"Africa could be losing up to $4.2 billion annually in interest payments on its
loans primarily due to stereotypical narratives that dominate global media
coverage of the continent. The media’s portrayal of Africa has long been dominated by persistent stereotypes. This report explores the economic
...
consequences of such biased reporting by examining the relationship between media bias in election coverage and its impact on financial flows. Using a mixed methods approach, the study quantifies media bias by comparing African countries to their peers and assesses how this bias correlates with sovereign bond yields or interest rates, a key financial indicator. The research analyses this correlation both quantitatively across election periods and qualitatively through case studies, with the ultimate aim to measure the economic impact of misrepresented media coverage on Africa. Our findings show that African countries receive increased media attention during general elections, with a disproportionate focus on negative issues such as violence and election fraud. This emphasis is more pronounced compared to coverage of non-African countries with similar political risk conditions, resulting in higher negative sentiment and bias scores for African nations. Notably, the term “violence” is highly associated with Africa in media coverage, particularly in election-related headlines. Our analysis further established a clear connection between media sentiment and investor perception of risk, which is closely tied to sovereign credit risk. Negative media coverage increases a country's perceived risk, which leads to higher borrowing costs. Conversely, positive media sentiment is correlated with a lower risk profile and reduced bond yields. Yet, this study found that African countries are unjustifiably perceived as higher risk by international investors, leading to significantly higher credit costs compared to countries with similar political and socio-economic conditions. Building on this key finding, we analysed a group of African countries to quantify the estimated additional costs the continent incurs on loans due to biased media coverage." (Executive summary)
more
"This new edition of Latin American History Goes to the Movies uses a variety of feature films as a method of studying key historical themes in Latin America, from pre-Columbian cultures to contemporary debates. The book provides historical context as a way of interpreting Latin American filmography
...
, offering multiple classroom viewing options per chapter theme. Each chapter is dedicated to a central concept or issue, such as stereotypes, conquest and colonialism, revolution, religion, gender, and politics. The second edition includes four additional chapters on dictatorships, LGBTQIA+ issues, the environment, and Indigenous peoples. Twenty new films, including La Fiesta del Chivo, Fresa y Chocolate, Embrace of the Serpent, and Roma appear throughout this edition, presenting additional perspectives and updates for today’s readers. The discussions of films and the history behind them offer a flexible and nuanced approach to understanding Latin American cultures, differentiating between stereotypical depictions and the realities of history." (Publisher description)
more
"Our richly illustrated volume takes a multifaceted approach to the giant continent of Africa, transcending prejudices and stereotypes through cultural history and contemporary art, constant shifts in perspective, and artistic diversity: human history encounters the colonial past and the omnipresenc
...
e of Africa in countless regions of the world. On the one hand, surprising views of Africa are presented from Europe. On the other hand, works and installations created locally by Africans or members of the diaspora present ideas, impulses, and identities that all mean Africa. The texts illuminate the broad temporal arc from the first humans to Pan-Africanism and Afrofuturism and also offer literary and philosophical narratives. Artists: Dele Adeyemo, John Akomfrah, James Gregory Atkinson, Sammy Baloji, Arébénor Basséne, Memory Biwa, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Catpc, Omar Victor Diop, Sokari Douglas Camp, William Kentridge, Kongo Astronauts, Susana Pilar Delahanta Mantienzo, Roméo Mivekannin, Zanele Muholi, Josèfa Ntjam, Kaloki Nyamai, Emeka, Ogboh, Zineb Sedira, Sandra Seghir, Yinka Shonibare, The Singh Twins, Géraldine Tobe, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems." (Publisher description)
more
"Although some studies have previously indicated that the stereotypical western mainstream media narratives about Africa may be shifting, this Special Issue highlights the stickiness of the stereotypes, and some of the platforms on which they continue to be repeated. Some of these studies further sh
...
