Stop stereotyping with monkeypox reports

The Foreign Press Association, Africa, issued a statement on its official Twitter account on Saturday, registering its displeasure against media outlets using images of Black people alongside stories of the monkeypox outbreak in North America and the United Kingdom.

The fact is that many Western media outlets have long formed the habit of attributing all bad things to other regions of the world. For epidemic reports, they attach photos of Africans; when reporting business fraud, they link it to Asians; anything to do with shady deals and they hint at Eastern Europe.

Such stereotyping is offensive and in today's world it is casting a shadow on the fight against the pandemic.

By using images of Black people on reports about the monkeypox outbreak, the Western media outlets are creating a false impression. Some people might, as it often happens, just click on the report and look at the images and conclude it was something confined to Africa. By stressing that the disease was first reported in Africa and using such images, the websites end up creating a lasting impression in the minds of readers, which may not change even after they have read the whole story. It might then make them underestimate the threat from the disease in their own backyard, where cases have already been reported.

Because of existing prejudices, major Western societies are already divided. The improper use of such photographs will only deepen the divides. When a society links an "epidemic" with "Africans" or "Blacks", any efforts to promote racial equality will fall by the wayside.

The use of images of Black people in reports about monkeypox is only one of the many examples of stereotyping. As indicated earlier, there are others that target other communities. Stereotyping is already a big problem in the West. Such reports simply make it worse.