'TVRI' English news<\/p>\n
State-owned TVRI, one of Indonesia's television stations, used
\nto be my favorite. I profoundly love a number of their programs,
\nespecially the 6:30 p.m. English news. In fact, I am a keen
\nlistener of their Islamic programs, which I also highly
\nappreciate. What actually discourages me is that at the very
\nbeginning of the English news program, a multi-pictured twinkling
\nglobe is shown. The globe displays some very colorful events from
\naround the world with distinctive photos representing various
\ncontinents. For example, Asia\/Indonesia is represented by a photo
\nof APEC leaders (The event took place in Bogor, south of Jakarta,
\nin 1995).<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, TVRI found that a starving African boy is the
\nonly thing that should represent Africa, and so the boy's photo
\nalways appears on the twinkling globe that highlights coming news
\ndetails. This is painful, even though TVRI may not even be aware
\nthat many Africans in Indonesia may regularly watch their news
\nprograms. Further, they should remember that Indonesia-Africa
\nrelations are excellent.<\/p>\n
In recent years, we have seen more African countries opening
\nup diplomatic missions in Jakarta. The question an African may
\nprobably ask is: Does this ignorance of the African continent
\nindicate that TVRI doesn't know any beautiful aspect of African
\ncountries?<\/p>\n
Or is it just the usual prejudice toward Africa, that has been
\ngoing on in other places as well? It's displeasing to tell about
\nthe disgraceful pictures I saw on the same TVRI channel early in
\nApril, 1997. There was soccer report that seemed international. A
\nbleak and gloomy African boys' soccer team was shown for a few
\nseconds, with some fantastic Indonesian soccer footage
\nimmediately following. I wonder what was meant by this program.
\nCould this be an attempt to mold public opinion about certain
\ncountries? Really, TVRI was way off in this instance, as far as
\nsoccer is concerned. Africa is today an indisputable emerging
\ncontinent, whose marvelous performance is worthy of emulation by
\ndeveloping countries.<\/p>\n
BUHARI ABDU<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tvri-english-news-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }