More than 20 years of research confirms the media ignore Africa unless there is a major famine or conflict. Why? Part of the answer is race. A comparison of news of Africa in Emerge, a news magazine for the black middle-class, and Newsweek indicates that the race of journalists and their audience influenced news content. Emerge published more news of Africa and news of more African countries. It published more positive news and reported fewer crisis events. It explained troubles in South Africa in terms of competing economic and political forces rather than tribal conflicts, and it avoided stereotypes. Emerge reported a sense of connectedness between African-American groups and Africa.
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Keith Kenney (1995) studied this question.
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