The Five Media Narratives Of The World Cup

Over the next few weeks the media will make a worldwide kerfuffle over The World Cup. Already storylines are being framed. What is happening outside the tournament itself?

While I am no expert on Africa, I know media spin when I see it, so lets explore the shallow end, shall we?

1. "Crosstown Traffic". Much will be made about how bad the traffic is around the World Cup. Having once spent a half an hour in a mall parking lot in Accra, Ghana to go ninety feet on a Monday afternoon when the mall was quiet, I have news for you. The traffic problem is not about the World Cup, it is about Africa.

2. Small business being shut out. Cue the gut wrenching footage of a decent human being having their humble livelihood being ruined during the duration of a world event. Olympics, G20, World Cup. These events don't exist to help the little guy.

3. "Crime! Crime! Crime!" Yeah the crime rate is bad in parts of South Africa. Are things slowly getting better? I hope so. Are they better than they were? Yes. Is your city crime free? (oops, they won't ask that last question, it ruins the whole "Africa is dangerous" narrative)

4. "Shutting Out The Poor" Sadly many people in South Africa can't afford to go to the games. Western media will hit this one endlessly, but I'd like to see a show of hands on who among us can afford to go to a Super Bowl or an Olympic hockey game? There are a lot of reasons to feel sympathy for good people who lack for opportunity, but the inability to attend a sporting event are not among them.

5. "Will This Tournament Change Things?" The media will convey  this event as a watershed moment, but such moments are far more rare than the media would have you believe.For all the corruption, expense and injustice, this event presents an opportunity for a country and a continent, but despite all the bravado it is not a watershed moment; it is an incremental step forward.

And the only way things have ever improved for humans is through incremental steps.

So let us enjoy this historic moment within the proper context. The World Cup in Africa will prove not to be an answer, but a revealing of the next question.

And any way you slice it, that is a step forward.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com