Between Africa and the Abyss: Globalization, Media, and the Invisibility of a Continent

Mass communication, perception, and mental maps are pervasive themes in human geography. Yet the role of globalization on our collective mental maps remains poorly understood, raising critical questions of theory and policy as flows of capital, people, and ideas continue to blur the boundaries between local and international events. This paper analyzes these themes in the context of subSaharan Africa, focusing specifically on the civil war in Sierra Leone. The nature of armed conflict in Africa has evolved considerably in recent decades, and the globalization of Western media has altered the way the region has been portrayed. As publishers, editors, and journalists search the globe for material to fill the continuous, 24 hour news cycle, Africa has been portrayed as an arena of incessant crisis and irrational violenceeven as coverage has remained selective and partial. To document the paradox of this narrow global outlook, we present a content analysis of the New York Times' coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone. We suggest that human rights abuses in African wars demand a clearly-articulated, theoretically-grounded set of principles for media accountability in a world of globalized information flows.