African journalists in the United States are struggling to bring African news to communities of African descent in America, as well as to share their experiences in the West with communities in their homeland.
Andrew Eperi is the managing editor of Afrique Magazine, which is mainly an online publication, with a small number of printed copies for distribution. From Chicago he spoke with Voice of America English to Africa Service reporter Francois Nsengiyumva to explain the magazine's mission in more detail.
Eperi said, "We are a news magazine; we publish monthly, and because of that, we do mostly investigative reporting, feature stories; then we concentrate on Africa-centered cultural entertainment."
Eperi says it is a good experience working as a journalist in a country like the United States because: "you write about issues without fear of repercussions." He says a journalist in an African country has, "to write about things that do not offend the power structure… meaning that there is no freedom of expression, period."