BBC Focus on Africa programme is produced and distributed by the British Broadcasting Corporation via traditional and new media platforms. Traditional media platforms include traditional radio and television stations, whereas new media channels include social networking sites, podcasts, and websites in multiple languages. The programme is an object because it allows Africans to tell their stories personally in some cases and employees of the corporation in the majority of cases. It continues to be a platform where ordinary and powerful Africans negotiate various topical issues in order to develop and sustain ways of being. The subjects of discourse (people, policies, needs, daily experiences) are typically scrutinized by state and non-state actors as they negotiate and construct identities as exemplified by Annette Markham.
In other words, to find a strong foundation for better ways of being in the areas of social, economic, and political development, there are always elements of knowledge and power relationship from different content being produced and disseminated to the audience.
In the following section, I presented my thoughts after deconstructing a recent article about how the programme is produced and perceived by the public, particularly political stakeholders in Africa.
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After reading the passage, I realized that the author wants readers to understand the significance of the BBC Focus on Africa programme. Throughout the passage, BBC Focus on Africa is presented as an object and a tool for reporting on Africa’s socioeconomic and political development. According to the author’s analogical approach to presenting the corporation in relation to the continent’s socioeconomic and political peculiarities, it is an object because the corporation (BBC) intends to tap into the continent’s human resources for content production while also partnering with some established media organizations through the programme.
In my opinion, pursuing these is beneficial. However, the programme remains a tool with the goal of reporting development and exposing some challenges through the use of African talent in London. This is an example of reemphasising colonial authority over the continent. In this regard, the author reintroduced Western imperialism into the discussion of the programme’s importance to Africa. The submission at one point in the passage is that the programme will be carried out independently. At the same time, it is obvious that the content of the programme would be driven solely by the British’s authority and power over the continent, particularly over the countries it colonized. As a result, the narrative in the passage is more concerned with suppressing Africa’s ideologies about its own socioeconomic and political advancement than resonating with the truth that the uncertainties and challenges the programme seeks to expose exist in the United Kingdom as well.
The author employs a dialogical approach, drawing on the perspectives of some current corporation employees as well as personal observations of the continent’s socioeconomic and political development. It was discovered through these methods that BBC Focus on Africa is being established to meet the needs of Africans, who listen to radio and television being used as mass communication channels for disseminating the programme, as the continent grows in terms of socioeconomic and political advancement. It is also obvious that the programme cannot be implemented without a strategic partnership with some media organisations as well as the use of experienced media professionals from the continent. As a result, the BBC, African media organisations, and professionals are key players. While audience use radio and television as traditional media for listening and watching the programme, media owners are using the media to help the British government advance its media hegemony over the continent. Specifically, the United Kingdom government, through indirect power granted to the corporation, remains the dominant power broker between the BBC and partnering establishments and individuals using the media system.
Theoretical Queries and Adjustment
Following Annette Markham’s metaphorical description of an object as a place to negotiate different discursive elements towards developing and sustaining ways of being and Karl Marx’s proposition on tool, in which man’s motive power is one of the elements determining its (tool) functionality, it could be argued that BBC would continue to be one of the ways to profit from perceived underdevelopment on the continent by reporting issues and needs in a way that favours British authority. The United Kingdom, which owns the BBC, colonized many African countries. In particular, through media capitalism, does BBC Focus on Africa promote African development or the imperialism of the British government?
What is unclear is whether Africa does not have leaders who are doing well in terms of providing sustainable public goods, which could be captured in the narrative as part of the programme’s content. It is also absurd that the author cannot logically present benefits to both the BBC and Africa as a whole without first establishing the United Kingdom government’s dominance through motive power granted to the BBC. As a result, the story must be retold with a focus on how the continent’s positive political narratives, rather than just the negative narratives, can influence programme content.
