Season 9 · Episode 3

The Listening Post: South Sudan and the media of conflict

When fighting broke out a month ago in the world's youngest country, South Sudan, the story was framed as just another tribal power struggle coming out of Africa. A more precise analysis is that the conflict is really political in nature - a fallout between the president and the vice president, with some ethnic elements fighting it out on the ground. Those who are critical of the media say that, when it comes to Africa, all too often international news outlets resort to the same formula - reducing just about any conflict to the tribal level, which seems to explain everything without actually telling us anything. Is there a hierarchy of knowledge in reporting about Africa, with more authority given to international journalists?