The Media Monitoring Project has charged that the media industry is understaffed, under-resourced, and not critical enough of the government, writes Jacquie Golding-Duffy
MEDIA coverage of the government is more positive than negative, reports an independent monitoring group.
The report, in which the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) considered print and broadcast media between April and June this year, concluded that most reporting on the government was neutral (49%), with positive coverage claiming 30% and negative coverage 21%.
MMP prepared the report for Comtask, the task team on government communications set up by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki earlier this year.
Task team convenor Mandla Langa says MMP was asked to investigate and monitor all local media and evaluate government coverage. The research, he says, will assist the team in its overall assessment of the media when it compiles a report to be handed to Mbeki by the end of September.
However, the report is not a fait accompli. The team was formed following recommendations which emerged from a government conference held last year in Arniston, Western Cape. The team’s main task is to investigate government communications, and the ways “ownership and control of the media” outside of the government affect these communications. It also has to evaluate the role of the South African Communications Services (Sacs) and make recommendations on how the government can improve its relations with the general press.
The MMP, however, says the main problems unearthed during its monitoring were the media’s uncritical reporting of the government and the understaffing and under-resourcing of the media.
The MMP monitored 27 newspapers and 670 radio broadcasts on SABC radio. It also monitored Radio 702 as an independent radio broadcaster and SABC television news bulletins. The monitoring of print media included dailies, weeklies, and bi-weeklies in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.
The English daily press was found to give “substantial” coverage to the government. The Sowetan, although “the most positive” of the English dailiest, was “often uncritical of the government” and did not challenge issues in the same way as other newspapers did, the report said.
The Citizen and Beeld donated the most editorial space to government coverage, with the former carrying the “largest amount of copy”. This was largely owing to The Citizen filling its editorial pages with agency copy. However, where copy was self-generated in The Citizen, it was often negative reports related to government issues.
In the Afrikaans press, Beeld ranked highest for government reporting. Its articles were found to be analytical, largely owing to the newspaper being well-staffed. Beeld allowed its readers a better understanding of government issues and its various departments, whereas other newspaper, with limited resources, were unable to analyse government issues as thoroughly.
Unlike the Citizen, where the only objective articles were derived from wire services, Beeld and Die Burger contained more than 95% of neutral copy, which was self-generated.
The Afrikaans papers monitored, with the exception of Rapport, reflected a substantial amount of government coverage which was not unfavourable. Rapport stood out because of its lack of positive government news.
Rapport not only heavily criticised government, but also frequently included a propaganda piece in each edition, the MMP report said.
The MMP cited one example where Rapport carried an article entitled “How many communists there are in government”. The articles in Rapport also never sought a government response to allegations, but chose to interview the National Party or Freedom Front.
Other extremes revealed in the report were an overbearing amount of government news such as that found in the New Nation and an uncritical stance as in the Sowetan.
National weekly newspapers like the Mail & Guardian , City Press and Sunday Times were the most critical in their government reports. Only City Press and New Nation carried more positive than negative reports.
“Among departments, the president’s office fared the best, scoring the highest amount of government coverage,” the report said.
The Constitutional Assembly was the most successful single media event during the monitored period.
On television news, the MMP found the SABC has a positive tendency toward the government, which was often conveyed via its news broadcasts. However, SABC reports did not translate into unquestioning support of the government. It argues that the former propaganda role of SABC news has been challenged by editorial independence and “sizeable negative items on the government” in its bulletins.
Radio, like television, had a low level of negative reporting on the government. Radio 702 had negative bulletins regarding the government, but this was not disproportionate to positive news, the report said.
The MMP also says its research suggests that more than 80% of information generated by the government did not reach the public through the media and that the government had to improve its packaging and be more open and interactive.