COMPARING CGTN AFRICA AND BBC AFRICA’S COVERAGE OF CYCLONE IDAI IN AFRICA: A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STANDARD AND GEOGRAPHICAL PROXIMITY APPROACH

Patrick Owusu Ansah¹, Guo Ke²

¹Mr, Shanghai International Studies University, China, nansah88@yahoo.com
²Prof, Shanghai International Studies University, China, keguo@shisu.edu.cn

Abstract

This study comparatively analysed how China Global Television Network Africa (CGTN Africa) and British Broadcasting Corporation Africa (BBC Africa), as the only broadcasting global media firms with state-of-the-art news production centres in Africa, covered the Cyclone Idai (2019) on the basis of their social responsibility standards and geographical proximity. For the study, Cyclone Idai with restricted predictable nature has been selected in order to observe global media coverage, in both pre and post Cyclone Idai phases.

This study concludes that CGTN Africa and BBC Africa covered Cyclone Idai (2019) on the basis of their social responsibility role by focusing much on the human interest aspect of the disaster in their broadcasts. But, CGTN Africa further went on to give more attention to the recovery and reliefs too, which BBC Africa left unnoticed. Although, CGTN Africa and BBC Africa gave comparatively sufficient coverage to post-Cyclone Idai period yet certain significant disaster related features received low or no coverage during their social responsibility role. It was found that CGTN Africa didn’t give much coverage to responsibility, economic consequences and preventive actions, whiles BBC Africa did same including recovery and relief actions.   
The study found that geographical proximity has impacted the frequency global medias coverage of Africa, as CGTN Africa and BBC Africa together published 102 articles about Cyclone Idai. But CGTN Africa played their social responsibility role effectively as they published more news stories than BBC Africa in relation to frequency used as the operational framework of this study’s geographical proximity.

This study discovered that CGTN Africa and BBC Africa ignored the pre phase of Cyclone Idai and gave immense coverage to the post-disaster phase, as only the former published one news story for the pre phase of the catastrophe. Since there is restricted predictability of tropical cyclones, absence of media coverage before the calamity was in a way justifiable.

Keywords: Social responsibility, Cyclone Idai, CGTN Africa, BBC Africa