Columns:: Worth repeating

since 12/15/98

Columns::March 10, 2003

Worth repeating

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN bureau chief in South Africa, delivered this year’s Darl Snyder Lecture for the African Studies Institute on Feb. 28. An excerpt:
“I’m not here today to make a brief for Africa’s leaders and their political positions. But I feel a compelling need to tell you what Africa, leaders and people, are thinking, because I sense when I’m in this country that their stories, almost without exception, do not get told. Their voices, almost without exception, do not get heard. . . .
“For me, South Africa continues to be one of the most exciting stories in the world, where society is undergoing revolutionary change not unlike that following the American Revolution. Change, in the American experience, doesn’t come easy; change, in the South African experience, doesn’t come easy. It has its fits and starts, its pain, but also its triumphs, about the process of creating something new. . . .
“I continue to reject the widely held view in this country, especially at the decision-making levels of the media, that Americans are not interested in international affairs. I continue to believe that if Americans are not interested in international affairs it is our fault. That if we give them good news of the world in a good way, that is, interesting and with context, a truly rare commodity these days, we can generate the interest. And once we do that, it’s up to us to sustain it. This approach is rarely tested, at least not consistently enough to produce concrete results. I also continue to believe that we have to develop a critical mass of viewers and listeners who are willing to fight for good news and take their case to the highest levels.”

--Beth Roberts

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