Analysing SABC Elections Coverage of the 2016 Local Government Elections

SABC Coverage of the 2016 Municipal Elections

From Protest Ban to Biased Reporting?

©Media Monitoring Africa, 2016 2

List of Figures 3

Abbreviations 3

1. Introduction 4

2. The role of the public broadcaster in an election period 62.1. The duty to inform the electorate 62.2. The duty to report fairly 8

3. How we assessed the SABC coverage of these elections 93.1. Howweanalysedpoliticalpartycoverage 103.1.1. Howweexaminedpoliticalpartyadverts 103.2. Howweanalysedtopicalissuescovered 103.2.1. Howweexploredprotestscoverage 113.3. How we determined bias 113.4. Whatwemayhavemissed 11

4. How did the SABC cover these elections? 134.1. Whichpoliticalpartieswerecoveredbythepublicbroadcaster? 134.2. WhichpoliticalpartyadvertswereairedbytheSABC? 194.2.1. Whichissuesdidpoliticalpartiesraiseintheiradverts? 214.2.2. Whatwasmissinginthepoliticalpartymessaging? 234.3. Which issuesdidtheSABCcover? 244.3.1. WhichtopicalissueswerecoveredbytheSABC? 244.3.2. Whichtopicalissueswereneglectedbythepublicbroadcaster? 294.3.3. HowdidtheSABCcoverproteststhattookplaceduringelectioneering? 304.3.4. WhichframesdidtheSABCusetocoverprotests? 314.3.5. FromwhoseperspectivedidtheSABCcoverprotests? 324.3.6. DidtheSABCshow“violentfootage”intheirprotestcoverage? 334.4. WastheSABCcoverageoftheseelectionsbiased? 384.4.1. TowhatextentwastheSABCbiasedintheirelectionscoverage? 384.4.2. WhatwasbiasedonSABC2Xitsonga/TshivendaNews? 404.4.3. WhatwasbiasedonSABC2MorningLive? 424.4.4. WhatwasbiasedonSABC3EnglishNews? 43

5. Conclusion 45

Table of Contents


List of Figures Figure1: TimelineofeventsfromSABCprotestbantoelections 7

Figure2: ListofSABCplatformsandselectedcompetitorswhosecontent 8 was analysed

Figure3: PartycoverageonSABCTVanditscompetitors 12

Figure4: PartycoverageonSABCradioanditscompetitors 14

Figure5: PartyadvertsonSABCanditscompetitors 18

Figure6: Issuesraisedinpartyadverts 20

Figure7: IssuescoveredonSABCTVanditscompetitors 23

Figure8: IssuescoveredonSABCradioanditscompetitors 25

Figure9: TheframesusedbytheSABCanditscompetitorstocoverprotests 29

Figure10:WhospokeaboutprotestsonSABCplatformsanditscompetitors 30

Figure11:SexofthepeoplewhotalkedaboutprotestsonSABCand 31 itscompetitors

Figure12:Thewaveofprotestsbetween20June2016and4July2016 33

Figure13:Newsbulletinsthatcoveredprotestsandshowedviolence 34 onSABCplatforms

Figure14:Newsbulletinsthatcoveredprotestsandshowedviolenceone.tv 35

Figure15:Newsstoriesthatcoveredprotestsandshowedviolence 37 onSABCplatforms&e.tv

Figure16:PercentageofbiaseditemsonSABCplatforms 39

Figure17:BreakdownofbiasedcoverageonSABC2Xitsonga/ 40 TshivendaNews

Figure18:BreakdownofbiasedcoverageonSABC2MorningLive 41

Abbreviations ANC AfricanNationalCongress

CCC ComplaintsComplianceCommittee

COPE CongressofthePeople

DA DemocraticAlliance

EFF EconomicFreedomFighters

EWN EyewitnessNews

ICASA IndependentCommunicationsAuthorityofSouthAfrica

PEBs PartyElectionBroadcasts

SABC SouthAfricanBroadcastingCorporation


1.Introduction

Elections are a critical partofdemocracyaspeople,throughvoting,havetheop-portunitytoexpresstheirviewsoncurrentissuesaswellastheirfrustrationsto-wardsleaderswhomaybefailingthem.However,inordertovoteefficientlyandchooseapartyorleadershipthatwillenablethefulfillmentofanequitablesociety,votersneedtoknowwherecandidatesandpartiesstandonpublicpolicyissues.Fortheelectoratetoknowthis,media(amongothersourcesofinformation)hastoplayitsroleofnotonlyinformingbuteducatingandentertainingvoters-moresoforthepublicbroadcaster(SABC),whichhasaroletorepresentsocietyinallitsdiversity.Throughoutthecampaign,thepublicbroadcasterhasthedutytoreportaccuratelyonwhatpartiesstandforandtocoverpoliticalrallies,speeches,andeventsorgan-isedbypoliticalparties.Thelargepoliticallandscapeintermsofpoliticalpartiesinthecountrycanbeachallengenotonlyforthepublicbroadcasterbutothermediaaswell.Nevertheless,unlikeothermedia, thepublicbroadcasterhasamandatetoperformat thehighestethical standards inorder tomeet thischallenge.Thisismoresobecauseover22millionpeoplerelyontheSABCalonefortheirnews.Thusitisimperativetoanalysehowthepublicbroadcastercoveredthe2016LocalGovernment(alsoknownasMunicipal)electionsthatwereheldon3August2016.

Theleaduptothe2016municipalelectionswasaninterestingperiodasvariousscholars,mediaprofessionals,politicalanalystsandsocialcommentatorsanalysedandevenofferedtopredicttheoutcomeofwhatmosttermed“themostcontest-ed localgovernmentelectionssince1994”. In this regard, itwasarguedthat theAfricanNationalCongress(ANC)wasfacingitsmostdifficulttimebecauseofthemanyscandalsinvolvingitsleadership–theNkandlacasebeingoneofthem.Itwasarguedthattheseelectionsweremainlybeingcontestedbythreeparties(namely,ANC,DA&EFF)andtheoutcomewouldbeverytightparticularlyinthebigmetro-politanareaswheretheANCwastolosemorevotes.

