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Calling on media to adopt an agenda in reporting elections

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Tune in to Media @ SAfm

Elections are coming and some say they may be sooner than we anticipate.  We say hooray!  We love elections at MMA.  There is a certain inexplicable joy at the prospect of monitoring a whole lot of media, analysing each news item, tracking the big stories and the little ones too, considering issues of fairness and bias, party coverage and gender equality. 

Looking for Hope

I am amazed by two recent media events.  Special Assignment last Tuesday (9/12/2008) was a follow-up to their expose of an alleged paedophile.  Curiously the programme’s focus seemed designed to be more about staving off a legal challenge from the subject of the programme.  Early into the programme the journalist says, “due to ongoing legal threats by his lawyers we decided to do a follow-up story.”  The programme then goes on to highlight other issues relating to the story that occurred prior to the expose first being aired.