Jeune Street

Here is Raakiya Omar and Alex de Waal:

Do pictures of Somalia show herdsmen tending large flocks of well-fed camels, or farmers cultivating ripening crops of sorghum and maize? Do they show vegetable markets flourishing in Mogadishu? Are we allowed to see clan elders negotiating a local cease fire, or the women who have turned their homes over to orphanages, filled with the laughter of healthy children? All these are just as much facets of life in Somalia today as looting and starvation, but they are not what we are shown.

The truth is that, even in the areas of the country stricken by famine, outright starvation is the exception. Most deaths are the result of disease. The great majority of people will survive-largely due to their own efforts. International food aid is much less important than food grown by local farmers, the maintenance of animal herds, having roots and berries to eat and charity of relatives and friends.

Considerations about newspaper sales have historically been important in driving news content ('if it bleeds it leads'), but I suspect this is changing with the expansion of digital media. The single defining image of an event or country is losing relevance. People want to understand news from multiple perspectives, and increasingly they consume media from news sites as well as blogs, radio and TV. The result, I think, will be a loss of credibility for those news outlets that continue to rely on one-dimensional reporting to attract audiences. At least I hope so.

As a great example of how photojournalism can tell a different story about Africa, check out Africa Knows.