By Howard W. French
Dear Jeff Fager, executive producer of CBS’ “60 Minutes,”
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our grave concern about the frequent and recurring misrepresentation of the African continent by “60 Minutes.”
In a series of recent segments from the continent, “60 Minutes” has managed, quite extraordinarily, to render people of black African ancestry voiceless and all but invisible.
Two of these segments were remarkably similar in their basic subject matter, featuring white people who have made it their mission to rescue African wildlife. In one case these were lions, and in another, apes. People of black African descent make no substantial appearance in either of these reports, and no sense whatsoever is given of the countries visited, South Africa and Gabon.
The third notable recent segment was a visit by your correspondent Lara Logan to Liberia to cover the Ebola epidemic in that country. In that broadcast, Africans were reduced to the role of silent victims. They constituted what might be called a scenery of misery: people whose thoughts, experiences and actions were treated as if totally without interest. Liberians were shown within easy speaking range of Logan, including some Liberians whom she spoke about, and yet not a single Liberian was quoted in any capacity.
Liberians not only died from Ebola; many of them contributed bravely to the fight against the disease, including doctors, nurses and other caregivers, some of whom gave their lives in this effort. Despite this, the only people heard from on the air were white foreigners who had gone to Liberia to contribute to the fight against the disease.
Taken together, this anachronistic style of coverage reproduces, in condensed form, many of the worst habits of modern American journalism on the subject of Africa. To be clear, this means that Africa warrants the public’s attention only when there is disaster or human tragedy on an immense scale, when Westerners can be elevated to the role of central characters or when it is a matter of that perennial favorite, wildlife. As a corollary, Africans themselves are typically limited to the role of passive victims or occasionally brutal or corrupt villains and incompetents; they are not otherwise shown to have any agency or even the normal range of human thoughts and emotions. Such a skewed perspective not only disserves Africa; it also badly disserves the news-viewing and news-reading public.
We have taken the initiative of writing to you because we are mindful of the reach of “60 Minutes” and of the important role that your program has long played in informing the public. We are equally mindful that American views of Africa, a continent of 1.1 billion people, which is experiencing rapid change on an immense scale, are badly misinformed by much of the mainstream media. The great diversity of African experience, the challenges and triumphs of African peoples and, above all, the voices and thoughts of Africans themselves are chronically and woefully underrepresented.
Over the coming decades, Africa will become the backdrop of some of the most significant developments on the planet, from unprecedented population growth, urbanization and economic change to, potentially, the wholesale reconfiguration of states. We would like to see “60 Minutes” rethink its approach to Africa and rise to the challenge of covering topics like these and many more that go well beyond the bailiwick of the staid and stereotypical recent examples cited above. In doing so, “60 Minutes” will have much to gain, as will the viewing public.
Howard W. French is an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of “China’s Second Continent” and “A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.”
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ARM’s editorial opinion.
Signed,
Howard W. French, associate professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, author of “China’s Second Continent” and “A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa”
Fatin Abbas, Manhattanville College
Akin Adesokan, novelist and associate professor, comparative literature and cinema and film studies, Indiana University at Bloomington
Anthony Arnove, producer, “Dirty Wars”
Adam Ashforth, department of Afro-American and African studies, University of Michigan
Sean Jacobs, faculty, Milano School of International Affairs, the New School, and founder, Africa Is a Country.
Teju Cole, distinguished writer in residence, Bard College, photography critic, The New York Times Magazine
Richard Joseph, John Evans professor of international history and politics, Northwestern University
Leon Dash, Swanlund chair professor in journalism, professor, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Michael C. Vazquez, senior editor, Bidoun: Art and Culture from the Middle East
Achille Mbembe, professor, Wits University and visiting professor of Romance studies and Franklin Humanities Institute research scholar, Duke University
Neelika Jayawardane, associate professor of English literature at State University of New York at Oswego, and senior editor, Africa Is a Country
Adam Hochschild, author
Eileen Julien, professor, comparative literature, French and Italian, African studies, Indiana University at Bloomington
Mohamed Keita, freelance journalist in NYC, former Africa advocacy coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Aaron Leaf, producer, “Feet in 2 Worlds,” the New School
Dan Magaziner, assistant professor, history, Yale University
Marissa Moorman, associate professor, department of history, Indiana University
Sisonke Msimang, research fellow, University of Kwazulu-Natal
Achal Prabhala, writer and researcher, Bangalore, India
Janet Roitman, associate professor of anthropology, the New School
Lily Saint, assistant professor of English, Wesleyan University
Abdourahman A. Waberi, writer and professor of French and francophone studies George Washington University
Binyavanga Wainaina, writer
Chika Unigwe, writer
James C. McCann, chair, department of archaeology, professor of history, Boston University
Susan Shepler, associate professor, international peace and conflict resolution, School of International Service, American University
Pascal Zachary, professor of practice, Arizona State University
Cara E. Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, Mary Baldwin College
James T. Campbell, Edgar E. Robinson professor of history, Stanford University
Nii Akuetteh, independent international affairs analyst, former executive director of OSIWA, the Soros Foundation in West Africa
Mary Ratcliff, editor, San Francisco Bay View national black newspaper
James Ferguson, Susan S. and William H. Hindle professor, Stanford University
Alice Gatebuke, Rwandan genocide and war survivor, communications director, African Great Lakes Action Network
Max Bankole Jarrett, deputy director, Africa Progress Panel Secretariat
Mohamed Dicko, retired computer applications analyst in St. Louis
Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome, Ph.D., professor of political science, African and women’s studies, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Adam Ouologuem
John Edwin Mason, department of history, University of Virginia
Dele Olojede, newspaperman
Dr. Jonathan T. Reynolds, professor of history, Northern Kentucky University
Daniel J. Sharfstein, professor of law, Vanderbilt University
Lisa Lindsay, University of North Carolina
Anne-Maria B. Makhulu, assistant professor of cultural anthropology and African and African-American studies, Duke University
Karin Shapiro, associate professor of the practice African and African-American studies, Duke University
Garry Pierre Pierre, executive director of the Community Reporting Alliance, New York City
Lynn M. Thomas, professor and chair, department of history, University of Washington
Martha Saavedra, associate director, Center for African Studies, University of California at Berkeley
Kathryn Mathers, visiting assistant professor, international comparative studies, Duke University
Siddhartha Mitter, freelance journalist
Alexis Okeowo, contributor, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine
Susan Thomson, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies, Colgate University
Nicolas van de Walle, Maxwell M. Upson professor of government, Cornell University
David Newbury, Gwendolen Carter professor of African studies, Smith College
Charles Piot, professor, department of cultural anthropology and department of African and African-American studies co-convener, Africa Initiative, Duke University
Adia Benton, assistant professor of anthropology, Brown University
Gregory Mann, historian of francophone Africa, Columbia University
Anne Pitcher, University of Michigan
Howard Stein, University of Michigan
Adam Shatz, The London Review of Books
Peter Rosenblum, professor of international law and human rights, Bard College
Timothy Longman, African studies center director, chair of committee of directors, Pardee School of Global Studies, associate professor of political science, Boston University
Laura E. Seay, assistant professor, department of government, Colby College
Robert Grossman, producer
Daniel Fahey, visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, served on the U.N. Group of Experts on Democratic Republic of Congo, 2013–15
Jennie E. Burnet, associate professor of anthropology, University of Louisville
Kim Yi Dionne, assistant professor, Smith College
Lonnie Isabel, journalist
Karen L. Murphy
Ryan Briggs, assistant professor, department of political science, Virginia Tech
Yolande Bouka, Ph.D., researcher, Institute for Security Studies
Elliot Fratkin, Ph.D., Gwendolen M. Carter professor of African studies, department of anthropology, Smith College
Gretchen Bauer, professor and chair, department of political science and international relations, University of Delaware
John Woodford, journalist
Frank Holmquist, professor of politics, emeritus, School of Critical Social Inquiry, Hampshire College
Alice Kang, assistant professor, department of political science, Institute for Ethnic Studies–African and African-American studies, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Michel Marriott, journalist
Jennifer N. Brass, Ph.D., assistant professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Séverine Autesserre, department of political science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Jill E. Kelly, assistant professor, department of history, Southern Methodist University
Dr. Meghan Healy-Clancy, lecturer on social studies and on women, gender and sexuality, Harvard University
Dayo Olopade, journalist
Mary Moran, Colgate University
Sharon Abramowitz, UFL
Rebecca Shereikis, interim director, Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, Northwestern University
Barbara B. Brown, Ph.D., director of the outreach program, African Studies Center, Boston University
Jeffrey Stringer
David Alain Wohl, M.D., associate professor, division of infectious diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Andy Sechler, M.D., instructor in medicine, Harvard Medical School
John Kraemer, assistant professor, department of health systems administration and African studies program, Georgetown University
Barbara Shaw Anderson, associate director, African Studies Center, lecturer, department of African, African-American and diaspora studies, African Studies Center, University of North Carolina
Adrienne LeBas, assistant professor of government, American University, D.C.
Catharine Newbury, professor emerita of government, Smith College
Ana M. Ayuso Alvarez, epidemiology program applied to the field, M. Art (anthropologist)
Cynthia Haq, M.D., professor of family medicine and population health sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Aili Tripp, professor of political science and gender and women’s studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor, department of curriculum and instruction, Kellner Family professor in urban education, University of Wisconsin
Anne Jebet Waliaula, Ph.D., outreach coordinator, African studies program, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Judith Oki, Salt Lake City, former capacity building adviser for rebuilding basic health services, Monrovia, Liberia
Sandra Schmidt, Ph.D., assistant professor of social studies and education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Emily Callaci, assistant professor, department of history, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Louise Meintjes, associate professor, departments of music and cultural anthropology, Duke University
May Rihani, former co-chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, author, “Cultures Without Borders”
Tejumola Olaniyan, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Selah Agaba, doctoral student, anthropology and education policy studies, University of Wisconsin
Casey Chapman, Wisconsin
Ted Hochstadt, returned Peace Corps volunteer (Lesotho)
Kah Walla, CEO, Strategies, Cameroon
Kofi Ogbujiagba, journalist, Madison, Wisconsin
Matthew Francis Rarey, visiting assistant professor of art history, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
David B. Levine, consultant in international development, Washington, D.C.
Claire Wendland, medical anthropologist, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Frederic C. Schaffer, professor of political science, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Joye Bowman, professor and chair, department of history, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Cody S. Perkins, Ph.D. candidate, department of history, University of Virginia
Eric Gottesman, Colby College department of art
Lynda Pickbourn, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics, School of Critical Social Inquiry, Hampshire College
Kate Heuisler, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Henry John Drewal, Evjue-Bascom professor of African and African diaspora arts, departments of art history and Afro-American studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Sarah Forzley, lecturer in the English department at the University of Paris X Nanterre, France
Laura Doyle, professor of English, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Ralph Faulkingham, Ph.D., emeritus professor of anthropology (and former editor, The African Studies Review), University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Dr. Jessica Johnson, University of Massachusetts at Amherst history department
Joseph C. Miller, University of Virginia, ret.
