of tourists and donors, and when these discourses are highly negative, they discourage visitors and potential supporters, exacerbating the economic challenges faced by African countries.
The spread of negative and misleading stereotypes thus hinders investment, deepens poverty and impedes growth, leading to tragic consequences such as millions of children who are deprived of education and communities vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The large gap estimated by the World Bank between the 12 million young people entering the labor market annually in Africa and the 3 million jobs created is an ideal example of the challenges that dwindling investment could exacerbate, with all the social, political, and security implications.
The Way Out of the Evil Circle
Compared to reality, the stereotypes of Africa seem very superficial and reductive, with the continent's economies witnessing significant disparities and remarkable growth, with the World Bank's assessment indicating that growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to rise from 3.3% in 2024 to 3.5% in 2025, and to accelerate further to reach 4.3% in 2026 and 2027, demonstrating resilience amid the current uncertainty of the global economy.
Breaking out of this closed circle of media disinformation about Africa and the resulting economic costs requires building counter-media strategies that work to expose reality in all its diversity, amplify economic successes and reforms, and support organizations that work to create new positive and realistic narratives about the African continent that move the response from the defense space to the space of proactive formation of perception.
There is also an urgent need to establish data transparency and fair valuation assets, as it is the responsibility of governments, multilateral bodies and credit rating agencies to ensure the flow of transparent data that underpins investment decisions.
The current reality dictates that there should be a global or continental body to oversee unfair valuations that affect the lives of millions and not leave the matter to credit rating agencies alone.