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Category: Democracy and Governance [REMOVE]
- MMA response to the Public Broadcasting Bill
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MMA submission on the Public Broadcasting Bill expresses deep concern about many of the aspects of the Bill, including its economic viability and constitutionality. The response requested more research into the viability of the Bill.
Key areas of concern addressed in the submission are:
- The funding model seems to be inadequate, and it is unclear whether sufficient research has been done on the feasibility and economic impact of the proposed change in funding.
- The Minister’s of Communications’ powers in the proposed Bill, which undermine the independence of the SABC itself, as well as the democratic role of Parliament.
- Legal issues, such as the need to amend several laws, such as the SABC charter changing, the mandate of the Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA) and aspects of the Constitution, and the.
- The lack of proper consultation, and far too limited time to do proper research by stakeholders; since the Bill is a complete overhaul of existing legislation, a two month period, over the December holidays, and lack of clear communication by the Department itself, does not constitute proper consultation
- National and Provincial Elections 2009: “A win or a place, citizens come last.”
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During election time, the media has a pivotal role to play in communicating information to voters and facilitating their making of informed decisions on Election Day. For this reason Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has been monitoring coverage, gathering data and providing analysis since the first South African national and provincial elections in 1994. This report assesses the results of monitoring coverage preceding and immediately after the fourth national democratic election, which took place on 22 April 2009, and reflects findings from 56 South African print and broadcast media. While considering the media’s mandate for fairness and balance in coverage, the report also considers the quality of the coverage that deals with the issues that materially influence South African citizens’ lives and futures as a fundamental function of the right to free speech and self-determination. Furthermore, this report takes the opportunity to explicitly engage with questions of gender in the context of election coverage. The findings are based on quantitative analysis and a rating system that allows for comparison and ranking of media performance. MMA proposes that while the South African media landscape demonstrated good levels of balance and fairness in its coverage, there is an opportunity to develop greater rigour in dealing with topics of importance to citizens, in order to better inform voters on key election issues.
- 2009 Election Coverage: Did media assist citizens in making an informed decision?
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In Media Monitoring Africa’s final weekly report on the 2009 Elections, we focus on the overall performance of media in terms of their role in enabling South African citizens to fully and effectively participate in their democracy through the provision of relevant and timely information in the lead up to the elections on April 22.
- Election coverage 21 April - Prepared voters?
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Election press coverage for Tuesday 21 April 2009, the day before the elections, focused on the IEC’s readiness for the elections, and included various pieces in newspapers on the voting process. However, voters are unlikely to have been assisted in making their decision by media’s failure to adopt a citizens’ agenda in their election coverage. Media Monitoring Africa offers an overview on how media performed on various challenges posed in covering elections.
- Election coverage 20 April - Rallies and Daily Sun’s cartoon
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Election coverage for Monday 20 April 2009 was dominated by items on the final weekend election rallies of the various political parties, predominantly the main parties. The ANC rally this weekend got most of the coverage. The Daily Sun also encouraged its readers to vote and then provided a cartoon strip that explained the voting process.
- Deadly silence - Media election coverage confirms disinterest in the welfare of children
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With the exception of a handful of articles by some journalists, election coverage highlighting the serious issues faced by South African children has been extremely disappointing for its absence. In the previous weekly report, it was noted that in media’s role of holding government to account and informing citizens, it was particularly important for media to give voice to the concerns and opinions of the marginalised in society, as so often they remain silenced through powerlessness and political disinterest. It is even more important that media fulfil this role during an election period, when the need for information and potential for influence and change is the greatest.
- Election coverage 18, 19 April 2009 - Voter education and encouragement
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Election coverage for the weekend 18-19 April was notable for the significantly higher levels of informative coverage on the process of voting as well as on the parties themselves as compared to previous weeks’ coverage. Newspapers also encouraged South Africans to use their democratic right and vote.
- Election coverage 16 April 2009 - Zumaphilia and secret voting
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Election press coverage for Thursday 16 April 2009 showed a significant increase, particularly when compared to the previous week, though this was more noticeable in some newspapers than others. After looking at the day’s top stories, the report looks at two editorials and asks what could the media have done/ still do? The one editorial in The Times notes that the election has been all about Jacob Zuma. However, since other parties have been so poorly covered in the media, there has been pressure on parties to respond to high profile events to gain media attention, notably the Zuma corruption trial. The second editorial is from The Citizen about the secrecy of the vote.
- Election coverage 15 April 2009 - Sports and xenophobia
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Election coverage for Wednesday 15 April 2009 included a variety of different stories. However, the most prominent were stories about South African’s voting overseas. Although this was covered far more prominently on television, we are likely to see more coverage in the press tomorrow. An innovative elections story in The Star was tainted with xenophobic statements from a resident in an area recently affected by xenophobic violence. The statements were not contradicted.
- Election coverage 9-13 April 2009 - politics is about people
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Election coverage for Thursday 9 April and the weekend (10-13) continued to be dominated by the NPA’s decision to drop charges against Jacob Zuma, and the repercussions thereof. This is not surprising given the importance of the decision taken and its potential impact on South Africa. Thursday’s papers had less content about the case than the previous two days. However, by and large, the weekend coverage provided comprehensive analytical coverage of the issues involved as expected of weekend papers.
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