Representation of the Global South in Western News Media: A Postcolonial Analysis

Abstract

The coverage of the global news still influences the understanding of the Global South by creating ideological presentations and asymmetries of representation. Based on the postcolonial theory and inspired by 32 empirical studies, this review highlights four common patterns in western media discourse, including the crisis orientation, economic dependency framing, visual stereotyping, and epistemic marginalization. These tendencies demonstrate how journalism adds power to historical hierarchies and in most cases the voices of the North will be heard and those of the locals will be underrepresented. The review identifies the structural processes that constrain complexity of narratives and symbolic inequality through thematic synthesis and data visualization. It is concluded with implications on media ethics, journalism training, and informatics teaching that suggest that decolonized structures and inclusive sourcing be the norm. The paper also brings together theory and cross-study results to help create a more critical awareness of how media systems also reproduce global power differentials, and how this could be reimagined in ways that put equity and epistemic justice first.