Ugandan journalist Richard Kavuma of The Weekly Observer has been awarded CNN’s  MultiChoice African Journalism Award for his coverage of how Uganda is working toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals.  Thanks to BRE at JewelsintheJungle for
pointing this out. In outlining Kavuma’s
accomplishments,
he asks why the award is so little publicized in the African blogosphere.  (Probably because most of the sources African blogs link to are are not African!)

But this got me to thinking about other awards I am familiar with
that often spotlight African journalists. These frequently seem to be targeted at journalists in serious
trouble for their reporting. For example, the International Women’s Media Foundation whose award winners tend to
have been harassed, jailed, even tortured, and raped. Some end up dead.

Part of the rationale for giving the awards is to bring international
attention to the journalists with the aim of keeping their home enemies (often
governments, sometimes drug cartels and other criminal groups) at bay. I’ve always much admired these organizations
for attempting to save the lives of valiant reporters around the world.

But BRE’s post has made me see the complexities of these
awards: They tend to exclude reporting
and reporters who are excellent but not at risk. So that we in the West see a portrait of
journalism which is always under threat and this then plays into stereotypes of
both a continent in chaos and the notion that the West has the power to save
Africa.