Although I can’t claim to have carried out any scientific data collection on the subject, it seems that 30 days of 24/7 media exposure may not have been enough for fresh African motifs to permeate the Great Wall of Western Media Clichés.
With only 2 matches to go, apart from a few condescending pieces on Gauteng’s “Black Diamonds”, I don’t recall the World Cup being used as a backdrop for any major features on the various hubs of tech innovation in Africa, or the spread of mobile money solutions, or the fact that mobile phone penetration in Africa has finally passed the 50% mark.
But photo essays of dirty, forlorn looking children in rags playing with home-made footballs (fashioned from condoms, straw and plastic bags). Now that’s more like it! Especially if your photo essay can be be published in the New York Times under a headline as crass and trite as, “To Those With Nothing, Soccer is Everything”.
Photo credit: Jessica Hilltout
