New News Out of Africa

The four D’s of the African apocalypse–Death, Disease, Disaster, and Despair–have some new friends: Hope and Progress. That’s the word from renowned journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, whose book New News Out of Africa offers an optimistic view of Africa’s future at the same time that it draws attention to the continent’s seemingly crushing problems.  

In a talk this morning at the Center for American Progress, Hunter-Gault made the case for “a second wind of change blowing across Africa.” Citing a series of initiatives intended to provide “African solutions to African problems,” Hunter-Gault spoke of the things that are going well, including the groundbreaking Africa Peer Review Mechanism, an ambitious, home-grown project that is helping African leaders hold each other accountable to agreed-on standards of governance, economic policy, and human rights. 

And let’s not forget that the Democratic Republic of the Congo may actually soon be democratic, if U.N. and Congolese officials can hold things together while the upcoming elections take place and new leaders take office.  

Why don’t we hear more news from Africa that isn’t about famine or war? “You have to go there to know there,” says Hunter-Gault. And Western media aren’t going there enough, or rather they aren’t staying long enough after each crisis, she says. Apart from CNN in Johannesburg, where Hunter-Gault used to be bureau chief, no U.S. media outlet has a permanent presence on the continent.