The paper argues that over the past thirty years there has been a steady decline in the attentionWestern media have given to reporting Africa. And the end of the cold war has exacerbated thislack of interest. When sub-Saharan Africa is covered in the news it is uniformly as a tale ofdisaster and conflict. There is rarely much context or background in the reports. In part this isdue to changing priorities in news coverage but also part of the wider trend of the disappearanceof TV current affairs on mainstream channels in the UK. It argues that if in 2005 Britishpoliticians are seeking to reinvent our perceptions of Africa and the way that the West engageswith it, then the role of the media and the stories it reports on Africa will have a pivotal role inthat process.This is the year of Africa. British politicians are falling over themselves to declare2005 a unique opportunity for the west to sort out Africa’s problems. Tony Blair’sprestigious Africa Commission published its report, Our Common Interest, at theend of March; Gordon Brown has been on a well-publicised tour, highlightingdebt in Africa. In July 2005 Britain hosted the G8 conference at which greatpronouncements were expected on the fate of Africa and in September there wasthe UN Millennium summit. But how is Africa being reported and did the mediause 2005 as an opportunity to take Africa seriously? Over the past thirty yearsthere has been a steady decline in the attention we have given to reporting Africa.This presents a paradox; for just as communications and technology haveimproved so the coverage of difficult to reach and faraway places has in somecases deteriorated. It is now easier to fly to remote locations and to broadcaststories from them, but we are no longer so inclined to do it. There are threeprincipal forces behind this. Firstly there is the overall way that Africa is perceivedas a story, secondly the changing priorities in reporting news and thirdly the widertrend of the disappearance of TV current affairs.: