Africa in the Global Media:Does Africa Exist in the World’s Socio-Political and Economic Dynamics? – The Challenges of Public Relations and Corporate Governance in Africa

ByKunle Ogedengbe, M.Sc; MNIPR; MCIPR (UK)

Managing Director, PR Plus Consulting Limited, Nigeria;Vice Chairman, Lagos State Chapter NIPR;

Sole Nigerian Representative, The Banker Magazine, Financial Times, UK;

Overseas Director, TTPL, PIELLE Consulting Group, London, UK.

KEY FACTS

About PR PLUS CONSULTING LIMITED

It is a limited liability company registered in Nigeria

Its principal foci are Research, Strategy, Financials, Marketing and Communication

Facts on the Author He is the Managing Director/Principal Consultant of PR

PLUS CONSULTING LIMTED He is the Sole Nigerian Representative, The Banker

Magazine, Financial Times Group, London, UK He is the Vice Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, NIPR At various times he Headed Strategy, Research,

Corporate Communication, Business Development, Marketing, Corporate Planning and Development at Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc

He is the first Nigerian to institute public relations functions in a GSM company in Nigeria. He did at MTN Nigeria

He had international/global experience at PIELLE Consulting Group, London, United Kingdom with business operations across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America

Research Highlights Current developments on Africa in

international/global media Strategic issues for Africa in managing

international/global media for the benefit of the continent

Tools of media management and inter country’s challenges for Africa

Influence of international/global media on Africa’s growth and development; perception and inflow of foreign direct investment

Quotations The material presented in this document represents

empirical insights and interpretation by the researcher. It is an intellectual property subject to international copyright

Publication date: April 2010 You are welcome to quote from the contents of this

research and reproduce any graphics, subject to the condition that the source is clearly quoted and depicted on every chart

Suggested citation for this document (APA style)Ogedengbe, K., (2010): Africa in the Global Media: Does Africa Exist in the World’s Socio-Political and Economic Dynamics?, PR Plus Consulting, Lagos, Nigeria/PIELLE Consulting Group, London, UK

Short quotation to be used in legends (charts/graphics)Source: Ogedengbe, Kunle 2009 (PR Plus/PIELLE)

Objectives of the Study To monitor trend through issues of interest

in international media about Africa as published by the media

To ascertain how Nigeria, the most populous African country with the largest market is portrayed in the international media

To predict the effect this trend may have on foreign direct investment in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular

Methodology

The method of study is content analysis of major newspapers

The pages chosen for this study are the front pages and international/world news pages and sports pages

The units of analyses are headline, opinion, visuals, and prominence

The Dateline and Rationale The dateline is London, United Kingdom The reasons for the dateline are:1. London is the only financial centre of the

world where you can call Tokyo in the morning and the USA during business hours

2. The time advantage that is set in London at Greenwich (Greenwich Meridian Time) gives her the edge of setting agenda for other international/global media and financial centres of the world

3. Its language, English, is the primary language of international/global business

The Dateline and Rationale (Cont)4. English has over one billion speakers in the

world5. 60% of world’s radio broadcasts are in English6. 70% of the world’s mail is addressed in English 7. 85% of all international telephone

conversations are in English8. 80% of all the data in the several 100 million

computers in the world is in English9. English is a strategic asset in the world

- Source: John Naisbitt, Global Paradox, London, BCA and Nicholas Brealey Publishing Limited, 1994, page 26

The Chosen London, UK Newspapers

Financial Times The Daily Telegraph The Times The Guardian For sports, only The Guardian and

The Daily Telegraph newspapers are used

Rationale for chosen the Papers

On August 20, 2009, the researcher mailed a UK-based colleague, Jonathan French, who then was the Assistant Director, Media Relations of the Association of British Insurers, and requested for the first three newspapers read by decision makers in the UK

Rationale for chosen the Papers (Cont) His response is that decision makers in

the UK will read Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Times and Guardian. He added that newspapers like Daily Mail and Sun may also be read only that “the latter’s business coverage is not huge”

For the purpose of this work, the researcher focused on the first four newspapers

Chosen Editions and Quantity

Chosen editions of the newspapers were the first 10 working days of December 2009. That is two weeks

Ten newspaper copies were analyse per newspaper less sports

In all 40 newspaper editions were analysed less sports stories

Interpretation In all, the newspapers did not publish

anything on the continents for thirteen days

Financial Times did not publish on five days Daily Telegraph did not publish on four

days The Times did not publish on three days The Guardian did not publish on one day

% of the Publication Days

72.3

27.7

0102030405060708090

100

Published Days Unpublished Days

Published DaysUnpublished Days

Interpretation On all the ten days nothing about Africa

appeared on the front pages of Financial Times and Daily Telegraph

For The Times, the paper has African stories as briefs on its front page three times. These are 02/12/09; 04/12/09; and 14/12/09

The Guardian also has three African stories on its front page. These are on 04/12/09; 09/12/09 which is the picture of Desmond Tutu and the text “Free Festive wrapping paper designed by Desmond Tutu”; and 14/12/09.

Interpretation The Times’ 02/12/09 story is a brief with

the headline being The Power to live. The story is published on pages 48 to 49. It is about how a British charity worker gave villages in Africa the power to live

04/12/09 is a brief headlined World Cup fear. The story questioned the quality of practice pitches in South Africa ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

14/12/09 headlined Libya regime split

Interpretation The Guardian: 04/12/09. It is headlined Tinseltown

to township: Beckham sprinkles some World Cup stardust. The story which jumps to page two is about Beckham’s promotion of England’s 2018 World Cup bid. The reference to South Africa is that the town in South Africa where Beckham campaigned has an estimated two million residents where one out of every three is HIV positive, unemployment of 80 per cent and poverty which reminds Beckhkam of his experience when he first visited Sierra Leone

09/12/09 is the picture of Tutu earlier noted 14/12/09. The headline is Poor nations threaten the

rich with climate deal boycott. In the body of the story, “poor nations” refer to African countries

Financial Times Financial Times headlines for its publications

are:1. Somali pirates seize oil supertanker (01/12/09;

page 10)• 04/12/09; pages 11-121. Muslim Brotherhood rifts widen with riders:

Internal turmoil in Egypt’s opposition; Divisions will have ripple effects abroad

2. World Cup draws starts clock ticketing for South Africa (with picture of David Beckham)

3. Blast kills Somali ministers4. Ghana pledges open accounting as it prepares

for oil revenues

Financial Times (Cont) 08/12/09: Cairo media warn ElBaradei off politics

(page 12) 11/12/09: Nigerian leader’s illness spurs intrigue

with a rider: Political factions start to manoeuvre. The story has a wrong picture of the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida as that of the president with the caption “Umar Yar’Adua is said to be responding to treatment”. Tafida appeared in no part of the story and he was not linked to the president in the story and caption (page 8)

14/12/09: Mugabe seeks to rally Zanu-PF (page 8)

The Daily Telegraph 01/12/09: Tanker carrying £50m oil

hijacked by Somali pirates (page 16) 02/12/09: 1. Five shot dead as police foil armed

robbery on upmarket safari lodge (page 16). The story is on Tanzania and the report indirectly warned UK tourist not to visit the place.

2. HIV policy shift in South Africa (brief)

The Daily Telegraph (Cont) 04/12/09:1. Briton faces Congo firing squad2. Bomber kills Somali ministers 11/12/09; page 221. Mugabe’s supporters ‘used rape on

rivals’2. Egypt builds underground barriers to

stop the Gaza strip tunnellers 14/12/09: Coalition will have short life,

says Mugabe as he is re-elected party leader (page 14) with picture

The Times 01/12/09: Supertanker and its $20m

cargo seized by gang of Somali pirates (page 36)

02/12/09:1. How a British charity gives villagers

the power to live (pages 48-49)2. Judge to decide if youths can kill bull

(page 44). The story is South African. 03/12/09: Jailed businessman face

fresh charges in Libya (page 56)

The Times (Cont) 04/12/09: pages 50, 51 and 561. Shooting of junta leader sparks chaos2. Graduation-day bomber dressed as a woman

kills 19 (Somalia is the dateline of the story)3. Death sentence upheld for former British soldier 07/12/09: Security sackings (a brief, page 35).

Somalia dismissed police and military chiefs after attack that killed 19 people including ministers

08/12/09: Winnie’s life soured by casting of an American idol (page 43). The story is pegged on Winnie Mandela of South Africa

The Times (Cont) 14/12/09: pages 31, 33, 341. Hardliners break up rights meeting as Gaddafi’s son

tries to bring in reforms (with picture of a policeman hitting out to keep Libyans away)

2. Briton acquitted but still in jail (small inserted story from Libya)

3. Opposition groups fear renewed violence as Mugabe announces plan for early polls

4. Shot military strongman ‘has recovered fully’ (on Guinea's Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. With an uncaptioned big picture of military)

5. Aid frozen over missing funds (UK’s Department for International Development froze Kenya’s Education Ministry’s account because of failure to account for 100m shilling (£815,000)

