Prince Harry And Meghan’s Visit to Nigeria Exposes Further Western Media Imperialism
By Uche Nworah, Ph.D
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s visit to Nigeria is a good example of cultural and public diplomacy. The visited country Nigeria is expected to earn some media mileage locally and internationally from the short visit.
However, the usual suspects have launched cynic campaigns in the name of news reporting in some international media. We are seeing the age-old western media imperialism at play here.
Western media have the technology, reach, audience, influence and resources. Their negative stories will always drown the positive stories coming from media in the developing counties.
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Sometimes when Western media decide to throw in some positive story, it’s usually done as a token, and of course with a good dose of sarcasm.
Take for example these two stories I sampled from Prince Harry and Meghan’s Nigeria visit.
Daily Mail jokingly calls Prince Harry, a British Royal, an African Prince, a description made by a social media user.
The Telegraph on their part uses a picture of a Lagos slum as representative of Nigeria in their own story. You wonder where those beautiful pictures of Lekki, Ikoyi, and Banana Island are.
Western media only protect the interests of their owners and governments. Developing countries should know this.
It’s such a shame that over forty years later, Sean Macbride’s recommendations in the book ‘Many Voices, One World’, for the enthronement of a new world media and communication order, are yet to see the light of the day.
Dr Uche Nworah is a certified Public Relations Practitioner
