BBC Africa Eye and changing perceptions of Western media among Nigerian audiences

Abstract

Although the dominant narrative among Africans is that Western media portray Africa in a one-sided and negative way, this belief is being challenged as a result of the intervention of the BBC’s Africa Eye documentaries. Although the series focuses on the dark side of Africa, it succeeds in revealing, in great detail, hidden stories about Africa, particularly Nigeria, of which many citizens were ignorant. As such, negative coverage may help to correct social anomalies and chart a way forward for correcting them. This development is a game-changer that has restored Nigerian audiences' confidence in Western media.

Keywords

BBC Africa Africa Eye Nigerian audiences

Nigerian audiences have moved from demonising Western media to praising it, and the BBC, through its Africa Eye (2018) documentaries, is instrumental to this new development. In a way, Africa Eye is a game changer in the context of how Nigerians view the BBC’s and other Western media’s reportage of African affairs. This changing narrative about Africa Eye challenges the dominant narratives about foreign media’s negative and often poorly informed coverage of Africa. In fact, the comments that ensued when Africa Eye investigative journalists exposed crimes perpetuated by the Black Axe confraternity in Nigeria stirred some positive reactions from Nigerian audiences, who thanked the BBC for exposing the ills of the ‘deadly’ cult group in Nigeria. This implies a shift in support for the BBC, as well as a shift in opinions towards the Western media organisation and representation of Africa.

Africa Eye is a documentary programme launched by the BBC in 2018. A segment of BBC Africa, the programme utilises a network of investigative journalists throughout the African continent with the goal of exposing hidden issues and rooting out injustice in Africa. The programme has a reputation for employing investigative methods to expose hidden atrocities in Nigeria and Africa at large. Before the launch of the Africa Eye programme, Nigerian audiences and scholars alike appeared to have lost interest in the BBC and other Western media outlets in view of decades of sustained negative portrayal of Africa, and the absence of a clear knowledge of the local dynamics that shape the African continent and people. The central argument here is not that Western media should not report anomalies in Africa, but this must be the truth and not a half-truth fabricated to appeal to pre-existing perceptions. Indeed, the belief among some Nigerian audiences is that nothing positive could come from BBC and other Western media about Africa since their portrayals of Africa have always been a ‘backdrop to calamity’ (Franks, 2010). The renowned Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie, for instance, described the global media coverage of Africa as a ‘single story’ (Adichie, 2009). Due to lack of time or resources, journalists only report what they see on the surface without digging deep into issues, leading to one-dimensional, shallow and stereotypical coverage. Africans, and Nigerians in particular, were of the view that they should be given opportunity or positioned to tell their own stories, as one cannot tell a story on behalf of another person and expect it to be accurate. This call seems to have been heard as BBC Africa employ African journalists who have more in-depth knowledge of the various local dynamics in Africa.

With the launch of Africa Eye, Nigerian audiences for the first time showed significant interest in Western media not only because the programme openly investigates and broadcasts verifiable news, but also because the programme enabled Africans to tell their own stories, digging deep into national concerns. Africa Eye is led by a network of hundreds of African journalists working in synergy across the continent, including teams in Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone. The programme has enjoyed wide acceptance among Africans, particularly Nigerians. As such, it has now assumed ‘a superhero’ status for many. For instance, in October 2019, Africa Eye exposed the menace of sex-for-grades in Nigerian and Ghanaian universities. Though there has always been a rumour in Nigeria that university lecturers are abusing students by demanding sexual favours in return for good grades, Nigerian media outlets never mustered the courage to dig into the issue as BBC Africa did. Exposing the act increased audiences' interest in the programme. Partly as a result of interest in Africa Eye, Nigeria ranked third among the top 10 countries with the highest BBC News audiences with 37,200,000 viewers in 2020 (Advanced Television, 2020). Africa Eye has a significant audience base in Nigeria and across Africa who trust BBC News because of their in-depth reports.

