The ANC is going to win the third democratic elections, so say the media and analysts. This is true. So how is the media going to cover a competitive contest where the result is already known?
I think, like the election results, there is an easy answer. The media will have to cover the related issues of unemployment and poverty, which have been one of its biggest blind spots in the last ten years. True, there have been a few stories about unemployment and poverty over the years, but there has not been sustained and in-depth quality journalism. This is surprising, given that these concerns are the biggest challenges facing post-apartheid South Africa. Linked to the failure of media to mainstream the issues in the news agenda is an elitist orientation that can be embarrassing.
One need go no further than coverage in the last week of December 2003 and January 2004, where the media contained repetitive 2003 reviews and 2004 forecasts that favoured the rich, famous, powerful and notorious. Day after day the same photographs of the same people. In part this was because the rich and notorious were away on holiday, far from the subservient media. But in their absence they still dominated. The whole circus began with an attempt to ask them what they would do for the holidays.
The poor, powerless and unemployed remained not only out of sight but also voiceless. Why is this so? Do journalists not know anyone who cannot afford to go on holiday? Do journalists think the poor have no wishes and aspirations for 2004? If there is so much poverty and unemployment, surely some of these poor souls are relatives of journalists? Are their realities not newsworthy?
Or is it because stories of the poor cannot attract the right audience demographic? If this is true does it mean that the elite in our country do not want to read, watch and listen to the voices of the poor? Is this the elite that ten years of freedom has bred? Does mass poverty and unemployment not lead to social unrest, which can disturb the peace and prosperity of the rich and powerful? Surely the media should alert the elite it so loves to the dangers of endemic poverty.
To rectify the oversight the media will have to hang on the coattails of the ANC by focusing on its manifesto: “A Contract with the People To Create Work and Fight Poverty”. In case some in the media protest about my suggestion, I say since you have already called the election for the ANC – because you really have no choice – you might as well find something of substance to focus on.
Work creation and poverty reduction are tied to the economic and social welfare policies that will remain long after the election celebrations are over. To do these policies justice a paradigm shift is needed, one that involves journalists going out to poor communities and allowing the voices of the unemployed to filter through. It will mean multifaceted coverage, where the poor are not reduced to victims who need elite saviours.
The media may yet find that it can cover the elections in an interesting and engaging manner. It can force the ANC and opposition parties to debate issues of poverty in ways that are not formulaic and preset, needing only passive endorsement by the poor.
Journalists must remember that democracy cannot be sustained nor deepened in conditions of mass poverty. Social and economic rights are as important as the right to vote, freedom of association and freedom of the press!
Professor Tawana Kupe is head of media studies at Wits University’s School of Literature and Language Studies.