Of all CNN reporters, its chief international correspondent
and anchor of Amanpour, a nightly foreign affairs program on CNN International,
Christiane Amanpour, probably has about the most impressive following amongst
the Nigerian people. The reason is simple: Nigeria is a politically inclined
society and often times, Amanpour’s choice topic arouses the interests of its
people and this has kept them glued to Amanpour’s nightly show with as much
excitement.
A fortnight ago, Amanpour featured President Goodluck Jonathan
on her show in an interview that lasted about seven minutes. Jonathan, at the
time, was in Davos, Switzerland, for a World Economic Forum (WEF). It was in
the course of the interview that the issue of power came up in addition to
other topical issues thrown up by Amanpour.
Jonathan honestly responded to the issue of power as having
improved from what it used to be. He was confident enough and dared Amanpour to
check with an average Nigerian on the streets of Lagos, for instance.
Aside the President’s poor carriage and loss of composure
which almost marred the interview, he did not say anything out of place as far
as the issue of power was concerned. And truly, power has relatively improved
in many parts of the country, especially Lagos, except for the cynical. At
least, not what it used to be!
But immediately she was done with the Jonathan interview,
Amanpour ran an old documentary on Lagos, purportedly updating her viewers on
the state of the state. It was not her first, as such, not many bothered about
what more damning framing she had on the state and by extension, Nigeria. If
that was the Lagos Amanpour recently captured, it is certainly not the Lagos
from where this article emanated.
But an unsatisfied Amanpour who had probably expected to
hear something more denigrating about Nigeria from the President has continued
to see Nigeria as some kind of snafu comics. This was evident on Monday night
when she likened a 35-minute blackout at the Super Bowl during a game in New
Orleans to a common trait in Nigeria. Quite demeaning a comparison!
The game between Baltimore Ravens and 49ers at the Super
Bowl on Sunday- the third quarter final- was stopped midway when the Superdome
lost power for about 35 minutes. Ironically, it turned out the most watched
game in the US with an estimated 108,400,000 viewers.
But when Amanpour was to report it, she found Nigeria as a
perfect example to scorn, saying while Americans waited for the light to come
on, “Nigerians just chuckled,” adding: “They know all too well the problem of
power outages: Nigeria has been plagued by rolling blackouts that last hours,
sometimes even days.”
She went on to present several condescending tweets,
allegedly from Nigerians and later showed clips of some “foreign Nigerians”
who, according to Amanpour’s report, dismissed Jonathan’s assertion about
stable power.
Amanpour obviously had fun as she laughed away the Nigerian
situation on her show as if she was working on a special project about the
country. Unfortunately, her recent works on Nigeria have shown clear disdain,
hate and conscious attempt at trampling on whatever success Nigeria may boast
at this time.
Smartly, she goes about her duty, feigning a fringe of
diligence and thorough effort; it is clear to the discerning that she is not
acting in vacuum- Amanpour has a destination and all she is doing is go through
it in such a manner that would leave no trace or anyone in doubt as to her
intent.
It may not be clear yet what Amanpour’s ultimate drive is;
certainly, nothing from her can be further damaging. If this is her best on
Nigeria, then, the question is: where is developmental journalism/reporting?
With a career that is supposedly stellar and spans many
years in journalism, it is a challenge to Amanpour to flag any positive report
on Nigeria if indeed she nurses no ulterior intention in her reporting. It is
basically western journalism but who cares, really?
Journalism as every reporter knows it does not entertain
mischief as Amanpour has slanted her brand of reporting. She does not have to
resort to outright ridicule of a sovereign nation to churn out a fascinating
report or human interest story. Nigeria is not a circus neither is her
president a clown that should interest Amanpour's select audience so much that
she wants to make them a permanent feature on her programme.
It will be sheer naivety on Amanpour’s part to think she'd
hide under the cover of "good reporting" to malign Nigeria and her
people, believing no one could discern the twisted undertone.
Amanpour can catch her fun for all she likes, Nigeria is
certainly not what she thinks it is and it is not in Amanpour's place to
redefine the people and their government. Nigeria’s shortcoming
notwithstanding, it remains one uncommon country with people spread in
virtually every part of the world- doing extremely well in different human
endeavour. Yet, that is one thing Amanpour's most celebrated nations can only
crave but not have.
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