Africa Eye and improving trust in the BBC

Many media scholars have argued that, to gain public trust, news outlets need to increase the quality of their reporting. For example, media organisations are advised to minimise the clickbait that can end up deceiving and annoying the audience, and to apply professional journalistic standards of checking and verifying stories (Heuer and Breiter, 2018; Park et al., 2020). When news providers have low standards, there is a fall in trust (Fisher, 2016). As such, news outlets need to do a better job of separating facts from opinion and ensure collaboration among journalists from different backgrounds (Fisher, 2016). This is the approach taken in Africa Eye, which established a network of skilled investigative journalists across the African continent and collaborated with freelance journalists. The programme was launched in April 2018 to foster the culture of investigative journalism across Africa and develop the talents of African investigative journalists. Nisha Kapur, BBC Africa’s television commissioning editor, stated that the programmes are based on in-depth reporting that holds those in positions of power accountable (BBC Media Centre, 2018). Furthermore, Africa Eye addresses issues that are of great interest and importance to African audiences. Since the programme was launched, it has exposed many misdeeds in Africa, such as bribery in Ghanaian football, human organ harvesting in Malawi, government atrocities in Cameroon, child trafficking in Kenya, jihadists in Mozambique and organised crime in Nigeria. The impact of the programme has been felt, including bans on the production of Codeine in Nigeria and Ghana, establishing a Kenyan national task force for investigating child trafficking, and the shutdown of abusive drug treatment centres.

On 13 December 2021, a documentary by BBC Africa Eye exposed the activities of a cult in Nigeria, known as the Black Axe, a student fraternity that has turned into a global movement. This group, which operates mostly at higher education institutions, has played a role in many crimes across Nigeria, causing destruction of lives and property. Founded in Benin in 1977, the group initially were set up with ideological goals and in opposition to a rival group known as ‘Pirates’. The increased violence between the Black Axe cult and other groups which became prominent in the 1980s on campuses of Southern Nigerian Universities, leading to the removal of its operation from University Campuses in 1994 (Ajayi et al., 2010). However, its persistence on tertiary campuses, activities and members were not known until the BBC through the Africa Eye programme, which linked the group to various crimes, including fraud and murder. The magnitude of the problem was unknown until exposed via BBC reporting. Investigations into the activities of the confraternity by Africa Eye started two years before they were exposed, interviewing former members and poring over thousands of documents believed to have been hacked by prominent members of the group. Peter Macjob, the investigator, undertook considerable risk by visiting two locations in Nigeria: Lagos and Benin, both of which are famed for the syndicate’s activities. Emails obtained by the BBC Africa Eye investigation reveal that Black Axe’s senior members include renowned Nigerian businessmen, political party candidates, and public officers. They were involved in arranging internet fraud garnering millions of dollars. Politicians and university lecturers were also accused of being involved. The exposure of the Black Axe group in this documentary, given the power of the confraternity and the risk to reporters, led to a noticeably positive audience response to BBC journalism and Africa Eye.

BBC Africa Eye: Appraising Nigerian audience perception

Through the Africa Eye documentary series, the BBC has continuously engaged audiences with local, regional and national issues. The revelation of the activities of the Black Axe confraternity in Nigeria through Africa Eye, as highlighted above, has led to the BBC being perceived as taking heroic risks, given the consequences and dangers involved in bringing the hidden atrocities of Nigerian society to the limelight for audiences to see. This was particularly noteworthy because the BBC did not shy away from exposing highly placed and public office holders involved. Since Africa Eye was launched, a vast majority of Nigerian audiences have perceived the programme as a credible and reliable source of authentic information. To ascertain a Nigerian audience perspective of the BBC in relation to the documentary on the Black Axe confraternity, I employed a qualitative strategy to analyse the comment section of the BBC Africa Eye Facebook page (Facebook, 2021) as well as the YouTube Channel of BBC News Africa (YouTube, 2021). BBC News Africa posted a brief clip on Facebook with a link to the full investigation of the programme on its YouTube channel, from which the audience watched and commented on. Commenters expressed mixed views, a majority of which praised the Africa Eye team for a job well done. Their responses largely suggest that BBC Africa provides accurate and impartial news and factual programming that built people’s understanding of what is happening in Nigeria and Africa at large. These perceptions were perhaps formed due to the depth of analysis in the programming, and because BBC Africa employ journalists of African origin, thereby enabling Africans to tell their own stories. Analysis of the Facebook comments on the broadcast of the programme shows that Nigerian audience members appreciate the doggedness of BBC journalists in creating awareness and informing audiences about such societal problems. The audience who commented on the issue praised BBC Africa on their tenacity in creating awareness of Black Axe, and for revealing the most prominent men and public office holders in Nigeria who are part of the syndicate. For instance, one commented: ‘the bravery of everyone who was part of this documentary is outstanding. They know they could possibly be killed for involvement but still choose to lend their help.’ This shows that contrary to the earlier perception of the BBC and other Western media being stereotypical in their report of Africa, Nigerians appreciate Africa Eye for exposing social ills. The statement aligned with another comment by an undergraduate student at Lagos State University, who noted that Africa Eye should be recognised for its tenacity, accuracy and objectivity: ‘…this documentary should win an international award, and their efforts etched in history. This work throws a lot of light into a reality in Nigeria that even some homegrown Nigerians didn’t know the details of till now. Thank you for educating us, BBC Africa’.

