Photograph — Goldmyne TV

The British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, recently ran a story accusing the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, of mismanaging the funds of the Kano emirate. BBC has since retracted the story and apologised. This is after new facts emerged to prove wrong the claim by the BBC that Sanusi was being investigated alongside some officials of the emirate for alleged misappropriation of 4 billion naira.

In an apology letter published on April 28 by BBC editorial director, Jamie Angus, he wrote that the “The reports that appeared on BBC website were purportedly based on the interview that Mr Muhyi Magaji, chairman of Kano state public complaints and anti-corruption commission gave to our bureau in Abuja.”

“It is now clear from our investigations that the reports did not accurately reflect what we were told by Mr Magaji, who had, in fact, made clear to our reporter that you (Emir Sanusi) had not been invited in for questioning and indeed that it was unlikely that there would be a need to invite you for question.

“Accordingly, the report we published suggesting that you were under personal investigation was not correct and for that, I offer my sincere apologies”, he said.

The emir must be pained, seeing his hitherto clean image tarred by allegations of corruption. Sadly, he is just the latest victim of wrong reporting by the western media.

This is one time too many. Western media houses have been caught disregarding facts or wrongly representing them and misspelling, either in haste to publish or just not caring enough to cross check and investigate the veracity of the information at their disposal. This has caused more damage to the reputation of Africa.

In April, the picture of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was used in a New York Times story which was centred on falsifying of visa applications by lawmakers in Ghana for family members.

buhari and new york times

It took the trolling efforts of Tolu Ogunlesi for the New York Times to realise its error and tender an apology

CNN is not far behind. It received backlash from Ghanaians over what they described as a wrong representation of Ghana during last year’s election. The report suggested that Ghanaians were queuing to buy food ahead of its 2016 elections.

In 2012, Kenya was a victim of misrepresentation of fact and sensationalism in a CNN report on violence in Kenya.

Africa has its issues and they should not be compounded by careless reporting. The images of hunger, poverty-ravaged, violence prone, and corrupt often shown in the media are true but that is certainly not the full and true picture of Africa. The problem with the continued negative of coverage of Africa by the western press is that the true picture of Africa as a continent filled potentials may not be seen. Africa will, therefore, remain a burden on the rest of the world.

The little good that is shown or written about is easily overshadowed by the bad news. Maybe it is because bad news sells.

The apologies after a factually wrong report are nice but it is beginning to lose meaning. Considering the damage that a wrong report about corruption can do to discourage investment in a country, company or to the image of an individual, thorough work needs to be done to ensure that facts are accurate. Reactions show that Africans are more conscious about how they and the continent are being reported and they will not take kindly to inaccurate reports

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