Category Archives: Journalism

A quiet morning

Posted on July 26, 2018 by admin

It’s one of the those mornings here in Lusaka, where you head out of the drive at the usual time, and within 5 minutes you notice that it all seems a little too quiet. It’s a sort of mid-week Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, Politics | 4 Comments

From Freetown, farewell Chris Simpson (1963-2016)

Posted on October 25, 2016 by admin

Over the last few days a diverse range of Africanists discovered they all had one friend in common, and that he had just died in an apartment in Dakar. The reporting legend that was Chris Simpson has left us. Others … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Jobs for the boys

Posted on August 6, 2016 by admin

If there’s a story that depresses me almost more than any other when I survey the Ivorian newspaper front pages, it’s the headlines from ruling party youth members that they’ve been “forgotten”. Youth employment is a tragic and major issue … Continue reading →

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The editorial meeting

Posted on January 8, 2016 by admin

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the RTI (state tv) morning editorial meeting today. Here’s my imagined fictional account just for fun: Editor: “Ok, folks silence, let’s make a start. [Quiet descends, nervous glances, visible stress] As you … Continue reading →

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A quiet spell

Posted on December 15, 2015 by admin

It might have escaped your notice, but I haven’t blogged here for a while. Since setting up Drogba’s Country in 2011, I’ve been pretty consistent in blogging about Ivory Coast despite having left the country at the end of 2012. Nevertheless, I … Continue reading →

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Journal Gbayé – Ivory Coast’s news in rap and nouchi

Posted on March 28, 2015 by admin

I’d seen the stories about the rap news in Senegal (the JT rappé) , but now from the same outfit we have an Ivorian version, rapped/sung in French and Nouchi (local Ivorian street slang), with support from George Soros’ Open … Continue reading →

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Oil production in Ivory Coast

Posted on January 12, 2015 by admin

A recent report on Ivory Coast’s oil taxes on koaci.com caught my eye. Oil production in 2014 was apparently ‘19,000 bpd’, described in the article as ‘a significant reduction from the figures reported last year.’ But there was good news as well … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Journalism | Leave a comment

What’s going on down on the farm?

Posted on April 26, 2014 by admin

I’ve bemoaned before on this blog the lack of quality (or almost any) coverage of rural issues in the Ivorian national press. With half of the population living in rural areas, agriculture being far-and-away the largest employer (largely informally, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Journalism | Leave a comment

Checkpoint extortion

Posted on July 3, 2013 by admin

It’s interesting to see how the likes of Amnesty, International Crisis Group and above all Human Rights Watch have started to move into investigative journalism. This HRW report from this week is a good read. Overall there are many positives in … Continue reading →

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Surviving as a freelance journalist

Posted on July 1, 2012 by admin

With plenty of doom and gloom in the Western world, and even sometimes in large media houses, how can you survive as a freelance journalist without a secure income? Well, firstly, as Martin at HotelIvory has pointed out a few times, … Continue reading →

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