Sean Hanretta, associate professor, department of history, Northwestern University
Iris Berger, Vincent O’Leary professor of history, University at Albany
Jackson Musuuza, MB.Ch.B., M.P.H., M.S., Ph.D. student in clinical epidemiology, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Dr. Anita Schroven, researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany
Dr. Baz Lecocq, professor, chair of African history, Humboldt University of Berlin
Monica H. Green, professor of history, Arizona State University
Sandra Adell, professor, department of Afro-American studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Broom professor of social demography and anthropology director, African and African-American studies program, acting chair, department of sociology and anthropology, Carleton College
Michael Herce, M.D., M.P.H., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia
Satish Gopal, M.D., M.P.H., UNC Project-Malawi (director, cancer program), UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Mina C. Hosseinipour, M.D., M.P.H., scientific director, UNC Project, Lilongwe, Malawi
Cliff Missen, M.A., director, WiderNet@UNC and the WiderNet Project, clinical associate professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Groesbeck Parham, professor, UNC (working in Zambia)
Norma Callender, San Jose
Harry McKinley Williams Jr., Laird Bell professor of history, Carleton College
Robtel Neajai Pailey, Liberian academic, London
Rose Brewer, professor, University of Minnesota
Fodei J. Batty, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, Quinnipiac University
Graham Wells, M.S., P.E., (professor, retired), department of mechanical engineering, Mississippi State University
Chouki El Hamel, Ph.D., professor of history, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University
Obioma Ohia, postdoctoral fellow, University of Maryland department of physics
Paschal Kyoore, professor of French, francophone African/Caribbean literatures and cultures, director, African studies program, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota
Preston Smith, chair of Africana studies, professor of politics, Mount Holyoke College
Catherine E. Bolten, assistant professor of anthropology and peace studies, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Michael Leslie, associate professor of telecommunication, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida
Agnes Ngoma Leslie, senior lecturer and outreach director, Center for African Studies, University of Florida
Martin Murray, urban planning and African studies, University of Michigan
Laura Fair, associate professor of African history, Michigan State University
Elliot Ross, senior editor, Africa Is a Country
Peter Alegi, professor of African history, Michigan State University
Laura J. Mitchell, associate professor of history, University of California at Irvine
Kathleen Sheldon, editor, H-Luso-Africa, and research scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women
Ibra Sene, associate professor, history and international relations, the College of Wooster, president, the Dakar Institute of African Studies.
Judith Van Allen, research fellow, Institute for African Development, Cornell University
Ron Krabill, interdisciplinary arts and sciences, University of Washington
Noel Twagiramungu, postdoctoral research fellow, World Peace Foundation, the Fletcher School, Tufts University
Brandon Kendhammer, assistant professor of political science, African studies affiliate faculty, Ohio University
Sabrina Buckwalter, communications manager, Columbia University; associate producer, “Drone”
Terrie Schweitzer, writer/consultant, returned Peace Corps volunteer (Ghana 2011–13)
Ken Opalo, Stanford University
Youssouf Traoré
Ron Davis
Robin L. Turner, associate professor of political science, Butler University
Jeffrey Ahlman, assistant professor of history and African studies, Smith College
Madina Thiam
Michelle Poulin, Ph.D., consultant, the World Bank, Africa Region
Felicia Akanmou, multimedia journalism graduate student, Indiana University, Bloomington
Sarah Watkins, lecturer, departments of history and feminist studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
Simon Halliday, lecturer, departments of history and feminist studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
Sally Orme, educator, returned Peace Corps volunteer (Liberia, 2013–14)
Beth Elise Whitaker, associate professor of political science, affiliate faculty in Africana studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Rachel Strohm, Ph.D. student, political science, UC Berkeley
Nathan J. Combes, Ph.D. candidate, University of California at San Diego
Heather Switzer, assistant professor, women and gender studies, Arizona State University, research in southern Kenya, returned Peace Corps volunteer (Ethiopia 1998–99)
Casey Chapman, Ebola Survivor Corps
Aristide Kemla, University of Florida
Peter Schmidt, professor of anthropology and African studies, University of Florida, fellow, World Academy of Art and Science
Hunt Davis Jr. , professor emeritus of history and African studies, editor-in-chief, African Studies Quarterly, University of Florida
Goran Hyden, distinguished professor, political science, University of Florida
Erika Kirwen, London
Léonce Ndikumana, professor of economics, director of the African development policy program, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Rachael Clifford Ebeledi, Amherst, Massachusetts
Mwangi wa Githinji, economics department, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Howard W. French is an associate orofessor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of “China’s Second Continent” and “A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.”