What we looked at: Giventhehighlycontestednatureoftheseelections,itwasimportantandnecessarytonotonlylookatSABCcoverageintermsofthespacethatwasgiventopoliticalpartiesbutalsothemessagesthepartieschurnedthroughtheircampaignadverts.Suchadverts,intheory,wouldprovidetheelectoratewithagoodunderstandingofpoliticalparties’prioritiessotheycouldmakeaninformedchoice.Tothisend,wealsolookedatthenumberofadvertsthatwerecarriedbytheSABCfromthevari-ouspoliticalpartiesduringprime-timenewsaswellasthecontentsofthoseadvertsandidentifiedwhatwasmissingandlinkedittothebiggerpicture.WealsolookedattheissuesthattheSABCcoveredandbyextensionwhatwasneglected.WiththeSABChavingearlierbannedfootageofburningpropertyduringprotests,wealsoanalysedhowthepublicbroadcastercoveredtheTshwaneproteststhattookplaceinthe leaduptotheelections.WealsounpackedwhethertheSABCwasbiasedinitsoverallcoverageandwherenecessaryprovidedexamplesandcomparedthepublicbroadcaster’sperformancetoitscompetitors.

Thefindingspresentedinthisreportarebasedoninformationwegatheredinthetwomonthsleadinguptotheelectionsuntil7daysaftertheelections,thatis,from


1June2016to10August2016.Duringthatperiod,wedidnotonlymonitortheSABC’scoverageoftheelectionsbutalsoanalysedothermedia’scoverageforcom-parativepurposes.Intotalweanalysedcoverageofover70media(broadcast,printandonline)includingtheSABCanditscompetitors.However,inthisreportwepres-entthefindingsfromtheSABCradioandtelevisionchannelswemonitoredaswellasselectedcompetitors.

Structure of the report: Thereportstartswiththeroleofthepublicbroadcasterinanelectionsperiodandthenmovesontodiscusshowtheanalysiswasdone.Itthenprovidesfindingsbe-ginningwithhow the SABC covered the contestingparties and thepolitical par-tyadvertsthatwereairedduringtheelectioneeringperiod.ThereportmovestoexaminetheissuesthattheSABCfocusedonwithparticularemphasisonhowitcoveredtheTshwaneprotestsandendswithananalysisofbiasedcoverage,ifany.

Key findings:Thereportrevealsthatbyfocusingonbiggerpoliticalpartiesandbroadernationalissues,theSABCcoveredtheselocalgovernmentelectionsasiftheywerenationalelections.Further,thereportshowsthedisjuncturebetweenwhatpoliticalpartiesconsidered important for the electorate and what the public broadcaster focused onas importantelection issues.Another interestingfinding is that although theSABC framed theTshwaneprotestsasmarredbypublicandpolitical violence, itseldomshowedfootageofviolenceparticularlyinthenewsheadlines.Overall,only10%of the stories on SABCoverallwere considered as clearly biased.However,individualprogrammesfareddifferentlywithSABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda Newshav-ing34%biasedstorieswhile SABC 2 Morning Livehad22%biasedstoriesandSABC 3 English News had15%biasedstories.Wehopethisreportpresentssomekeyslessonswhichmaybeinstructivetodifferentstakeholders,includingtheSABC,po-liticalpartiesandtheothermedia.


2.The role of the public broadcaster in an election period

In an ideal world apublicbroadcaster’sactivitiesalignwiththedemocraticvaluesofthecountryandseektofulfill,enhanceandprotectthefundamentalrightsofallcitizens.Amongthesedemocraticvaluesarefreedomofthemediaandmostim-portantlythefreedomtoreceiveorimpartinformation.Thisbecomesevenmoreimportantduringanelectionperiodwherethepublicbroadcasteroughttocontrib-utetofree,fair,transparentandcredibleelections.Sinceelectionsaffordcitizenstheopportunitytovotefortheleadershiptheywantitcanbearguedthatsuchim-portantdecisionscanbebetterenhancedifpeoplehavealltheinformationaboutcontestingpartiesattheirdisposal.Thepublicbroadcasterthereforehasthedutytoreportfairlyonallpoliticalpartiesandsothattheelectorateisbetterinformed.This is precisely because the public broadcaster in owned by the people and should thereforeservesociety.

Indifferentjurisdictionstherearepoliciesthatregulatehowthepublicbroad-castershouldcoverelections.IntheSouthAfricancontext,theBroadcastingActstipulatesthattheSABCshould“provideinitspublicbroadcastingservices,radioandtelevisionprogrammingthatinforms,educatesand3entertains,andalsoberesponsivetoaudienceneeds1,includingtheneedsofthedeafandtheblindandaccount on how to meet those needs.

Further,inrelationtoelectionscoverage,theSABCworksontheconceptofequi-tablecoverage,whichseekstocoverpartiesequitablyandnotnecessarilyequally.Theequitableapproachtracesitshistorytothefirstdemocraticelectionswhereitwasrecognisedthatasthecountrywasmovingfromapartheidwherethepublicbroadcasterwasastatebroadcasterthereneededtobeequitablecoverageinordertohelpundotheinjusticesofthepast.Thatsaid,theSABChastwoimport-antrolestoperformparticularlyduringanelectionperiod.Theoneistoinformtheelectorateaboutallthepoliticalpartiesaswellastheirpoliciesandwhattheystandfor.Thesecondistoreportfairly,whichrequiresthepublicbroadcastertoemploythehighestethicalstandards.

