The AfricaPaper | USA
USA – Hundreds of American academics have accused the CBS’ “60 Minutes” of making black Africans look dumb in their reporting, especially the reporting of Lara Logan, the South African correspondent who concocted the false story on Benghazi, but was unfortunately raped during the Arab spring eruptions in Egypt’s Tahir square. CBS suspended her for some time. Below is the letter that Prof. Howard French, theformer New York Times award winning correspondent in Africa for many years started circulating and signed by hundreds of others. See the letter to CBS below:
VOICELESS
“60 Minutes has managed, quite extraordinarily, to render people of black African ancestry voiceless and all but invisible” in a series of recent segments, says a letter penned by Howard W. French and signed by more than 150 people that was emailed to 60 Minutes exec producer Jeff Fager and posted on the blog A Glimpse of the World. French, who spent most of his 23-year career at The New York Timesas a foreign correspondent, now is an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he has taught journalism and photography since 2008.
In the letter, the signers most notably dinged the CBS newsmagazine for a segment in which Lara Logan went to Liberia last year 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,” the letter scolds. “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” though Liberians not only died of ebola, many of them contributed to the fight against the disease, including doctors, nurses and other caregivers, some of whom died in the effort. “Despite this, the only people heard from on the air were white foreigners who had come to Liberia to contribute to the fight against the disease.”
Back when that report aired in November, French tweeted: “Not a single African voice in @60Minutes piece from Liberia on ebola. Not remotely acceptable? We see a father whose son is dying. No quote.”
LETTER
Today, in his letter to Fager, he complained:
“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 only warrants the public’s attention when there is a 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.”
Speaking of wildlife, the letter also smacked the newsmag for two segments it said were “remarkably similar…featuring white people who have made it their mission to rescue African wildlife. In one case, these were lions, and in other, apes. People of black African descent make no substantial appearances in either of these reports, and no sense whatsoever is given of the countries visited, South Africa and Gabon.”
In all these segments, the letter said, “Africans themselves are typically limited to the role of passive victims, or occasional 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.”
In the letter, the group says American views of Africa, a continent of 1.1 billion people, “are badly misinformed” and blamed “the mainstream media.”
A 60 Minutes rep sent Deadline a statement, saying, “60 Minutes is proud of its coverage of Africa and has received considerable recognition for it. We have reached out to Mr. French to invite him to discuss this further and we look forward to meeting with him.”
The statement did not specify which of its reports about Africa it was referencing, but a Bob Simon report titled “Joy In The Congo,” about the only all-black orchestra in Central Africa, won a Peabody Award and two Emmys in 2013, and Scott Pelley’s “Africa Mercy,” about a hospital ship that repaired Africans’ cleft palates and other problems relating to the jaw or face, won a News Emmy.
SIGNATORIES
Here is the full list of signatories to the letter:
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 Bloomington
Anthony Arnove, Producer, Dirty Wars
Adam Ashforth, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan
Sean Jacobs, Faculty, International Affairs, Milano, The New School and 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
M. Neelika Jayawardane, Associate Professor of English Literature at State University of New York-Oswego, and Senior Editor of Africa Is a Country
Adam Hochschild, author
Eileen Julien, Professor, Comparative Literature, French & Italian, African Studies, Indiana University Bloomington
Mohamed Keita, freelance journalist in NYC, former Africa Advocacy Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
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
Peter Uvin, Provost, Amherst College
G. Pascal Zachary, professor of practice, Arizona State University
Cara E Jones, PhD, 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 (AGLAN)
Max Bankole Jarrett, Deputy Director, Africa Progress Panel Secretariat
Mohamed Dicko, retired Computer Applications Analyst in St Louis, Missouri
Mojúbà olú Olufúnké Okome, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, African & 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
Claire L. Adida, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California San Diego
Lisa Lindsay, University of North Carolina
Anne-Maria B. Makhulu, Assistant Prof. 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, 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 & 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, 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, and served on the UN Group of Experts on DRC from 2013-2015
Jennie E. Burnet, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Louisville
Kim Yi Dionne, Assistant Professor, Smith College
Lonnie Isabel, Journalist
Karen L. Murphy
Ann Garrison, Pacifica Radio reporter/producer and contributor to SF Bay View, Black Agenda Report, Black Star News, Counterpunch, Global Research
Ryan Briggs, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech
Yolande Bouka, PhD, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies
Elliot Fratkin PhD, 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-Lincoln
Michel Marriott, journalist, author
Jennifer N. Brass, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Séverine Autesserre, Department of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University
Jill E. Kelly, Assistant Professor, Clements 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, author
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, MD, Associate Professor, The Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Andy Sechler, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
John Kraemer, Assistant Professor, Dept of Health Systems Admin. & 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, DC
Catharine Newbury, Professor Emerita of Government, Smith College
Ana M. Ayuso Alvarez, Epidemiology Programme applied to the Field, M. Art (Anthropologist)
Cynthia Haq MD, Professor of Family Medicine and Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Aili Tripp, Professor of Political Science & Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Kellner Family Professor in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin
Anne Jebet Waliaula, PhD, Outreach Coordinator, African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Judith Oki, Salt Lake City, UT, former Capacity Building Advisor for Rebuilding Basic Health Services, Monrovia, Liberia
Sandra Schmidt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Social Studies and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Emily Callaci, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Louise Meintjes, Assoc Prof, Departments of Music and Cultural Anthropology, Duke University
May Rihani, Former Co-Chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), Author of Cultures Without Borders
Tejumola Olaniyan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Selah Agaba, Doctoral Student, Anthropology & 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-Milwaukee
David B. Levine, consultant in international development, Washington, DC
Claire Wendland, Medical Anthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Frederic C. Schaffer, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Joye Bowman, Professor and Chair, Department of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Cody S. Perkins, Ph.D. Candidate, Corcoran 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-Madison
Sarah Forzley, lecturer in the English department at the University of Paris 10- Nanterre (France)
Laura Doyle, Professor of English,University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Ralph Faulkingham, PhDEmeritus Professor of Anthropology (and former Editor, The African Studies Review), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Jessica Johnson, University of Massachusetts 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, MBChB, MPH, MS, PhD student in Clinical Epidemiology, University of Wisconsin Madison
Dr. Anita Schroven, Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany
Prof. Dr. Baz Lecocq, Chair of African History, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Monica H. Green, Professor of History, Arizona State University
Sandra Adell, Professor, Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Wisconsin-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, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ)
Satish Gopal MD MPH, UNC Project-Malawi (Director, Cancer Program), UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases
Mina C. Hosseinipour, MD, MPH, 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, 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, MS. PE, (Professor, Retired), Dept 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 & Cultures
Director, African Studies Program, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint 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
Noel Twagiramungu, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, World Peace Foundation, The Fletcher School, Tufts University