The Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2013/10/poverty-africa
Oct 10th, 2013
The issue stated in the article “Poverty in Africa: Beyond the hyperbole” discussed the lower class groups of African citizens, mainly those in poverty. Through a series of surveys ran by the Afrobarometer research project, it is determined that after a decade of growth in Africa that there is still little change in poverty. The Afrobarometer project covers a vast area of Africa, mainly in the southeastern regions. Covering 35 countries, the African-led group surveys thousands of people in Africa year round to gather social, political and economic opinions. Trends are tracked over time and results are shared amongst many fascists of African sectors. The author of the article though disagrees with the survey’s results. Since the author is consistently traveling throughout many regions of Africa, the author believes that there has been improvement for the poorest people in the African region and that growth has affected them significantly.
The article brings up an important observation to the table, the majority of people in developed nations care mostly about the poorest people in Africa. Through media we have developed an image of a poor African child looking into a camera. Partially we are led to believe that this is the majority of the continent. This is a stereotype media portrays. We are shown images and videos of poverty stricken children because that is the most profitable way to provide relief to Africa. Words like poorest, poverty, and corrupt are brought up in the article, but are not used in a stereotypical fashion. Corrupt governments are used, but instead it is used to mention that they build roads and health clinics eventually. Poorest is used to describe how business’s investments eventually make its way down to the poorest people.
Stereotypical words that are usually associated with bad things in Africa are not used in their normal context in this article. Instead they are used as statistical references and not to report bad happenings in the continent. The tone of the article is, I believe, biased towards the opinion of the author. Since the author of the article is traveling Africa it seems that only sees poverty in a good light because of past biases or stereotypes he might have held. While the research group Afrobarometer is a mainly African group. Thus they have lived, shared data, and experience more of Africa the author of the article. They have the resources, experience, and data to make better judgment calls on African issues. I believe that the author had bias in his decision to dispute when writing his article.
The source of the article, The Economist, is an English based newspaper. Due to this the main motive for them is to sell papers and get magazine and website subscribers. Their main motive places them in a situation where contrary views and questionable statements can get you results. This can bring you to a biased opinion that isn’t supported by statistical evidence, but rather personal opinion.
My personal thoughts on the issue are that I believe both the author of the article, and the research group that he contests. I believe that the Afrobarometer research group has brought evidence that suggests the poverty in Africa has hardly changed in the last decade. Though I also believe the author in that the change is greater than the evidence suggests. The true change, I believe, lies within the middle of both opinions.