The duty to inform theelectoratestemsfromthepeople’srighttoknowwhatishap-peningaroundthem.Inthiscontextpeoplehavearighttoknowwhowantstoleadthemandhowtheyproposetocarryoutthoseleadershipduties.Inthatregard,thepublic broadcaster has to inform the electorate to enable them to cast an informed vote.Thismeansthatthepublicbroadcasterhastogivetheelectorateasmuchin-formationaspossible.Thisrequiresthepublicbroadcastertopushtheenvelopeandcoverasmuchgroundaspossible.Forexample,intheselocalgovernmentelections,thereweremorethan200registeredpoliticalpartiesandover60,000candidates.Asidefromothermedia,itisthedutyofthepublicbroadcastertogooutthereandgettheinformationaboutthevariouscandidates,putthemonthespotlightandhelpcitizensmaketherightchoiceaccordingtotheirneeds.Thisrequiresthatthepublicbroadcasterhasanelectionscoverageplanthattakesintoaccountthepoliticalland-scapeofthecountryandensurethatthecoverareasthatareoftennotcoveredby

2.1The duty to inform the electorate

1 See the Broadcasting Act here: https://www.icasa.org.za/LegislationRegulations/Acts/BroadcastingAct/tabid/89/ctl/ItemDetails/mid/651/ItemID/5/Default.aspx


otherprivatemedia.However,overthelastfewyears,theSABChasbeenfacingsev-eralcrisesrangingfromfinancialtomanagerialandeditorialchallenges,whichmayhavehadanimpactonhowthepublicbroadcasterwasgoingtocovertheseelections.Linkedtothisispublicbroadcaster’sabilitytoreportfairly.

One of the core remitsofpublicbroadcastingistoreportethicallyandbyextensionaccuratelyandfairly.Thismeansthatitshouldcoverelectionsemployingthehigh-eststandardsofquality,whichgoesbeyondjustbeingbalancedorpresentingtwosidesofthestorytopresentingallsidesofthestory.Thistallorderisbestoweduponthepublicbroadcasterastheepitomeofbroadcasting.Thechallengewithpublicbroadcastersishoweverthatwhiletheyoughttoservesociety,insomecountriesthe state tries or indeed does capture the broadcaster and uses it to push the state agenda.Insomecasesthestatewinsatthisandusesthepublicbroadcasterasapropagandamachine.IntheleaduptotheseelectionswesawtheSABCtakingedito-rialdecisionsthatweredescribedbymanyasgoingagainstthetenetsofethicalandfairjournalism.Forinstance,priortotheelections,theSABCtookaneditorialdeci-siontobanfootageofburningpropertyduringprotests.Thismeantthatthepublicbroadcasterwasgoingtodecideonthetypeof imagestheyweregoingtoshowsociety.Inallfairness,theSABCdecidesonwhatandhowtoshowtheiraudienceswhat’sgoingoninsocietybutbychoosingnottoshowimagesofburningpropertyitmeantthatpeoplewerenotgettingthefullpictureofwhatisgoingon.(Conse-quently,MediaMonitoringAfricatogetherwiththeSOSCoalitionandtheFreedomofExpressionInstitutetooktheSABCtoICASAandtheregulatorruledinourfavour)2.

If theSABCcoulddo this justbefore theelectioneeringperiodbegan,whatelsewould itdoduringtheelectionsperiod?ThisbroughtattentiontotheSABCandmadeuslookathowthepublicbroadcastercoveredthevariouspoliticalparties.

2.2The duty to report fairly

FIGURE 1: Timeline of events from SABC protest ban to elections

2 For more information about the ruling see:http://www.mediamonitoringafrica.org/index.php/news/entry/media_monitoring_africa_welcomes_icasa_ruling/


3.How we assessed the SABC coverage of these elections

As highlighted earlier, we didnotonlyanalysetheSABCcoverageoftheseelectionsalonebutlookedatover70media(includingtheSABCanditscompetitors.Howev-er,thissectionprovidesinformationrelevanttohowtotheSABCandsomeselectedcompetitors. It isworthnotingattheoutsetthatouranalysiswantedtoprovideanswerstothefollowingquestions:

• HowdidtheSABCcovercontestingparties?

• HowdidtheSABCcoverpoliticalpartyadvertsthatwereairedduringtheelectioneeringperiod?

• WhichissuesdidtheSABCprioritiseaselectionissuesandwhy?

• HowdidtheSABCcoverprotestsinrelationtotheseelections?

• WastheSABCcoveragebiasedinanyway?

Inordertoanswerthesequestionsweanalysedatotalof3000electionstories/itemsacrossthefollowingSABCplatformsandcompetitors.

FIGURE 2: List of SABC platforms and selected competitors whose content was analysed

SABC Radio SABC Radio CompetitorsIkwekwezifm TalkRadio702Lesedifm PowerfmMotswedingfmMunghanaLonenefmPhalaphalafmSAfmThobela fmUkhozifmUmhlobo Wenene fmSABC TV Programmes SABC TV Programmes CompetitorsSABC1ElectionDebates e.tvNewsSABC1Isizulu/IsixhosaNews e.tvSunriseSABC1Siswati/NdebeleNewsSABC2AfrikaansNewsSABC2Elections2016SABC2MorningLiveSABC2Sesotho/SetswanaNewsSABC2Xitsonga/TshivendaNewsSABC3EnglishNewsSABC Online SABC Online CompetitorsSABCOnlineNews ANN7online

eNCAonlineEyewitnessNewsonline


3.1How we analysed political party coverage

3.1.1How we examinedpoliticalpartyadverts

Forradioweanalysedthreenewsbulletinsperday,oneinthemorninganotheroneatmiddayandthelastoneintheevening.Fortelevisionprogrammesandonlineplatforms,weanalysedallelectionstoriesusingthefollowingcriteria.

For each elections story oritem,weidentifiedpeoplewhowereaccessedorquot-eddirectlyandindirectly.Whereclear,furtherinformationabouttheparty/organi-sation,race,sexandtheroleoftheperson(s)orgroupofpersonswerecategorised.Capturingtheinformationinthismannerallowedustoseewhosevoicesweream-plifiedorsilencedduringtheelectionsperiod.Wewerealsoabletocollateallpolit-icalpartyvoicesacrossthecontestingpartiestodeterminepoliticalpartycoverage.

Forthefirsttimeinthehistoryofourelectionsmonitoringsince1994,weanalysedpoliticalpartyadvertsthatwereairedjustbefore,duringandjustafterthenewsonSABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, e.tv, SAfm, Talk Radio 702 and Power fmoveraperiodofonemonth,from1to31July2016.Thepurposewastolookatwhichadvertstheseplatforms aired during prime time programming, what the adverts were about,whatissuestheyraisedandwhatwasmissing?Intotalweanalysed145politicalpartyadvertsfromvariouspoliticalparties.Whatisnotcleariswhetherthesead-vertsformedpartofthePEBsorwhethertheywerepaidforbypoliticalpartiesastheyrefusedtosharewithustheirscheduleswiththeselectedSABCplatformsandcompetitors.Bethatasitmay,foreachadvertwelookedatwhichpoliticalpartywasadvertising,whatissuesdidtheyraiseintheadvertandwhatwasmissingintermsoftheissuesraised?Wealsolookedatwhethertheadvertswereconflatingissues,particularlytheANCandDAadvertsinrelationtotheareastheygovern.Inotherwords,wewantedtofindoutwhethertherewasacleardistinctionbetweenpartydeliveryandstatedelivery.Lastlyweexaminedwhetherpoliticalpartiesat-tackedeachotherintheirmessaging,takingintoaccountissuesoflanguageinclud-ing incitementofviolenceandhatespeech.Whatwasusefulabout thisanalysiswasthatitenabledustocomparewhatpoliticalpartiesthoughtwasusefulfortheelectorateagainstwhatmediafocusedonaselectionissues.

For all the election stories/itemsweanalysed,thetopicorcentralsubjectofeachstorywas identified.Weallocatedonetopictoeachstoryand inveryrarecaseswherethestorycouldnotfitthetopicswechoseatopicthatcloselycapturedthemajorthrustofthestory.Inadditiontothetopic,weidentifiedalltheissuesraisedinthestoryagainthroughasetlistofissueswehavedevelopedinourlonghistoryofelectionsmonitoring.Thepurposeofanalysingthe issuesraised inthestorieswasprimarilytoflagimportantelectionsconcerns.ThisenabledustogainabettersenseofthetrendsexhibitedintheSABCcoveragethanwasprovidedsolelybythetopics.Identifyingboththetopicsandissuesraisedallowedustoseewhichissuesmediaamplifiedandsilencedasrelevantandirrelevanttotheseelections.

3.2How we analysed topical issues covered


3.3How we determined bias

3.4What we may have missed

Linkedtotopical issuescoveredduringtheseelectionsaretheproteststhattookplacebetween the last twoweeksof June2016and thefirstweekof July2016whentheANCannouncedThokoDidizaas theirpreferredmayoralcandidate forTshwane. This angered some ANCmembers who took to the streets to protestagainstDidiza’snomination.MostmediacoveredtheseprotestsbutwhatwasofparticularimportancetouswashowtheSABCtelevisionprogrammesweregoingtocoverthesepotentiallyexplosiveprotestsgiventhatearlierintheyeartheSABChadbannedshowingfootageofburningpropertyduringprotests.Soforthissec-tionwelookedatalltheelectionstoriesthatcoveredtheprotestsbetween21June2016and4July2016acrossselectedSABCtelevisionprogrammesandcompetitorsidentifiedabove.Foreachstory/itemwelookedatwhatissueswerecoveredabouttheprotestsinordertodeterminetheframethatwasusedtocovertheprotests.Wealsolookedatwhospokeabouttheprotestsorwhowasaskedforcomment.Bylookingatthepeoplewhospokewewereabletodeterminetheperspectivethatwasusedtocovertheprotests.LastlywelookedatwhethertheSABCand/oritscompetitorsshowedviolentimages.

One of the most importantandchallengingelementsofmediacoverageinanelec-tionperiodisensuringthatelectionscoverageisfair.Inourviewdemocracythreat-eningbiasoccursasapatternovertime.Secondlybias is a clearanddeliberateattempttofavourordisfavouraparticularpartyorgroup.Sotodeterminebiaswelookedatthree levels– language,presentationandomission.Languagebiaswasdetectedwherethelanguageusedinthestoryclearlyanddistinctlyfavouredonepartyoveranother,orsubstantiallydisfavouredordamagedtheimageofapartyorparties.Presentationbiaswascapturedwhenitwasclearthatoneormorepartieswerefavouredbyvirtueofhowtheywerereportedonintheoverallnewsbulletinor theentireelectionsprogramme.Biasbyomissionwas spottedwhereapartywasnotgiventheopportunitytorespondtosubstantialallegationsortoanissueofsubstantialimportancetothatparty.UsingthesecriteriaallowedustomeasurehowfairtheSABC’scoverageoftheseelectionswas.

Given that the SABC anditscompetitorsbroadcast24/7wecouldhaveanalysedallcontent.However,thiswouldnothavebeenpossibletakingintoaccountthelimitedresources.However,thepurposelyselectedprogrammesallowedustogetasenseofhowthepublicbroadcastercoveredtheseelections.Byandlarge,analysingthemedia’scoverageofanyparticularissueisasubjectiveexercise.Thismeansthattheresultspresentedinthisreportcouldbeinterpreteddifferentlybydifferentpeopledependingontheirbackground, ideologicalorientation,etc.However,significanteffortwasmadetoensurethattheanalysiswasundertakeninauniformfashion.Thiswasdonethroughstandardiseduserguides,training,regularcommunicationandrigorouscheckinganddatacleaning.Inaddition,theanalysisframeworkwascase-testedbeforebeingwidelyapplied.

3.2.1How we explored protestscoverage


4.How did the SABC cover these elections?

4.1Which political parties were covered by the public broadcaster?

This section focuses on politicalpartycoverage.ItlooksatthepoliticalpartiesthatwerecoveredbythepublicbroadcasteraswellsashowtheSABCtreatedthepolit-icalpartyadvertsitairedduringtheelectionsperiod.

