peter tinti

Last month I commented on the abundance of unserious coverage concerning the crisis in Mali:

Mali’s rapid transformation from geopolitical afterthought to high-profile security quagmire left news outlets scrambling. After years of failing to cover West Africa and the Sahel beyond Dakar and Accra, several reputable outlets made matters worse by ostensibly outsourcing reporting/commentary to anyone who could claim a modicum of expertise (in some cases, defined by having attended a Malian music festival or visited Bamako). The limits of this approach are self-evident.

Coverage by professional, experienced journalists is also coming up short, routinely succumbing to the worst attributes of parachute journalism (note: the fact that you hired a car and met with members of a militia is not newsworthy in and of itself).

Again, the problem is not a lack of coverage, but an overabundance of unserious coverage, thus making it hard for those with limited prior knowledge about the subject to distinguish the incisive from the reductive. In other words, our papers of record and current affairs journals have compounded the problem not only by providing a platform for the uninformed, but by lending the credibility of their brands to frivolous content (I’m not naming names for the sake of my own career).

At the end of the post, I listed four pieces that I consider required reading for those who want to know more about the conflict in Mali but aren’t sure where to begin. You can find it here.

Here are four more pieces, selected under the same criteria as the previous list*:

International Crisis Group, “Mali: The Need for Determined and Coordinated International Action“ Africa Briefing N°90, 24 September 2012.

Adam Nossiter, “The Whiff of  Conflict Grows in Mali” New York Times, 23 October 2012.

Gregory Mann, “Mali: Military Intervention Is Necessary, Inevitable and (Until Now) Impossible” African Arguments, 17 October 2012.

Peter Tinti, “Understanding Algeria’s Northern Mali Policy“ Think Africa Press, 5 October 2012.

* Yes, I know it is lame to select something I wrote.

Bamako, Mali: Reading, writing and thinking about Mali consumes most of my days, which is why I can empathize with those who seek to better understand the current crisis but have no idea where to begin. Across the board, the problem with Mali coverage is a matter of quality, not quantity.

Mali’s rapid transformation from geopolitical afterthought to high-profile security quagmire left news outlets scrambling. After years of failing to cover West Africa and the Sahel beyond Dakar and Accra, several reputable outlets made matters worse by ostensibly outsourcing reporting/commentary to anyone who could claim a modicum of expertise (in some cases, defined by having attended a Malian music festival or visited Bamako). The limits of this approach are self-evident.

Coverage by professional, experienced journalists is also coming up short, routinely succumbing to the worst attributes of parachute journalism (note: the fact that you hired a car and met with members of a militia is not newsworthy in and of itself).

Again, the problem is not a lack of coverage, but an overabundance of unserious coverage, thus making it hard for those with limited prior knowledge about the subject to distinguish the incisive from the reductive. In other words, our papers of records and current affairs journals have compounded the problem not only by providing a platform for the uninformed, but by lending the credibility of their brands to frivolous content (I’m not naming names for the sake of my own career).

Some journalists, scholars, outlets and organizations are doing great work, and I’ve listed four such examples below. I consider each of these pieces “required reading” for those who wish to better understand the current crisis in Mali.  They are not only accessible and thoughtful, they leave the reader better equipped to differentiate the superior from the superficial when keeping current on Mali.

David Lewis and Adama Diarra, “Mali leadership limbo holds up military action plan” Reuters, 27 September 2012.

Bruce Whitehouse, “What went wrong in Mali?” London Review of Books Vol 34 No 16, 30 August 2012.

International Crisis Group, “Mali: Avoiding Escalation“ Africa Report N°189, 18 July 2012.

Wolfram Lacher, “Organized Crime and Conflict in the Sahel-Sahara Region” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, September 2012.