The New York Times - November 24, 1986
John Corry

For one thing, it says, African governments can be uncooperative, even obstructive. The program follows several journalists as they report stories; bureaucracies get in their way. For another thing, the program insists, editors in the United States aren't interested in black Africa.

As proof, Hodding Carter 3d, the principal correspondent on "Assignment Africa," notes that in the first six months of 1986, the evening news broadcasts on the three major television networks devoted only 1 percent of their news time to black Africa. The networks have no full-time correspondents in black Africa. The Cable News Network, which set up a bureau in Nairobi, Kenya, two years ago, has American television coverage virtually to itself.

Therefore, "Assignment Africa" follows CNN's Gary Strieker. The segments, rather like "a day in the life of," are fascinating. Mr. Strieker pursues, unsuccessfully, a story on AIDS in Uganda. A hospital official insists there are only 31 cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in all Africa. Later Mr. Strieker is in the southern Sudan. This time, his persistence is rewarded. He finds evidence of famine in a camp near the Kenyan border.

"Assignment Africa" - David Royle is the producer, Ned Schnurman the executive producer - also visits Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Various journalists, including Mohamed Amin of Visnews, the international television news agency, pursue their trade. Mr. Amin was one of the first television correspondents to report on the catastrophic Ethiopian famine.

Meanwhile, in interviews, various interested parties, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta and newsmen from ABC comment on news coverage. A cheer for ABC here; people at NBC and CBS apparently declined to be interviewed.

In general, the interested parties say, journalists look at black Africa only in times of crisis. When a story is reported, Mr. Carter declares, "it is almost always one of disaster and drought, of famine and fear, of civil war and despotic rule."

This is true. At the same time, one wishes that "Assignment Africa" had indicated the stories that journalists supposedly are missing. Mr. Carter and others suggest that progress in Zimbabwe has been ignored, and that the accomplishments of Robert Mugabe have been "obscured." Is that all? The program would have been stronger if it had been more specific. Are the absent components of news coverage political, social or economic?

Nonetheless, "Assignment Africa" is responsible, even provocative. Watch it if you're interested in either black Africa or the American press.

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