ow how African media are also responsible for ongoing circulation of the stereotypes. While the data are discouraging, there are pockets of hope on digital media (including social media), where women and youth are taking back the proverbial pen using storytelling and humour to show that Africa is neither monolithic, nor all doom and gloom. Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, Africans entertained the world with music, dancing and comedy, proving resilience and optimism, against Afropessimistic narratives." (Abstract)
more
"This article examines the constructions of Africa in COVID-19-related stories that were produced by African news media. Dominant scholarship indicates that western media generally reproduce and perpetuate harmful stereotypes on Africa. Given that there is scant literature on how African media cover
...
s Africa, this article uses the COVID-19 pandemic as an entry point to explore the disease narratives on Africa. Drawing on Afrokology as decolonial perspective, this article examines the discourses and narratives on Africa that were produced by African news organizations. Data were drawn from ten news organizations from Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Egypt. A quantitative corpus analysis and a qualitative critical discourse analysis were used to analyse the COVID-19- related stories. Findings demonstrate that harmful disease stereotypes about Africa as a place of danger, darkness, tragedy and human rights abuses were reproduced by the African media." (Abstract)
more
"Danny Schmidt analysiert, wie führende deutsche Medien über Russland schreiben. Artikel der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, des Neuen Deutschlands, des Spiegels, der Süddeutschen Zeitung und der Welt zeichnen ein deutliches Bild. Der Blickwinkel ist verengt, die Perspektivenvielfalt reduziert,
...
ein neutraler Blick nicht immer gegeben. Historische Diskurse reaktivieren Stereotype und befeuern Ressentiments. Die Folge ist die Konstruktion eines vitalen Feindbildes, das im Krieg in der Ukraine traurige Realität geworden ist." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Storytelling is the most powerful way for donor and non-governmental organisations to convey their work because stories allow audiences to connect on both intellectual and emotional levels. However, much of the storytelling about development work in Africa is unethical and perpetuates harmful and s
...
tereotypical narratives about the continent. Stories that reinforce stereotypes about Africa often arise from the power dynamics between those who are telling the stories and those about whom stories are being told. This practical guide aims to address some of these issues by providing practical, ethical guidelines for storytellers to share their work on the continent [...] This handbook considers the challenges of ethical storytelling and provides practical examples of how difficulties might be overcome. It looks at all the stages of the storytelling process: conceptualising a project, planning, gathering material, producing a draft, gathering feedback on it, and producing a final version before disseminating it. As part of the process of developing this handbook, we reviewed 36 academic papers and books chapters covering the subject. We also interviewed eight African storytellers, including filmmakers, photographers, radio producers and writers who were researching and producing material about Africa for an international audience or for donor agencies." (About this handbook, page 1)
more
"The mainstream media in Brazil portrays favelas (unregulated low-income neighbourhoods) in a negative light. This has been the case since their emergence over a century ago. Voices from the Favelas navigates through the contemporary representation of the favelas in the established media, discussing
...
how this partial representation impacts issues of identity and social segregation, the legitimation of structural violence in those sites, and providing an account of the recent emergence of digital social networks as “counterpublics”. In order to understand the struggle against the characterisation of the favela as a site dominated by violence (a framework which has been disseminated on a global scale and accepted as the norm), this book will take its readers inside the mindset of the favela media activists, examining the production of information and the organisation of the residents as they resist and challenge the status quo." (Publisher description)
more
"Bis in die 1990er-Jahre hinein galt der Berliner Kutscher Bruno Lüdke als brutalster Serienmörder Deutschlands - eine "Bestie in Menschengestalt". Nachdem der zwangssterilisierte Mann 1943 des Mordes an einer Frau verdächtigt und festgenommen wurde, lasteten ihm NS-Kriminalpolizisten über 50 we
...
itere Sexualmorde an. Während der Ermittlungen entstanden Verhörprotokolle, Fotoalben, ein Handabdruck, eine kolorierte Büste - doch triftige Mordbeweise fehlten. 1944 waren es SS-Männer aus dem Reichssicherheitshauptamt, die Lüdke ermordeten. Die vorliegende Studie legt plastisch dar, dass die Geschichten über den Kutscher perfide sozialrassistische Erfindungen waren, die erst nach Kriegsende medial verstärkt wurden: Jahrzehntelang reproduzierten bundesdeutsche Medien das von den Nazis geprägte Bild des geisteskranken Triebtäters, unter anderem Rudolf Augstein im "Spiegel" oder 1957 Robert Siodmaks Spielfilm "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" it Mario Adorf. Die Medienwissenschaftlerin Susanne Regener und der Historiker Axel Doßmann analysieren, mit welchen Strategien ein Opfer zum Täter gemacht wurde und welche gesellschaftlichen Funktionen mit der Konstruktion des "Bösen" und "Anormalen" verbunden sind. Das Buch präsentiert die wichtigsten historischen Quellen zum Kriminalfall: Fotografien, Zeitschriftenartikel, Akten, Filmstills und Plakate." (Klappentext)
more
"In recognition of the need to improve the media’s practitioner's to report on migration issues, this guide aims to be a resource for journalists to run interactive workshops, principally aimed at other journalists reporting on migration. The training will give participants an understanding of the
...
regional and international context of migration, explain the terminology of migration, consider existing media coverage of migration, especially its ethical aspects. The guide also seeks to dispel key commonly held myths on migration, and present a primer on the international legal framework governing migration. The guide comprehensively covers all aspects needed to be considered by a journalist, from course content and practical exercises, best practices in pedagogy, as well as to such practical issues such as the selection of candidates, venues and equipment needed." (Abstract)
more
"When we think about the "pictures in our heads" that media create and perpetuate, what images are we truly referencing? Issues of media stereotypes and representation (both past and present) are crucial to advancing media literacy. 'Media Stereotypes: From Ageism to Xenophobia' becomes one-stop sho
...
pping for synthesizing what we know within the composite of stereotyping research in the United States." (Publisher description)
more
"Welche Darstellungen von ‚fernen Anderen‘ finden im Globalen Norden Verbreitung und Anklang? Welche nicht? Wer spricht für wen? Wer bleibt ungehört? Und: Weshalb scheint es zunehmend wichtig und geboten, diese Fragen zu stellen? Die sozialwissenschaftliche Studie analysiert und diskutiert kon
...
troverse Debatten um epistemische, politische und ethische Aspekte der Repräsentation in Zusammenhängen humanitärer und wissenschaftlicher Wissensproduktion. Sie zeigt auf, wie kritisiert aber auch gerechtfertigt wird, dass internationale NGOs nach wie vor mit Elendsfotografien um Spenden werben, und beleuchtet, warum Forschung über, für oder mit marginalisierten Personen politisch und ethisch verantwortungsvoll betrieben werden soll." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Poor News examines the way discourses of poverty are articulated in the news media by incorporating specific narratives and definers that bring about certain ideological worldviews. This happens, the authors claim, because journalists and news editors make use of a set of information strategies whi
...
le accessing certain sources within specific social and political dynamics. The book looks at the case of the news media in Britain since the industrial revolution and produces a historical account of how these media discourses came into play. The main thesis is that there have been different historical cycles that reflect particular hegemonic ideas of each period. Consequently, the role of mainstream journalism has been a subservient one for existing elites when it comes to the propagation of dominant ideas." (Publisher description)
more
"This article aims to analyse the process of emergence of China-related stereotypes in Angola, which have started to appear with an increasing number of Angolans establishing direct and non-direct contacts with the Chinese. The article investigates this issue based on the content of China-related ar
...
ticles and netizens’ opinions published online from 2010 to 2015 in Angolan media (altogether 5005 cases) supplemented with coded results of 61 in-depth interviews. The results of qualitative and quantitative analysis suggest that the general image of the Chinese held by Angolans is rather positive. However, the influx of Chinese migrants into this country and a relatively high number of problematic situations involving members of the Chinese diaspora have resulted in gradual worsening of the image of this specific group. Such problematic issues include the low quality of engineering projects, maltreatment of Angolan workers and a possibility of Chinese neo-colonization of Angola." (Abstract)
more