The Guardian 01/12/09: Somali pirates ‘hit jackpot’ with

seizure of huge oil tanker (page 22) 02/12/09: Zuma’s HIV test signals change in

South Africa 03/12/09: Swiss suspect revenge over Libya

jail terms (page 27) 04/12/09: pages 24 and 251. Ministers among dead Somalia suicide

bombing kills 19 at graduation ceremony 2. Guard who led massacre fires at Guinea

leader

The Guardian (Cont) 07/12/09: page 241. Guinea junta told to set up elections amid

fears of civil war2. Egypt: ElBaradei demands tough terms for

presidential run 08/12/09: In the rainbow nation rugby is still

looking for a real happy ending (with big picture and three passport-sized pictures

Picture of Desmond Tutu on 09/12/09; page one with the text: Free Festive wrapping Paper designed by Desmond Tutu

The Guardian (Cont) 11/12/09: page 28, 301. Libya opens doors to outside scrutiny of

rights abuses2. Egypt ‘builds wall’ to stop Gaza smugglers

(with a big picture)3. Rainbow nation ideal on the wane in South

Africa, says poll• 14/12/09: page 1: Poor nations threaten the

rich with climate deal boycott Sudan: Peace breaks out over 2011

referendum voting page 17

Analyses In all 47 stories were published on Africa Of these only nine (colour coded blue

above) were good enough that could not deter investors coming into Africa. That is 19.15 %

80.85% of the stories will deter investors from heading towards Africa.

No real story about Africa appeared on the front pages of all the newspapers. What appeared were just briefs usually directing the readers to inside pages

All the Four Papers

19.15

80.85

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Positive Negative

Positive

Negative

Analysis

Of the good story, Financial Times published two from total of eight stories published representing 25%

Financial Times

25

75

0102030405060708090

100

Positive Negative

PositiveNegative

Analysis

The Daily Telegraph published one favourable story out of eight representing 12.5%

The Daily Telegraph

12.5

87.5

0102030405060708090

100

Positive Negative

PositiveNegative

Analysis

The Times published one good story out of 16, that is, 6.25%

The Times

6.25

93.75

0102030405060708090

100

Positive Negative

PositiveNegative

Analysis

The Guardian published five good stories out of 15, that is, 33.33%

The Guardian

33.33

66.67

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Positive Negative

Positive

Negative

Analyses The tone of most of the stories is in bad taste Opinion that most of the stories suggest is negative The visual impact in most cases depict Africa badly The trend is that of negativity on Africa including Nigeria All the stories are media generated none is deliberately

generated by Africans There is an innuendo of lack of appreciation if not hatred for

Africa by the global media Though, the training of a journalist is to be sceptical, the

outcome of the reports on Africa portrays Africa as if nothing is good about the continent which will scare off investors. Scepticism here is overbearing on the practice of good or developmental journalism for the benefit of the continent

Even if the readers are not asking for developmental news from Africa, can’t the media set the agenda?

Or is there a conspiracy against Africa?

Evaluation Are the media critically wrong in their

news judgement? Capital NO! What makes a news? Oddity, nearness, magnitude,

consequence, commercial value, etc In appropriate order, the published

stories about Africa are newsworthy But must it continue like that? Capital

NO!

Answer to the Question in the Topic Based on the above details from the four

international/global media, Africa exist but as an insignificant continent. Statistically, its existence may not be more than 0.4 making inapproximately one. So, Africa is not up to one. Do you agree?

If NO, please do something Back to the question title of this paper, and

based on the above analyses: …Does Africa Exist in the World’s Socio-Political and Economic Dynamics?

???

Sports News Analysis African Nations Cup 2010 in Angola is

used as subject of the study Two newspapers were used. These are

The Guardian and Telegraph Three editions were used in each paper.

The dates of publications are January 18 and 25; and February 1. These editions ran in the course of the Nations Cup and after the final

Mondays were chosen as it is the day that British papers publish sports galore for the weekends

The Guardian Published two stories. One each on

18/01/2010 and 01/02/2010 18/01/2010: Concern for Chelsea as

Essien suffers knee injury in training, page 7 of the 16 pages sports pullout. The story has a picture of Essien

01/02/2010: Egypt win third straight title without picture. It is a filler of four paragraphs

Telegraph Published three stories. One each of the

three editions with individual 28 pages: 18/01/2010: Essien worry after Angola

training injury, page 5 25/01/2010: Ghana into semis at the

expense of hosts Angola, page 12 01/02/2010: Prolific Nagy seals hat-trick

of Egypt wins, page 15 with picture of goal scorer, Mohamed Nagy.

