News? From CNN?

Lagos recently got written up in Business Week as the world's worst city to work in. Other news organizations picked up that story too. That's how news works these days, everyone copies each other. I am just amazed at what CNN came up with. The guy in the interview is managing directory of CocaCola in Nigeria a Mr. Ebelt. Looking pretty comfortable in suit and tie, Mr. Ebelt admitted it wasn't so bad. Despite proding from CNN the worst he could come up with was that it was hard to find housing. I'm assuming he meant finding something with a swimming pool, gardens, electricity and guards.

Apparently the producers then needed some footage of how horrible it really is after Mr. Ebelt's lack of enthusiasm. So they put together a montage of "bad stuff" footage. It included a shot of the Oshidi market congestion, but whoops, that's been gone for a while. Then some bare feet, and market scenes. Too bad those markets aren't in Lagos. Look closely at the price signs and you'll see the numbers are for some other currency. And no Lagos market has such signs anyway. Local experts also tell me that the facial features are not West African in those shots. I'll leave that distinction to them, but I believe it.

Short on time? Your interview subject didn't deliver what you wanted? Just grab some footage and put it together. As I've written before, these "news" shows aren't about information, they're about emotional impact and entertainment.

One more week in California and then on the plane back to Africa. I guess I'm a glutton for culture shock since I get it both ways.