Nigeria, Aug. 13 -- South Africa's recurring attacks on African migrants cannot be explained solely by unemployment, poverty, crime, political frustration or competition for scarce economic opportunities. Those factors undoubtedly matter. But another force deserves much greater scrutiny: the way the media reports, frames and repeatedly discusses the presence of other Africans in South Africa.

When journalism abandons context, balance and professional restraint, reportage can cease to be a neutral mirror of society and become an accelerant of social hostility. This is particularly dangerous when the subject is migration and the targets are people from other African countries who are already vulnerable to xenophobic narratives.

The conce...