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Poverty, disease, corruption, AIDS - all these negative connotations are traditionally representative of Africa, overall painting it as a hopeless continent. Research has shown that the international media is most often guilty of this. However, recent academic inquiry has been concerned with how African media represents itself. This book merges both angles of inquiry, by assessing how Time, The Economist and Financial Mail magazines - one American, one European and one South African - report on African politics, economics and HIV/AIDS stories. These three categories encompass the bulk of events that become news on Africa. The longitudinal analysis offered in this book shows that positive and somewhat mixed representations of Africa and its countries abound in these texts, even though negative portrayals still seem to be the norm. This analysis then highlights that all is not hopeless for Africa, but certainly indicates that journalistic practice towards the continent must change. Researchers of media and politics, particularly the African dimension, will find this book most useful.

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BA Journ (MGI) Hons, MA Media Studies (WITS) Currently lecturer and PhD candidate in the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

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