Consequently, with its high-impact journalism and pioneering use of open-source investigations, Africa Eye has quickly established itself as the Panorama (1953-) of Nigeria and Africa at large. It is depended on by some audiences as an accurate and trustworthy source of TV news more than any other news channels in Nigeria as comments from the Facebook page and YouTube Channel of the BBC News Africa indicate. This comes as a surprise owing to the earlier notion that the BBC and other Western media have been one-sided and portray Africa as a region of calamity. One could wonder, is it not the same negative stories that Western media have been accused of that Africa Eye carries? Why has BBC Africa suddenly become a trustworthy source of news, and what has the BBC done differently that ignited the trust? These questions beg for answers through empirical study. Arguably the difference between the Africa Eye programme and the BBC at large, accused of shallow coverage of Nigeria and Africa, is that their news is more in-depth and grounded in investigative journalism, which takes months and years for atrocities to be revealed. This draws attention to the journalistic methods of the BBC and thus helps to establish trust.

There is no question that the BBC’s decision to work with journalists from Africa and giving them a platform endows a sense that Africans were empowered to tell their own stories for themselves. For instance, when the menace of the Black Axe confraternity was exposed through the documentary programme, one of the audience members of the programme asserted that the broadcast was one of the factual reports from the Western media he has ever received. According to him:

BBC news is usually authentic; it is the only media you can trust for reliable information. Not only is this documentary incredibly accurate, but for those who are unaware, this should be very eye-opening into the Black Axe and related confraternities in Nigeria.

With the provisions of a high-quality output in the form of in-depth investigations of issues, Africa Eye is believed to have set a regional standard that is now distinct from those provided in Nigeria as programme-makers take creative risks to bring facts to the audiences. With the open investigation through which Africa Eye exposed the atrocities of the cult group, one audience member of the programme wrote:

No one can deny that this is happening; we can see it open, not hidden from us, ranging from the university lecturers, politicians, students, and the name of their gang leader. This is the method of the report other Nigerian media should emulate, make it open for us, I dare they can’t do it.

Since Africa Eye exposes anomalies and seeks redress from the relevant authorities, the programme focuses on the critical role that in-depth, systematic reporting plays in combating corruption and crime, promoting accountability, and fostering transparency to issues or events.

It is noteworthy that, despite reporting on hard-hitting stories, Africa Eye is perceived as providing ‘balance’, rather than the negative ‘single story’ previously associated with BBC news stories about Africa. Commenters do not appear to perceive this as simply ‘negative reporting’, noting instead the quality of the journalism and the bravery of BBC journalists in bringing these issues to light. Audience comments suggest that there are realities in their society that need to be confronted, and that BBC journalism has helped to accomplish this. Nigerian audiences now appear to see the BBC as a game-changer whose interventions have changed the erstwhile held narrative about Western media portrayals of Africa. Indeed, audiences appear to support the Africa Eye crew to expand the horizon of investigative drives in Africa.

This piece is a provocation, providing only a brief overview of this issue. As such, in-depth empirical research is needed for a broader and robust understanding into how Nigerian television audiences are changing their perspectives about Western media portrayal of Africa, particularly the BBC whose Africa Eye documentaries appear to be gaining more audiences and veering from its colonial reputation. Therefore, by investing in proper African journalism, the BBC is starting to move away from its colonialist reputation as a purveyor of the ‘single story’ about Africa to a more nuanced account by employing Africans to tell the African stories.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biography

Ekwutosi Sanita Nwakpu is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and PhD student at Edge Hill University, UK. Before joining Edge Hill University, she was an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Nigeria. She holds a Master’s Degree (MA) in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester and a BSc in Mass Communication from Ebonyi State University, Nigeria. Her current research focuses on the mediation of distant and proximal suffering as well as audience studies.

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