Evaluation No special pages for the African Cup of

Nations but African/Nigerian newspapers dedicate pages to European Cup and league competition

The picture of the trophy, jubilitating team has no space

But the earlier week edition has stories of the competition prominent. Why? Because of the disaster at Cabinda Province in Angola that led to the death of Togo team members

Indices on Africa Poor leadership Poverty Dearth of infrastructure Lack of peace and security Political instability Corruption Inadequate long-term capital Unpredictable policy/regulatory

environment

Indices on Africa (Cont)

Difficulty in repatriating capital Small and disaggregated markets Non-liquid capital markets Difficulty in finding trustworthy

partners Inadequate knowledge of the continent Shortage of skills Foreign exchange risks

Challenges of Public Relations and Corporate Governance in Africa Africa, possibly through APRA, should inspire development stories

about them and get it published in the international media as all stories are media-originated

Africa should embrace good corporate governance because not all what were published about African were out-of-points and also check the negative indices of the continent highlighted above

The continent should transfer hostility towards her to sympathy; prejudice to acceptance; apathy to interest; and ignorance to knowledge. This is important because the GDP of the 53 countries in Africa is not be up to a significant proportion of Europe or American or BRIC nations’ economies

The position of the new Chairman of AU, President Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi that attention will be for food security, transport infrastructure, and energy should be met for the progress of the 900 million peoples of the continent

Africa should own a global satellite television station in order to balance the world’s communication paradigm as the Middle East does with Aljazeera

Challenges of Public Relations and Corporate Governance in Africa (Cont) Africa should educate the media about her true position and court

the media for better reports that will encourage FDIs into the continent

Africa should encourage reporters of the global media to reside in the continents, rather than come in for a week and go back, so that they can have a better understanding of the continent’s issues

Possibly, Africans should be employed by the media houses to cover Africa as a form of corporate governance

African businesses (banks, telecoms, (re)insurers, etc) should sponsor campaigns for the promotion of the continent for better deal as a form of corporate governance

African leaders should be encouraged to embrace speaking opportunities at global events for the promotion of the continent

Africa should create financial centre in the continent as Prof. Charles Soludo former CBN Governor planned to do. For the world (media) run(s) after financial centres

Above all, African people, businesses and government should do good because doing good is doing well. It is well with us!

Conclusion The challenges identified should be positively

implemented for a better future for Africa. Because as it is now, Africa exists in the global media but not of any meaningful significance. The GDP of the 53 countries in Africa is not up to that of Italy which is the fifth strong economy in Europe

The trend that is carved out from the global media on Africa is not good for the growth and development of the continent; and the share of voice of positive stories, 19.15% compared to negative ones of 80.85% is not growth talk less of development-friendly

Conclusion (Cont) Even of the positive stories, only one, the picture of

Bishop Desmond Tutu appeared on the front page. That is 11.11% of the good story on Africa appeared sellable on the front page. Others are inside pages thereby weakening the small share of positive news and according it no prominence. That is, Africa is of no prominence globally

Consequently, opinion formed on the tone, headline, visuals and contents from the publications of the global media about Africa is that of a bad, poor continent

The visual impact were disturbing Something must be done by you. Not from tomorrow,

START NOT TODAY BUT NOW!!!

Conclusion (Cont)

I will like to conclude this paper by re-emphasising the seven-point agenda of the Executive Chairman, PIELLE Consulting Group, UK Peter Walker here in Abuja in 2004 on Globalisation and Africa’s Economic Development – What Role for Public Relations:

Conclusion (Cont)1. Develop consistent messages that relate to Africa’s

economic development2. Establish competent 24/7 sources of information for

the needs of the audience not government wishes3. Equip national leaders with advice on the way to act

in the public4. Tailor information to meet the needs of the audience

in view5. Provide public spokesperson who can contribute to

international and foreign media rightly6. Recognise and use time zone advantages for message

management7. Use public relations programmes to demonstrate

solutions rather than continuously identifying problems

Financial Times 11/12/09, P. 8

References Kunle Ogedengbe, ‘Corporate Survival and the Lubricating Role of

Financial Public Relations’, Lagos, Lagos Journal of Entreprenuership and Technology, 2006, page 121-137

Kunle Ogedengbe, African Businesses in the Global Media, 2009 Kuye, Lanre; Ogedengbe, Kunle; Adesemoye, Steve; Issues in PR,

Lagos, PR Plus Consulting, 2004 Ogedengbe, Kunle; Media of Public Relations, Lagos, PR Plus

Consulting, 2005 -------------------------; Principles and Practice of Community Relations – A

Premiere Lagos, PR Plus Consulting, 2007 -------------------------; Research Methods and Precision Journalism, Lagos,

PR Plus Consulting, 2007 Peter Walker, ‘Africa, Globalisation and Africa’s Economic

Development – What Roles for Public Relations’, 2004 The Guardian Newspaper Nigeria, 11/02/2010, page 15; and

23/02/2010, back page Tony Akinlo, Complimentary Notes on Statistics and Social Sciences II,

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 1995.