Comments on: A Black and White War on the Dark Continent

By: Khalid Mohmed Ahmed

Khalid Mohmed Ahmed — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 11:21:00 +0000

Great post. Thanks that photo is me khalid

By: Kizzie

Kizzie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:56:17 +0000

It did bring better scrutiny, but who is listening? The majority of the readers still hold the same “assumptions and sensibilities”, so when a person like me or another Sudanese individual drops a comment here and there (NY Times, a blog etc..), we are accused of being ” Khartoum Apologists”.

By: Rob Crilly

Rob Crilly — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:37:29 +0000

You are right. And I wonder if increasing online readerships with change this. We still are mostly writing for our home audience. The job of a foreign correspondent has long been to see the world as it looks to an outsider, parachuted in with the assumptions and sensibilities of our editors back home. Will this change as audiences shift online with more people in Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia reading foreign reporting of their countries? Will it bring better scrutiny?

By: Eamon

Eamon — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:33:44 +0000

Great post. It strikes me that the fundamental problem about reporting on Africa, as western journalists, is that we’re not truly accountable to the subjects of our stories or their communities. When you’re reporting on people who don’t have a stake in the community that pays you, the incentives for rigorous fact-checking are inherently weak. It’s astounding how little u.s. Audiencies question what they hear reported about Africa, and it’s good for us reporters to not get too defensive when something like the abu sharati thing comes up.

By: Steve B

Steve B — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:43:03 +0000

Right Crilly, let's take this outside. Or at least to the virtual equivalent: my blog... http://thingsseenandheard.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/an-entirely-avoidable-argument-with-rob-crilly/

By: madenh

madenh — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:24:02 +0000

the war in Sudan is not an eassy task to end if not handle well internationally