BBC: cashing in on Africa

Its hard not to feel deeply ambivalent about the current focus on Africa in the Western media. The politics of misrepresentation quickly presents itself, leaving you wondering whether no representation is better than mis-representation. I just watched a BBC4 programme called "Africa Rock N Roll" which turned out to be about post-independence music in Francophone West Africa. Just imagine a programme on European Rock Music which focussed on German bands. Then I caught something on Jerry Rawlings trying to account for the problems of Africa in the company of a young Kenyan student. While it was great PR for Rawlings, the thing just ambled about not getting to the point. All this on top of various news reports from the Beeb which are riddled with inaccuracies. Better nothing at all than the lazy shit the BBC has been spewing out...