Arguably, politics cannot be playedwithoutmediacoveragebecauseitisthroughthemediathatpoliticalpartiescreateawarenessaboutthemselves.Ashighlightedearlier,themediahasthedutytocoverasmuchaspossiblepoliticalparties’activi-tiesinthecountrysothatpeopleareinformedofwhatisatstake.Giventhatthesewerelocalgovernmentelections,itwouldhavebeenexpectedthatmediawouldcoveraplethoraofparties including independentcandidates.Sadly thiswasnotthecaseasrevealedbytheFiguresbelow.Inordertodeterminewhichpartieswerecoveredwecountedthenumberoftimespeoplerepresentingand/orsupportingthesepartiesweredirectlyor indirectlyquotedonSABCplatformsaswell as itscompetitors.

FIGURE 3: Party coverage on SABC TV and its competitors


FIGURE 3: Party coverage on SABC TV and its competitors


FIGURE 4: Party coverage on SABC radio and its competitors


Ifweconsiderthefiguresabove,wecanseethatalthoughvariousSABCplatformscoveredvariouspoliticalpartiesdifferently,byandlarge,the2016SouthAfricanlocalgovernmentelectionswereabouttheANC,DA,EFF,NFPandIFP.Everythinginbe-tweenandoutsideoftheseprotagonistswasvirtuallynowheretobefound,particu-larly on SABC 2 Morning Live.However,whencomparedtoitsequivalente.tv Sunrise, itcouldbearguedthat SABC 2 Morning Liveperformedin linewithitscompetitorespeciallywhenitcomestonotcoveringothersmallerparties.Whatisworthnotingis that both SABC 1 Election Debates and SABC 2 Elections 2016gavemorecoveragetosmallerpartiesat31%and28%respectively.However,thisisnotsurprisinggiventhattheseprogrammeswerededicatedtotheelectionshenceitwouldhavebeenproblematiciftheseprogrammeshadjustfocusedonthe“bigfive”.

ThattheANC,DA,EFF,NFPandIFPreceivedmostofthecoverageonSABCplat-formsishardlysurprisingfortworeasons.TheoneisthatSouthAfricanmediahasalwaysfocusedonthe“bigfive”politicalpartiesineveryelection,beitnationalormunicipalelections.Theonlydifference isthat insomeyears itmaybedifferentpartiesmakingitintothe“topfive”.Forexample,in2011itwasCOPEmakingitintothe“bigfive”andin2014itwasEFFandAgangmakingitintothepack.Sothereisgenerallya tendency to focuson the topfiveand ignore the rest.Thesecondreasonthisisnotnecessarilysurprisingisthatthetopfivearegenerallythebiggestpoliticalpartiesatthetimeintermsofoneofthefollowingthreethings:numbers,


representation inparliamentornewsworthiness.Forexample,despitethisbeingtheEFF’sfirst local governmentelections, thepartyattracteda largenumberofsupportersandfilledupOrlandoStadiumduring theirmanifesto launch. This istestamenttotheirnewsworthiness,ofcourseasidefrompullingseveralstuntslikeknockingonformerpresidentThaboMbeki’shouseandmeetingwithhimduringtheircampaigntrail.However,theseweremunicipalelectionsmeaningthatsomesmallerparties,whichmayhavealargefollowinginasmallareamaynothavere-ceivedcoveragefromthepublicbroadcaster.

Thatsaid,thetop3parties,ANC,DAandEFFallfieldedcandidatesacrosstheen-tirecountry,whichperhapshelpedpullmediaattentiontothem.Interestingly,theEFFreceivedaslittleas5%coverageonSAfm,6%on Thobela fm,7%onUmhlobo Wenene fm,and9%on SABC 2 Morning Livedespitethepartyhavingaveryvocalleader and having orchestrated a number of humiliatingmoments for PresidentJacobZuma inParliament.The lowcoverageofEFFwasalso recordedonANN7 Online,whichisownedbytheGuptafamilythatislinkedthepresidentandisatthecentreofthe“statecapture”debatethathascapturedthenationatthisjuncture.ItcouldalsobearguedthattheEFFreceivedlittlecoverageontheSABCplatformsidentifiedabovebecauseoftherevelationsmadebytheformerHeadofNews,JimiMatthewsthatduringhistimetherewasadecisionmadebysomewithintheSABCandtheANCthatEFFwasgoingtoreceiveverylittlecoverageonthepublicbroad-caster.Inthatregard,itwouldhavebeenexpectedthattheEFFwouldreceivemorecoverage from independentbroadcasters.However, that theEFF receivedaboveaveragecoverageonMotsweding fm, Munghana Lonene fm and SABC 1 Election De-batesat19%,16%and17%,respectivelymayrevealthattheSABCisnotamonolithwhen itcomesto implementationofdecisionsassomestationsand/orchannelscoulddeterminetheirowncoverage.

AnotherinterestingfindingisthattheANCdidnotonlyreceivecoverageaboveav-eragefromSABCplatformssuchas SABC 2 Morning Live(55%)andThobela fm (52%)alone but also from other players such as ANN7 Online(53%)andSABCcompetitorslikee.tv News (56%),Eyewitness News (51%)andTalk Radio 702 (59%).ThattheANCreceivedsubstantialcoveragerelativetootherpartiesonSABC 2 Morning Live and Thobela fmcouldbeattributedtooneoftwothings.EithertheseSABCplatformsmadeadeliberateefforttocovertheANCmorethanotherpartiesortheANCmadeitselfsonewsworthythatitwouldhavebeeninconceivablenottocoverthem.TheformerexplanationmakessenseifonetakesintoaccountthedecisionstakenbytheSABCChiefOperatingOfficeratthetimethatseemedtosupporttherulingparty.ThelatterhowevermakessenseifweconsiderthattheANCmadeitselfnewswor-thywhenithadinternalleadershipsquabblesthatledtoprotestsagainstthenomi-nationofThokoDidizaasitspreferredmayoralcandidateforTshwane.Thisexplainswhyevenprivatebroadcasterslike e.tv News, Eyewitness News and Talk Radio702 alsofocusedontheANC.Theproblemwiththishoweveristhatitfeedsintothenotionofeventsdrivencoveragewheremediatendtocovereventsaroundpoliticalpartiesandnotissuesthathelpinformtheelectorate.


4.2Which political party adverts were aired by the SABC?

