Journalists must use the social media to retell the damaging stories that the Western media had told about Africa , Ms Myra Michele Brown, Information Resource Officer at the US Embassy, has said.
She said the Western web-pages, newspapers and broadcast outlets were filled with stories about wars, hunger, diseases and squalor when it came to Africa.
She argued that Africa was not blighted by disease, starvation, hunger and war alone but replete with many forward looking things such
as smiling school pupils despite their problems, the beautiful vegetations, and Africa’s cultural diversity.
“I want the African stories to be told positively through the blog, face-book etc,” she said.
Ms Brown was speaking at a workshop, organised by the American Embassy for the media, as part of the activities marking the World Press Freedom Day 2011 under the theme: “21st Century Media: New
Frontiers, New Challenges.”
Participants were introduced to establishing their own blogs where individual media practitioners could showcase their journals.
Ms Brown explained that social media was the media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication technique or web–based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.
She said a good example of the social media was the face book, which connects millions of people across the world and blogs etc.
She said there was so great possibility for African media to aggressively reach the world on the wings of the social media with positive stories about Africa.
She said government officials could also take advantage of it to get to their electorates as it was in the US.