Taking the High Road Against Media Terrorists

Terrorists come in all shapes, colors, and sizes wielding different types of weapons that they believe in their very depressed minds is the ultimate means to achieving a goal they are unable to reach through legitimate means. Their modus operandi is the infliction of terror, fear, physical pain and misery on their victims. They seek to rule, win, dominate, or prevail through the unrelenting but organized application of violence. And violence comes in all forms - oral, written, physical, electronic, psychological, etc. Physical violence may be the easiest to prove because of the evidence it leaves behind. But it is no less devastating and deadly than any of the others. The terrorist who uses the gun to ply his trade is just as evil as he who employs written or spoken words in books, newspapers, magazines, on radio and on TV to cower others into submission.

Media terrorists abound in third world countries. They call themselves observers, commentators, and columnists. We are seeing the emergence in the United States of a few semi-educated barely literate African immigrants who confuse the fearless pursuit of the truth with gossip, defamation, and outright lies. Their stock in trade is to embarrass African institutions and individuals by circulating unsubstantiated tales, rumors and falsehood. They feed on the general mistrust of the systems of government in Africa. For them, investigative reporting means anything that comes out of the mouth of anyone who has an ax to grind. Credible journalism that demands a thorough investigation of sources, and leads means nothing to these self-styled editor-in-chief/reporter/photographer/publisher/ correspondent all rolled into one. They dare governments and individuals to make heroes and heroines out of them with bizarre publications concocted out of their own evil heads or from the mouths of rumor mongers, drunks, prostitutes, adventurers, fame seekers, etc.

There is a place for the Enquirers, the Stars, the Suns, and other tabloids of this world. They are what they are -- gossip tabloids. Africa has its very fair share of such gossip tabloids, all claiming to be observers of the African situation. Presumably, anything is fair game so long as it rakes in sales for them. While we worry about their propensity to disparage our dear continent and decent folks with half-truths and outright lies, we are not about to lose sleep over why they do what they do. Thank goodness we live in an American society that offers more than enough protection against cowardly, semi-educated terrorists who call themselves journalists. Truth and goodness has a way of triumphing over evil and lies in a way that is beyond our mortal comprehension. 

There are the New York Times, The Wall Street Journals, the LA Times, The Boston Globes, the Washington Post, the Newsweeks, the London Times etc of this great industry aptly described as the Fourth Estate of the Realm. Their credibility is superb. At Asenta we would rather be like them or nothing. We made that conscious decision right from the outset. The last sentence in our mission statement reads "we present our African selves in the media as we see ourselves - truthful, positive, definite, lively, successful and proud". This, to us, is a divinely-inspired mission and a mighty huge one that requires a lot of effort from a new generation of passionately patriotic Africans of integrity, class and credibility.