One of the elements ofelections coverage ispoliticalpartyadverts. InpreviouselectionsboththeDAandtheEFFcomplainedtoICASA’sComplianceComplaintsCommittee(CCC) regardingthewaytheSABChadhandledand/orrefusedtoairtheir adverts. So for thefirsttime in thehistoryofourelectionsmonitoringwededicatedtimetolookingathowtheSABCairedpoliticalpartyadverts.Thissectionthereforeprovidesananalysisoftheadvertisingrolledoutbypoliticalpartiesinse-lectedbroadcastmedia30daysleadinguptothe2016localgovernmentelectionswhichwerescheduledfor3August2016.Thesectionunpacksthekeymessagesthatwereprevalentinthesecampaignadvertsaswellastheissuesthatweremiss-ingandwhethertheadvertshadabearinghowthepartiesperformedand/orcon-tributedtotheelectorate’sunderstandingofwhatthepartiesstoodfor.Itshouldbeemphasisedhowever,thattheadvertsthatwereanalysedweretheonesairedjustbefore,duringandjustafterselectednewsbulletinsonbothradioandtelevision.

Beforewe venture intowhatwe found about political party advertisingparticu-larlyonthepublicbroadcasteritiscriticaltoexplorethehistoryofpoliticalpartyadvertisinginSouthAfrica.PoliticaltransformationinSouthAfricabeganin1994when the apartheid system was formally abolished and a new and non-racial dem-ocraticSouthAfricawasborn.ThistransformationgavemillionsofSouthAfricansinparticularthosewhohadbeenpreviouslyexcludedbasedontheirracetherighttocastavotefortheveryfirsttime,on27April1994,andtoelectapresidentoftheirchoice.ThisformalendingofApartheid,usheredinaslewofchangestolawsandamongstothers,sawanendtotherepressivemedialawsthathadbeenthestatusuptothatpoint.Mediafreedomandfreedomofexpressionwereallowedtothriveunderthenewconstitution.Thisperiodalsointroducedthephenomenonofpoliticaladvertising.Theaimofpoliticaladvertisingwas togiveaplatformtopoliticalpartiesto‘sell’themselvestovoters,informandeducatethepublicaboutwhat they stand for and toexplain andarticulate their policypositions. Politicaladvertisingwasthereforepermittedonradio,television,newspapers,posters,bill-boards, etc.

Throughpoliticaladverts,partiesdirectlyframethecontentaccordingtotheaudi-encestheyaretargeting.Forpoliticalparties,politicaladvertisingisthemostprecisemeanstoconveytheirmessagesastheynotonlycraftthemessagebutdecideonwhotheyaretargetingandchoosethemediumtocommunicatewiththeirtargetaudience.However,advertisingisridiculouslyexpensivemakingitdifficultforpar-tieswithfewerresourcestoadvertise.Thisiswhyduringanelectionperiod,asperregulations,politicalpartiesareallocatedone-minuteslotsonthepublicbroadcast-ertoairtheiradverts.ThesefreeslotsarecalledPartyElectionBroadcasts(PEBs)3. Eventhen,politicalpartiesarenotrestrictedfrompayingthepublicbroadcastertoairmoreoftheiradvertsiftheysowishtodoso.ThismeansasidefromPEBs,thepublicbroadcasterisundernoobligationtonotairotherpoliticalpartyadvertsoutsideoftheregulatedones.ThisiswhytheDAhadabigfightwiththeSABCintherun-uptotheseelectionswhenthepublicbroadcasterrefusedtoairtheDAadvert.

3 See ICASA’s Regulations on Party Election Broadcasts available here: http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39738_gon3.pdf


ThisledtoadelayofnolessthanfivedaysandtheDAaccusedtheSABCofsuc-cumbingtopoliticalpressuretopreventthemfromenjoyingaheadstartintermsofcampaignadvertisingovertheANC.ThiscertainlytaintedtheSABC’scredibilitywhenitcametohowitwashandlingpoliticalpartyadverts.

Ashighlightedabove,advertisingisveryexpensiveparticularlyduringprimetime.Whilebroadcasters(public,communityandcommercial)providesomereprieveinthis regard throughPEBs, theseareoftennotenough forpoliticalparties togettheirmessagesparticularlytotheruralmajoritywhomostlyaccesstheirnewsviaradioandinsomecasestelevision.Thismeansthatforpoliticalpartiestogettheirmessagestotheirconstituenciestheyneedbiggerbudgetsaswellasutiliseotherformsofmediasuchassocialmediatochurntheirmessagesout.Nevertheless,ourmonitoringofthepartyadvertsconfirmedwhatwehavealwaysknown,whichisthatbiggerpoliticalpartieswilladvertisemore.Itisworthnotingthattheadvertspresentedbelowwereairedjustbefore,duringorjustafterthenewsinthe30daysleadingtotheelectionson3August.Thereforethisdoesnotreflectallthepoliticaladvertsthatwereairedduringtheelectionperiodbutratheronesthatwereplacedduringprimetimenews.Theydohowevergiveusasenseofwhichpoliticalpartiesspentthemostonwhichplatforms.Thecategory“other”isforthoseadvertsthatwerenotfrompoliticalparties.ThesewerefrominstitutionssuchastheCityofJo-hannesburg,theNationalStudentFinancialAidScheme,theCityofEkurhuleniandtheCityofTshwane.Theseadvertsmayhavebeenneutralbutitcouldbearguedthattheirtimingmayhaveservedapoliticalagendaleadinguptotheelection,asmanyofthempromotedtheANCgovernmentbypresentinga‘trackrecord’ofser-vicedelivery.

FIGURE 5: Party adverts on SABC and its competitors


4.2.1Which issues did politicalpartiesraise in their adverts?

