Online media in Africa: a new powerful public sphere to counter stereotypes

LSE MSc student Anaelle Azoulay shares her reflections on Sean Jacobs’s Public Lecture ‘Shifting African Digital Landscapes’ on 17th March 2015 (chaired by Dr Wendy Willems). Remember Kony 2012? A short film launched by Invisible Children that went viral by trying to expose Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony and get him arrested. While the intention was laudable, the campaign came under valid criticisms. The much too simplistic storytelling of events in the region was one of the main criticisms the campaign received. More broadly, this campaign reflects western media appetite for sensationalism and western-centric approaches for dealing with complex issues happening outside of campaigners’ own borders or range of knowledge. As Sean Jacobs, Professor of International Affairs at The New School in New York and founder of the blog Africa is a country, puts it: