Last year, the hashtag “TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShow You”  became a viral hit after the people of the continent rushed to try to put more of a positive look on this country. However what these people do not realize is that simply, America does not know about Africa in general. This isn’t completely due to stereotypes, however, but the lack of focus on the issues they face.

Media is continually accused of not knowing what they are  talking about when it comes to news on Africa or about Africa. An academic debate about this problem has been thriving for some time. In the meantime, nothing is actually changing.

CNN was a recent casualty in this offensive. According to the Guardian, last month it broadcast a not-uncharacteristically sensationalist report about grenade attacks in Nairobi, with a large on-screen banner screaming “VIOLENCE”, implying a wave of violent disturbances when in fact the attack was a one-off incident. Kenya’s abundant Twitter users created a “#SomeoneTellCNN” hashtag with such success that the US news giant was eventually pressured into something closely resembling an apology.

This happened due to the laziness that these news stations have in viewing this continent. The laziness makes them not focus on the prominent issues that they face because these news stations just assume that bad things happen so they do not need to focus on it. To put this into perspective: Europe gets complete US attention after two mass shootings from a terrorist group. Africa: deals with Boko Haram who have captured over 2000 miles of Northern Nigeria, who has been sending suicide bombers in Cameroon and other neighboring countries and also hasn’t released the women they captured last year.

Right now, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is being impeached from government and not one major news station is focusing on it. It is so horrendous that if you search “Zuma” on the US version of Google, you get the game Zuma over any form of this situation.Ebola still runs rampant in Libya.  This list sadly goes on and on without any focus.

When does it end? When will the troubles of Africa actually gets focused on and get  fixed? The news stations need to realize that they can not half-bake their coverage on Africa and need to stop being lazy about it, take the time to research what happens, and talk about the situations that happens there. In the words of John Oliver“You will leave school knowing as much about [Africa] as I know about actor Penn Badgley,” Oliver said. “You’ll know it’s something that exists in the world, but you won’t be able to give any facts about it other than the general shape.”