THE POOR, THE SICK AND THE DYING: Western media rhetoric of COVID-19 in Africa

This paper examines media rhetoric of Africa's COVID-19 outbreak in selected Western mainstream media outlets. The article utilises representation, stereotype theories, and rhetorical analysis to explore the underlying messages and evaluate/assess the themes and frames manifested in Western media coverage of the continent's COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that Western mainstream media coverage of COVID-19 in Africa replicated the old tropes of 'the hopeless continent' in many ways. Issues of the continent's poor governance structures, political instability, and ills like corruption that have dominated Western mainstream media coverage of the continent half a century ago resurfaced in the coverage of COVID-19. As a result, there was a frequent juxtaposition of the 'health crisis' with other 'crises.' The chapter argues that such negative stereotypes clouded other, more meaningful readings of the continent's response to the outbreak, such as the relatively slower rates of infections and deaths. Furthermore, these stereotypes failed to acknowledge the now prevalent frames of 'Africa rising' discourses that currently dominate much coverage of the continent in some other mainstream media in the West.