While it is true that one can readily find examples of racist and colonial stereotypes in many Western news reports, as pointed out by Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola, a 2016 study by Dr Toussaint Nothias of the Center for African Studies at Stanford University also found that there is no empirical evidence for the assertion that Western media coverage “systematically refers to ‘tribalism’ and ‘darkness’, treats Africa as a country and relies predominantly on Western voices”.
He echoes a 2015 paper by Martin Scott of the University of East Anglia who reviewed the research into US and UK media representations of Africa in the previous quarter century and concluded that “the widespread belief that we know how Africa is represented in the US and UK media is … a myth”.
The problem is not ‘negative’ Western media coverage of Africa | Media | Al Jazeera