Gothenburg Media Hub

AFRICA, FORGOTTEN CONTINENT | Debating Africa in European headlines

On June 4 we gathered at Kronhuset to discuss the way African issues are covered in European media. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Here’s a wrap-up of our event, including links to projects, organizations, and profiles of the speakers.

 
 
 

A quick wrap-up

In our first panel, we discussed what is happening in Africa and why European audiences should pay attention to it. Rita Cruz moderated the debate between three journalists, two from Africa and one from Sweden who covers African issues.

Ansbert Ngurumo, an exiled journalist from Tanzania discussed his highly successful news platform focusing on East Africa, SK Media, and spoke about gaps in Western reporting that he would like to see filled.

Justin Yarga, a freelancer from Burkina Faso, who has written for Al Jazeera, Le Monde Afrique and other outlets, outlined the opportunities for positive change that a new generation of African and European journalists have available to them.

Terese Cristiansson, a Senior Foreign correspondent for TV4, offered a Swedish perspective on the challenges European journalists face when covering Africa, and highlighted the importance of better cooperation between European and local reporters.

In the second part, Lily Ray interviewed Neapolitan journalist Savin Massimo Mattozzi about his reporting on migration in the Mediterranean. He shared photographs taken aboard an NGO rescue ship and discussed the challenges of covering stories of people in vulnerable situations.

 

Resources

As promised, here are a few resources that were mentioned during the talks:

 

Burkina Kontakt, a news magazine about Burkina Faso in Swedish

Some of Justin Yarga’s work for Al Jazeera

Terese Cristiansson’s reporting on Africa for TV4

Ansbert Ngurumo’s East Africa news platform, SK Media

Savin Massimo Mattozzi’s work on migration and his photos

Marea Media, where Savin collaborates

 

Let us know if we missed something or you have something to sare that is relevant to the topic!

 
If you have a friend or colleague who might be interested in our work, tell them to follow us on social media and visit our website, as well as subscribe to our mailing list here.
 
 
 
The event was recorded and photographed and will be made into a podcast. Anyone not comfortable with having their voice appear in the final podcast or have their face shown in photographs online should send an email to gothenburg@thecirclehubs.org