African Journalists have slammed media outlets using images of black people alongside stories of monkeypox outbreak in predominantly white communities, saying such reporting and images promote “negative stereotype” assigning the “Calamity to the African race.”
This past week a handful of cases of Monkeypox were detected in Portugal, Britain, Spain and the US, with cases rising in the virus which is expected to consume the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus. The virus can occur in any region of the world, regardless of race or ethnicity.
“It is therefore disturbing for European and North American media outlets to use stock images bearing persons of black and dark and African skin complexion to depict an outbreak of the disease in the United Kingdom and North America,” said the offended press association.
“Shouldn’t it be logical that if you are talking about the outbreak of Monkeypox in Europe or the Americas you should use images of hospitals across Europe or the Americas? Or in the absence of such use a collection of electronic micrographs with labelled subcellular structures?
Monkeypox symptoms include chills, muscle aches, fever, exhaustion and chickenpox-like rash on the hands and face. There is no treatment available for it, but the symptoms usually clear up within two to four weeks.
Experts believe that Monkeypox is spread through close intimate skin on skin contact which someone who has rash. That should make it’s spread easier to contain once infections are identified, experts say.
The Foreign Press Association urged editorial managers in news outlets outside of Africa to update their editorial policies and censure their staff from using images of Africans when they refer to Monkeypox.” FPPA offers its readiness to support media houses seeking to review their editorial policies to reflect correct framing of Africa, people of African descent and people living in Africa,” it said. Source: IOL, TRT World, Yahoo News, The Bharat Express News, image from BBC New