ThattheANCandDAhadthehighestnumberofadvertsairedduringprimetimeishardlysurprisingbecausetheyarethebiggestpoliticalpartiesandbyextensionhavebiggerbudgets.Further,theDAtargetedaudiencesinthemetrostheywantedtowinlikeNelsonMandelaBay(whereUmhlobo Wenene fm broadcasts),GautengandTshwane(where Power fm broadcasts).However,theamountofANCadvertson Power fm isparticularlystriking.EithertheANCdedicateda lotofmoneyforadvertisingon Power fm forreasonswedon’tknowortheyweregivenaverygooddealsuchthattheycouldn’tresistbuthavemoreoftheiradvertsairedon Power fm. Arguably,Power fm targetsblackmiddletoupperclassaudiences,whogiventheANC’sperformanceinGautengneededtobetargetedmore.Whateverthecase,itisverystrikingthattheANChadsuchahighvolumeoftheiradvertsonPower fm in comparisontoothercommercialbroadcasters.ThespreadofANCandDAadvertsacrossvariousbroadcastersshowshowclosetheelectionswereparticularlyinthebigmetroswherethevoteswentdowntothewire.Ontheflipside,smallerpartieslikeEFF,IFPandUDMdidnotreallyoccupyprimetimeadvertising.Ofcoursethismaybeafinanceissuebutitalsoraisesquestionsaroundtheconceptofequitablecoverageandinturnfaircoverage.

You may wonder what this has to do with the SABC coverage of these elec-tions. However, according to clause 4(6) of the Amendment of Regulations on Party Election Broadcasts, Political Advertisements, the Equitable Treatment of Political Parties by Broadcasting Licensees and Related Matters in Respect of Municipal Elections Broadcasting gazetted by ICASA on 26 February 20164:

“Abroadcastingservicelicenseetowhomapartyelectionbroadcast(PEB)hasbeensubmittedbyapoliticalpartyforbroadcastmustnot, inanyway,editoralterthecontentofthePEB”.[However,thePEBmust]“notcontravenetheprovisionsoftheMunicipalElectoralAct,theElectoralCode,theElectoralAct,theConstitution,theActandtheBroadcastingAct;and/orcontainanymaterialthatiscalculated,orthatintheordinarycourseislikelytoprovokeorinciteanyunlawful,illegalorcriminalact, or thatmay be perceived as condoning or lending support to any such act”.Clause4(10).

InpreviouselectionstheSABChadrefusedtoairtheEFFadvertonthebasisthattheadvertencouragedcriminalactstodestroye-tolls.ThematterwaseventuallysolvedthroughICASA’sCCC.Inthisregard,itwasimportanttoexaminethecontentofthepartyadverts,inparticularthemessagestheypushedinordertounderstandwhattheyconsideredasimportanttotheiraudiencesandhowtheSABCdealtwiththesemessages.Secondlyandmostimportantly,wewantedtoknowwhetherwhatpoliticiansprioritisedaskeymessagesiswhattheSABCalsocoveredandconsid-eredaskeymessagesthattheiraudiencesdeservedtoknow.

4 See ICASA’s Regulations on Party Election Broadcasts available here:http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39738_gon3.pdf


Likeothercountries,SouthAfricahasitsownhistoryandmanyoftheissuesraisedbypoliticaladvertsreflectthecountry’shistoryandthecurrent issuesaffectingitseconomyanddevelopmentatthetime.Assuch,theFigurebelowshowsthespecificissueswhichwereraisedinthepoliticaladverts.

FIGURE 6: Issues raised in party adverts

Firstandforemost,the issuesraisedinthepoliticalpartyadvertsarenot insyncwithwhattheSABCfocussedonas issuesworthcovering intheseelections.Forinstance,theSABCfocusedonpartypoliticstothedetrimentofissueslikeservicedelivery,poverty,education,etc. (See section5on issues coveredby theSABC).SuchadisjuncturemakesonequestionwhethertheSABCcaredtoengagewiththecontentgeneratedbypoliticalpartiesorwhethertheyfocusedonthesensational,whichisoftennotnecessarilyusefulfortheelectorate.Thatbeingsaid,mostofthepartyadvertsfocusedon‘servicedelivery’,labour,poverty,development,corrup-tion,housing,educationandhumanrights.However,whentheterm‘servicede-livery’isuseditoftendoesn’thelptheaudienceunderstandwhethertheservicesbeinginferredtoarewater,electricity,healthoreducation,amongothers.Whileitiscommendablethatpoliticalmessagingwasaroundservicedelivery,itwouldhavebeenfantasticiftheywerespecificintermsoftheservicestheywerereferringto.

ItisalsoworthnotingthattheDA’scampaignmessagesweremostlyaroundcorrup-tion,labourissuesandservicedelivery.Conversely,theANCmostlyfocusedonser-vicedelivery,development,labourissues,poverty,housing,educationandhumanrights.GiventhattheSABCandothermediadidnotcovertheseissuesthatmuchintheircoverage,itisworthexploringthemessagespoliticalpartiesspreadontheseissues.Withallitsfaults,‘servicedelivery’wasthebiggestpointofinterestwithallpartiesmakingpromisestoofferbetterservicestocommunitiesifelected.Thisisnotsurprisingbecauseintheleaduptotheelectionsthecountryhadexperiencedhighratesofsocalled‘servicedelivery’protests,mostlyininformalsettlementsandunderdevelopedareaswhereservicedeliveryremainsamajorchallenge.Ironically,therulingANChadtorespondtothischallengewhileatthesametimearguingthatithadalreadydeliveredonmanyoftheseservicesandwouldthereforedomoreandbetteronceelected.


LabourisanotherbigchallengeforSouthAfricaandtheglobaleconomicclimateisnotmakingitanyeasier.Officialstatspegtheunemploymentrateat26.7%whileunofficialfiguresputitatover35%,withtheyouthbeingaffectedmost.Thissit-uationhasevenseentheFinanceMinisterPravinGordhandescribeSouthAfrica’syouthunemploymentrateasanationalemergency. It is thereforenotsurprisingthatpoliticalpartiesthroughtheirpoliticaladvertsfocusedexclusivelyonyouthun-employment.Linkedtounemploymentistheissueofpoverty.Morethan12millionpeopleinthiscountryliveinextremepovertysoreducingpovertyisoneofthebig-gestchallengeandfailuretodealwithitwouldbeahugethreat.TheANCitselfonseveraloccasionshadadmittedstrugglingtoeradicatepovertyandevenaskedtheprivatesectortojoininthefight.SopoliticaladvertsfromboththeANCandoppo-sitionpartiesstronglyengagedtheissueofpoverty.Itwasclearthatpoliticalpartiesreflectedareasofextremepovertyasbothruralandurban.Throughtheadverts,politicalpartiespromotedandpresentedstrategiesthattheyconsiderefficienttofightpovertyandthesewerealignedtotheirpartyideology.

