Katerina Mansour
       Staff Writer

Boko Haram has been a growing terrorist threat over the past few years.

Its activities have focused mainly on Nigeria and its border states: Chad and Cameroon. Its recent attacks in Dalori and Walonri led to a conservative estimate of 86 deaths and numerous injuries.

These attacks have been a stark warning to governments that military action alone will not put an end to Boko Haram. This has raised the question as to whether the Islamic extremist group can be defeated at all. Large amounts of aid and resources have been utilized to date in the struggle against Boko Haram with no real success thus far.

However, these recent attacks are not what I would like to focus on in this article. Rather, my focus is on Western media and its lack of coverage of these attacks.

It is no secret that the West finds little interest in Africa. The media seems to prefer heart-breaking commercials depicting the starving children in Africa, which cannot be denied, but they ignore informing us of the root causes.

The second most reported news out of Africa is the recent Ebola outbreak. Coverage of this subject seemed to have a glaring slant towards instilling fear that the virus would soon wreak havoc on Western states.

Yet, little or nothing regarding the vicious attacks by Boko Haram.

News coverage on Africa leaves much to be desired. Most of the West would rather just throw some money at Africa in the hope that it sorts stuff out. But that money would be much better spent if it included staff and resources aimed towards identifying and resolving the problems various African countries are facing.

I mean, think about it, most of the time when you hear about Africa on television or in the news, it is either some sort of pitch asking for donations or a brief broadcast with the undertone like, “So Africa is going through some really tough stuff, as always, now let’s get back to that Iowa coin flip!”

I’ve grown increasingly exhausted by the way the West views Africa. I can only find news about events such as Boko Haram’s recent attacks if I go and search for specific articles on the internet.

Nobody is sharing anything about it on Facebook. Nobody is changing his or her profile picture for the victims. Nobody on CNN cares. And therefore, the majority of the West has no idea what is going on or how it came to be.

The African continent has 54 countries. Fifty-four. These 54 countries host an enormous variety of different cultures, languages, traditions, economies, resources, histories, social movements, music, films and political ideas.

Africa has some of the world’s fastest growing economies. It has some of the most innovative political and economic thinkers. It has some of the most artistically creative minds of this world.

Yet, Africa to the Western populace is just that place far away where people starve and die all the time. It’s that place that always needs the West to save them.

The problem isn’t just a lack of coverage of important security threat issues such as Boko Haram or other important political events going on. It is also the lack of reporting good things that happen as well.

Why can’t we see more articles talking about Africa’s successes? Why don’t we see any focus on Africa’s medical innovations? Why don’t we hear about the dedication of African youths to their education?

Why don’t we talk about how Ethiopia’s economy grew 8.7 percent last year and has remained a stable and peaceful environment, promoting even further growth for this year?

A change within Western media must happen in order for us to alter the Western perspective on what Africa is about and how we associate ourselves to the continent.

We should not be seeing Africa as that place where we just throw a bunch of money to try and save people; or that place where people are doomed no matter what we do; or that place where people have traditions and beliefs that scare us because they’re not what we view as normal.

I want to be able to readily access news about African nations. I want to be able to bring up something like Boko Haram’s recent attacks to my peers without them giving me blank stares and nodding their heads robotically as they try to hide the fact that they have no idea what is going on. I want us to all be educated at least in basic terms with regards to Africa and its 54 countries.

Surely, African nations would also have more respect for the West if we showed that we care about them beyond simply trying to always be their savior, while simultaneously knowing nothing about what is happening in their countries.

That respect could mean a lot, and could change the way cooperation between Africa and the West has worked out thus far.