New York Times

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

The New York Times “debates” South Africa’s future

I have no idea why I was thrilled to see a debate on the chief maladies of post-apartheid South Africa on the New York Times’ website. I honestly should’ve known better, but I just get excited whenever the Times covers South Africa, even if they only ever write about Mandela, xenophobia, and capital flight. The “debate” turned out

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Sympathy for the ‘Devil’

This past Sunday’s New York Times features a delightful article (“A Visit From the Devil: Feared Traditional Priest From Ghana Spends a Year in the Bronx”) on Ghanaian priest Nana Kwaku Bonsam’s year-long residency in the Bronx. Reporter Jed...

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

Egyptian Women [are not willing to be] Blamed for Sexual Assaults

One of yesterday’s New York Times headlines addressed the problem of sexual violence in Egypt that has “become too big to ignore”. The article by Mayy El Sheikh and David Kirkpatrick, “Rise in Sexual Assaults in Egypt Sets off...

Monday, March 25th, 2013

What The New York Times forgot to tell you about the Explosion of Digital Music in Africa

This morning I started my week reading the following on the New York Times’ website: “Digital music, responsible for the improvement in the industry’s brighter overall outlook, has failed to catch on across much of Africa.” To be...

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Ben Affleck makes the DRC cool again

The New York Times, in its infinite wisdom (it comes with being The New York Times), decided that one of the paper’s reporters, one Brooks Barnes, should write what amounts to a fluff piece (it’s not actual...

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

The Western Journalist in Africa

In 1982, as the air force-led coup attempt in Kenya unfolded, we sat glued to our transistor radio listening to the BBC and Voice of America (VOA). In fact, the more the oppressive the Moi regime censored...