"The Obscured Continent"

In the Columbia Journalism Review, Gal Beckerman considers the good intentions and bad assumptions behind Vanity Fair's new "Africa Issue." Egads.

"... it’s worth examining how Graydon Carter and his guest editor for the issue – yes, none other than Bono – went about bridging this divide between the style of Vanity Fair and the substance of Africa. It turns out that the “poverty-first” view of Africa’s problems suits their purposes perfectly. With the emphasis on the West’s obligation -- on Bono’s role in changing things, and not on some unknown African activist or opposition politician -- than the issue can have all the glamour of every other Vanity Fair and still be ostensibly about Africa."