By
Ethan Zuckerman @ethanz, Director,
Center for Civic Media, MIT; Co-founder, Global Voices and a board member of Penplusbytes.
In
order to stimulate debate and map the trajectory of the future of news,
Penplusbytes, in association with Multimedia Group Ltd and Graphic
Communications Group, is holding for the first time in Ghana, a landmark event
on the “future of news” on August 28th, 2015. Ahead of this event we
present a series of blog posts discussing key issues related to the future of news.
In this 4th in the series, Ethan Zuckerman, speaker at high level “future
of news” forum takes a look at ”Digital Media, and Ghana's Place on the Global
Stage” reflecting on how Ghana can leverage new digital technologies to ensure
the country is put on the center stage in the global news ecosystem
22
years ago, GBC was the king of news in Ghana
When
I came to Ghana for the first time in 1993, as a student at Legon, I knew
virtually nothing about the country that would be my home for the next year.
While I had studied with Ghanaian musicians in the United States, I knew almost
nothing of Ghana's politics, history or daily life. My ignorance wasn't unusual
for an American - we hear very little about sub-Saharan Africa in the news, and
when we do hear about Africa, we hear a relentless litany of bad news.
Twenty-two
years later, Ghana is a very different place. It's the region's poster child
for democratic elections, an emerging economic powerhouse, but also a nation
where unequal development and divides between rich and poor are showing strains
in the social fabric (not to mention strains on the electric grid).
Some
of the nation's most dramatic transformations are in the world of news and
media. Walking in Osu, where I lived in 1994, every radio was tuned to GBC, for
the simple reason that there was nothing else to tune to! The explosion of
radio journalism, talk radio, new glossy magazines and newspapers as well as
digital services delivering news to our phones have led to a diverse and open media
environment that Reporters Without Borders classifies as more free than the
press in my country, the US, or the press in the UK. Yet the rest of the world
still doesn't hear much about Ghana.
Assessing
Media coverage of Ghana through Media Cloud
My
research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focuses on global media
coverage. Our system, called Media Cloud, collect stories from half a million
publications from all over the world so we can understand what topics, what
people and what nations are capturing the attention of the press. I checked our
database this year to find out how many times Ghana had been mentioned in the
US's 25 largest media outlets, in comparison to two nations with similar
population: Taiwan and Australia. Taiwan appeared almost three times as often
as Ghana, while Australia was mentioned almost thirty times as often.
And
when Americans read about Ghana, we mostly read about football. American
media's interest in Ghana peaked during the semifinal match in Malabo, when Ghana's
fans were attacked by their hosts in Equatorial Guinea. The tragic explosion at
the Circle GOIL station received only a third as many stories as the semifinal
victory.
To
be clear, this isn't Ghana's fault. The US has a massive blind spot about the
African continent, despite having a president with deep roots in Kenya, and
increasing trade with the continent. The long legacy of slavery and the racism
it has engendered in American society also helps explain why very few African
nations receive much notice in the American press.
But
this disparity in attention is one Ghanaians should take seriously, as it has
implications for investment, for trade, and for tourism. Investors who can't
find Ghana on a map are unlikely to buy bonds or invest in startup companies.
Travelers who don't know about Ghana's music, food, culture, color, castles and
beaches won't schedule holidays here.
Ghana's
comparative invisibility is an American problem - my countrymen are the ones
missing out, choosing to live in a narrower world - but it's a problem ordinary
Ghanaians could help solve. The rise of social media - Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Tumblr and other tools - mean that anyone who is online, or has a
sufficiently powerful phone, can be a publisher. We're used to using Facebook
to stay in touch with schoolmates, or using Twitter to share stories and tell
jokes. But these tools can also be a powerful way to challenge the way Ghana is
understood by the rest of the globe.
Future
trends in citizens’ journalism: #233moments
Take
#233moments. At 2:33pm each afternoon, a handful of Ghanaians share a photo of
what they're up to, a glimpse of daily life, marked with the
"hashtag" #233moments so those in the know can find them. From church
posters to the backs of tro-tros, from business conferences to roadside
sellers, from beach resorts to lazy lunches (especially on
"WaakyeWednesday", when it's customary to post from your favorite
chop bar), #233moments celebrates what's colorful, wonderful and unique about
this remarkable nation, and shares it with anyone willing to hear.
But
when people use social media to offer their own narratives and perspectives,
does anyone listen? Slowly but surely, the world is starting to. When President
Obama visited Kenya, CNN reported on the dangers of the visit, characterizing
Kenya as "terror hotbed". Kenyans took to Twitter to complain, using
the hashtag #someonetellCNN: "#someonetellCNN the Hotbed of Terrorism is
the fastest growing economy in the world"; "#SomeoneTellCNN that we
now have @AlJazeera for reliable news. @CNNAfrica is so last
century..."
Challenging
media coverage directly can work. The "Black Lives Matter" movement
in the US, a reaction to the alarming trend of unarmed black people killed by
US police, has used social media to demand coverage of protests and to
challenge how media has portrayed police killings. When Michael Brown was
killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, many newspapers and television stations
portrayed him using a photo that made the 18 year old look taller and older
than he actually was, instead of another readily available photo, where his age
was more apparent. Black activists began posting pairs of photos to Facebook,
asking "If they gunned me down, which photo would the media use",
showing two photos of themselves taken from Facebook, one showing them in a
positive light, another in a more negative light. The activists called
attention to the fact that the images we choose have political significance and
weight - in choosing a photo where Brown looked threatening, the media was siding
with the police. The campaign was successful - the troublesome photo of Brown
disappeared from most newspapers, and the other photo was widely circulated.
Social
media gives Ghana a chance to talk back to the rest of the world. And Ghana has
a great deal to talk about: the nation is facing the opportunities and
challenges associated with becoming a middle-income nation. It's never been
easier for people to write about these issues online, using free blogging sites
like Medium.com, or connecting with sites like
Fair Observer, or my organisation Global Voices, who are always looking for new
perspectives from the African continent.
Ghanaians
are never shy with their opinions in drinking spots, in shared taxis and
tro-tros, on talk radio. Maybe it's time that Ghanaians start sharing their
perspectives with the world as a whole. Perhaps a few more #233moments, shared
with the rest of the world, can help Americans and others see Ghana, and Africa
as a whole, in a clearer light.
ENDS
This is the fourth part of “future of news” series by
Penplusbytes, a leader in new media & innovations. The final article in the
series will look at “5 trends shaping the future of news”
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