OPINION: Los Angeles Inferno- Western media’s influence in affecting response to conflict and disaster in the West versus Africa
By Hans Ngala
Over the past week, the world has watched in horror as wildfires have ravaged the Pacific Palisades, a picturesque coastal neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The images of flames engulfing the lush, affluent area have dominated international news. Western media, from CNN to BBC to The New York Times, has been abuzz with coverage. Victims have been named, and their grief, struggles, and resilience have been at the forefront of every report. Fundraising campaigns have sprung up almost overnight, and the governments of Canada and Mexico – the US’ northern and southern neighbors – have rushed to provide aid. The sympathy and support pouring in from across the globe have been swift and overwhelming. And rightly so.
In the midst of the disaster, President Donald Trump—who has long denied the existence of climate change—has seized the opportunity to blame California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, for the wildfires. Trump’s claim that the fires are a direct result of “poor management” (and not climate change) has been widely reported. Trump said, “California is just burning up. The state has been poorly run for years, and it’s time to get a grip.” Trump’s rhetoric is aimed at delegitimizing the response to the fires and shifting blame away from the broader issue of climate change to the state’s governor.
The stark contrast between coverage of these tragic wildfires and the way conflicts and natural disasters in Africa or the Middle East are often portrayed, is impossible to ignore. It is important to note this because the media is both a conduit of power as well as a form of power, and the way stories are told makes a difference as to how people respond to those stories.
While the fires in California receive relentless media attention, with personal stories of victims being shared on social media, the same level of care and commitment is often not extended to African countries or regions embroiled in conflict or going through humanitarian catastrophe, such as the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon or the ongoing strife in places like Somalia, Sudan, Gaza, Afghanistan, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
While the fires have largely raged on (in part due to the fact that houses in the US tend to be made of wood boards and not mostly cement and concrete as in many parts of Africa), this is hardly mentioned in reportage. The same tragedy in Africa would have been quickly blamed on poverty, poor housing, poor farming methods, poor governance, and a lack of adequate firefighting personnel or equipment, even though some of these same reasons are also true of the conflagration in Los Angeles. However, the tragic fires in California have humbled us all to realize that natural disasters can happen to any of us, even the richest and strongest—a lesson America is only now learning.
Media Focus: Victims’ Faces and Fundraising in the West
When natural disasters occur in wealthy, Western countries, the media often focuses on individuals, emphasizing their identities and struggles. Victims in California’s wildfires, for instance, are often shown in full-color photos, with their names and personal stories shared widely. The story of Rory Sykes made the news immediately when he died in the fires. His career as an actor and his age, replete with photos, were shared—humanizing the story in a way that African victims rarely get humanized. The BBC even wrote a feature-length report titled “What We Know About LA Fires Victims,” sharing the victims’ personal stories with some of their photos.
Immediate calls for aid have been made, with celebrities, organizations, and politicians raising funds to help those affected. As the fires rage on, the media narrative focuses not just on the destruction but on recovery efforts, hopeful stories of survival, and the determination of local communities to rebuild.
In stark contrast, African nations suffering from humanitarian crises rarely see the same level of empathy or immediate assistance. The situation in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, where the ongoing conflict between English-speaking separatists and the central government has led to the deaths of thousands and the displacement of over a million people, has gone largely ignored by the international community. Despite reports from human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and Amnesty International that document the deteriorating situation of civilians—including widespread violence, kidnappings, and torture—the crisis does not receive the same level of consistent media coverage or public outpouring of support as those in the West.
Two significant natural disasters in Africa highlight the slow international response to crises on the continent. In 2019, Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, causing widespread devastation. Despite the massive loss of life and displacement of millions, international media coverage was minute and international aid was slow to arrive. Similarly, in 2020, heavy rains in the Sahel region caused severe flooding in countries like Niger and Chad, displacing hundreds of thousands. Again, international media coverage was sparse and though humanitarian organizations rallied to provide assistance, the scale of the response was limited compared to what we are witnessing in response to the inferno in California.
In 2024, Cyclone Batsirai struck parts of Madagascar, causing widespread destruction, with heavy rains, floods, and winds that left thousands displaced and hundreds dead. Despite the severity of the disaster, international coverage was limited, and aid was slow to materialize. Unlike the swift global response we’re currently witnessing in relation to the fires in Los Angeles, Madagascar’s plight received minimal media attention and as a result, the international community offered little assistance.
The disparity in these responses underscores the unequal attention and urgency afforded to crises based on geographic, racial and economic biases.
Refugees from the West vs. Africa and the Middle East and Climate Realism
When discussing refugees (the victims of conflict or natural disasters), Western media coverage also diverges sharply depending on the geographical origin of those fleeing conflict. Refugees from Ukraine, for example, are often presented as victims deserving of help and compassion, with images of families, children, and elderly individuals fleeing their homes. One commentator didn’t even hide his racism in 2022 when he said Ukrainians deserved pity because they had “blonde hair and blue eyes.” Similarly, Israeli victims of violence, especially during periods of heightened conflict with Palestine, are portrayed as innocent civilians caught in a tragic situation while Palestinians in Gaza are never afforded the same humanity in reportage.
In contrast, refugees from African and Arab nations are often depicted in dehumanizing terms. The global media frequently treats them as faceless masses, and there is a tendency to associate them with issues such as terrorism or economic instability. African and Arab refugees seeking asylum in Europe or the United States are often seen as unwelcome, with political discourse focusing on issues of “invasion” and “illegal immigration” rather than humanitarian assistance. This stark difference in how refugees from the Global South are portrayed versus those from the Global North is indicative of the broader racial and geopolitical biases that underpin international media coverage, as well as the power dynamics at play behind media coverage.
A particularly egregious example of this bias was on full display in President Donald Trump’s remarks during his campaign for a second term. In late 2024, he made an inflammatory comment about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, claiming that they were “eating cats and dogs.” These racially charged (and false) statements were widely condemned, but also reflected the larger narrative that undermines the dignity of African refugees or people of African descent, further entrenching negative stereotypes about them.
Another issue which the fires in Los Angeles have highlighted is the truth that climate change is real and that it can affect even rich nations too. For a long time, many Western nations tended to rebuff climate action, seeing it as something that was mainly the responsibility of nations in the Global South. But the LA fires have made us realize otherwise. In an article titled “The L.A. Fires Show the Need for Climate Realism” written for the Council on Foreign Relations, Varun Sivaram argues that “The wildfires scorching the region around Los Angeles are likely to be the most expensive in history. But future climate change-related disasters will certainly top them in cost.”
In late 2024, Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change warned that some provinces in Cameroon would see unprecedented levels of rainfall—and they did. The rains were so torrential that landslides occurred in the West Region of the country, and some deaths were even recorded as a result.
The recent fires in California should serve as a wake-up call for Western nations, especially the U.S., to take climate change seriously. The wildfires in Los Angeles and surrounding areas – burning largely due to droughts that only ended two years ago – have already caused an estimated $150 billion in damages according to a BBC news report citing AccuWeather, and experts warn that the economic costs of climate-related disasters will continue to rise as global temperatures increase. The destruction of homes, infrastructure, and ecosystems in California highlights the urgent need for comprehensive climate action, not just as a problem for developing nations, but as an issue that directly affects the rich and powerful as well. It is no longer just a distant problem for poorer countries; this is a crisis that transcends borders, and the U.S. must heed the warnings of climate experts. If the nation’s leadership refuses to act, the consequences will only become more severe and widespread. Every tragedy, regardless of its location, needs to be humanized, as its impact can be felt across the globe.
Africa’s Crises: Disproportionate Indifference
The media’s failure to cover African crises with the same urgency and compassion that is afforded to Western events is particularly evident when it comes to protracted conflicts. The Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, which has been dragging on for nearly a decade now, has received limited coverage in the international press, even when the Norwegian Refugee Council listed it as the world’s most neglected crisis in 2019 and again in 2020, further compounded by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite the tireless work of human rights organizations documenting the atrocities being committed by both separatists and central government forces, there is little international mainstream media attention to the plight of the people in the region. The inability of the international community to adequately respond to this crisis has allowed it to fester, with thousands of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
One of the core reasons for this disproportionate coverage is the media’s perception of Africa as a “lost cause.” Africa is often painted as a monolithic continent rife with violence, corruption, and instability—stereotypes that serve to justify inaction. This narrative leads to a dehumanizing portrayal of African peoples as passive victims, rather than active agents in their own right. This is not to say that these things are entirely false, but rather that a one-sided telling of stories – what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “the danger of the single story” – is indeed dangerous. Dangerous because it can lead to misrepresentation, stereotyping, and prejudice. She argues that single stories can rob people of their dignity and make it difficult to recognize their humanity, leading to inaction during times of crisis.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, this became very obvious with CBS correspondent Charlie D’Agata stating that Ukraine “isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen”.
The coverage was so skewed that it elicited a response from the Arab and Middle-Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) who rejected “orientalist and racist implications that any population or country is “uncivilized” or bears economic factors that make it worthy of conflict”. “This type of commentary’, AMEJA went on, “reflects the pervasive mentality in Western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America”.A
Conclusion: Media Bias and Its Impact
The coverage of the California wildfires and its stark contrast with the relative indifference to ongoing conflicts and natural disasters in parts of Africa and the Middle East, speaks volumes about the deeply entrenched biases that shape global media narratives. In the case of the California fires, the victims are humanized, their personal stories are told, and there is a tangible sense of urgency to offer support. Meanwhile, people in places like Cameroon or Sudan are rendered invisible, their suffering ignored or treated as a distant problem that is less deserving of attention.
This bias is not just a matter of poor media ethics but a reflection of geopolitical power dynamics, racism, and historical legacies. The lives of people in the Global South are often viewed as less valuable, and their crises are treated as less urgent. If there is any hope for a more equitable media landscape, it will come from challenging these biases and ensuring that the stories of all victims—regardless of their nationality or race—are given the attention and compassion they deserve.
The continued misrepresentation of Africa and African stories is an issue that also serves as a wake-up call to African journalists and African entrepreneurs to realize that we have to be the one telling our own stories. The African proverb holds very true in this case: unless the lion learns to tell his story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. The Tony Elumelu Foundation already offers media entrepreneurs funding to embark on reporting projects and one of the things entrepreneurs can do is to deliberately embark on a telling of African stories from an African perspective. Stories of innovation, resilience, survival and success amid hardship. Western media will always tell African stories from a broken lens that serves their audience’s interests and so it is largely up to Africans to deconstruct these narratives.
Also, as President Trump prepares to take office once again on January 20, 2025, the U.S. faces the pressing need to adopt more robust climate policies. The wildfires in Los Angeles have underscored the devastating reality of climate change and the growing urgency to address it. The estimated $150 billion in damages from these fires is just a glimpse of what future climate-related disasters could entail. Trump’s climate change denialism must now be reassessed, as the U.S. and the world cannot afford to ignore the warnings of scientists anymore. Immediate action is necessary, not only to mitigate the environmental impacts but also to prevent future economic and human loss. Climate change is no longer just a problem for the Global South, and every tragedy—whether it happens in California or Cameroon—must be treated with the humanity it deserves.