Another issue that political parties focused onwas development. These advertsmostlyfocusedoninfrastructuredevelopmentsuchasroadinfrastructureandelec-tricitysupplytoruralareas.However,theseweremostlyfromtheANC,whosesup-portbaseismostly intheruralareas.OnthecontrarytheDAmostlyfocusedoncorruption. TheDA capitalisedon theANC’s ‘leadership crisis’ particularlywhenitcomestocorruption.WiththeNkandlamatterandthestatecaptureallegationsdoingtherounds,theDAspentmostofitsairtimeinitspoliticaladvertsaddressingtheissueofcorruptionwiththepromisetostopitimmediately.However,themes-sagingaroundcorruptionwasadirectresponsetothecloudhangingovertheANCandnotmuchaboutwhattheDAwoulddotocurbcorruptionwithinitsranks.ItwasclearfromthemessagingthattheDAhopedthattheelectoratewouldpunishtheANCforbeingcorrupt.

UnliketheDA,theANCalsofocusedonhousingandeducationintheiradverts.Withtheproliferationof informalsettlementscountrywideandpoor livingconditions,theANCpromised“betterhousingforallSouthAfricans.”Withregardtoeducation,theANCmadeitveryclearthateducationisaprioritybecauseit isonlythrougheducationthatmorepeoplecanhopetogetoutofpoverty.Theyconnectedyoutheducationandemployment.Clearly,politicalpartiesdidnotusepoliticaladvertstosendthesamemessages.TheDAforinstancefocusedontheANC’sweaknesseswhichtheyframedascorruptionandtheirinabilitytocreatemorejobsforyoungpeople.Arguably, the issues raisedby theDAwereratheropportunisticbecausetheytargetedtheANC’svulnerablepositionwithregardstocorruption.Equally,theDAwasalsoonthereceivingendofnegativeadvertising,withtheANCaccusingitofbeingaWhites-only,whichrentsblackfaceswhenitsuitsthem.EquallyinterestingisthefactthatneithertheANCnortheDAaddressedtheissuestheyaccusedeachotherof.Further,onthesurfaceitappearspoliticalpartiesraisedissuespertinenttothepeoplebutinfacttheywereopportunistic.Perhapswhatistellingiswhatwasmissinginthepoliticalmessaging.


4.2.2Whatwasmissinginthepoliticalpartymessaging?

SouthAfricasuffersfromsomanysocialillsrangingfromhighlevelsofinequalitytodomesticviolence,racismandxenophobia,tomentionafew.Interestingly,whetherbydesignorbydefault,someoftheissuesthecountryisgrapplingwithlikedomes-ticviolence,racism,healthandlandwerenotcoveredthatmuchinpoliticalmes-saging.Thecountryhashighlevelsofdomesticviolenceyetmostpoliticalpartiesremainedlargelysilentaboutthisissue.Linkedtodomesticviolenceistheissueofcrime,whichagaindidnottakecentrestageinpartyadvertising.Equally,issuesfac-ingtheLGBTIAQcommunitieswereneglectedasiftheydon’texist.WealsoknowthatSouthAfricawasrockedwith‘xenophobic’attackslastyearwhereBlacksfromotherAfricancountriesweretargetedyetpoliticalpartyadvertsweremumonthis.Itcouldbearguedthatthereasontheseissueswereneglectedisbecausepoliticalpartieschosethetopicsfortheiradvertscarefullyastheyprioritisedtheissuestheyjudgedsafeaccordingtotheirownagenda.Althoughpartyadvertsmayormaynothaveanimpactonwhichpartiesvoterswouldfinallychoose,theyserveapurposetopersuadevoterstovoteforonepartyandnottheother.Whatremainstobeseeniswhetherpoliticalpartiesmanagedtoswayvotersthroughtheiradverts.

This section focuses on theissuesthatwerecoveredbytheSABCaswellashowthepublicbroadcastercoveredtheTshwaneprotestsasoneofthetopicalissuesthatemergedduringtheelectioneeringperiod.

Topicscoveredbythepublicbroadcasterarepivotalinbringingissuesaffectingpeopletotheelectionsagendathroughdiscussions,dialoguesanddebates.Inotherwords,thetopicstheSABCfocusesoncouldeitheruncloakorsimplyshuntheconcernsofordinarypeoplewhoaredirectlyaffectedbythedecisionstakenbyleaders.Becausepeopleoftenrememberwhatisemphasised,theemphasisplaceduponsometopicsoverothersisimportantinreflectingwhethertheelec-tionscoveragebytheSABCwascomprehensiveenoughtoinformtheelectorate.WethereforelookedattheissuestheSABCfocusedonduringtheseelectionsandobservedthefollowing.Itisworthnotingthatthetopic“partycampaigns”wasonly allocated to the story if there were no other issues raised in the story aside fromhearingthatsuchandsuchpoliticianwasinsuchandsuchareacampaigning.Sothistopicispurelypoliticalpartycampaigningwithoutraisinganyissuesandthetopic“other”wasallocatedtothosestoriesthatfocussedonotherissuesthatarenotinthetop10.Theseissuesincludehousing,environment,racism,land,education,health,gender,children,etc.

4.3.1Which topical issues were coveredbytheSABC?

4.3Which issues did the SABC cover?


FIGURE 7: Issues covered on SABC TV and its competitors


FIGURE 8: Issues covered on SABC radio and its competitors


4.3.2Which topical issues were neglectedbythe public broadcaster?

Byand large, thepublicbroadcasterandotherprivatemediaweremainly con-cernedwithpartypolitics,partycampaigning,electionlogisticsaswellaspoliticalviolenceandprotestsattheexpenseofotherequallyimportantissuessuchasman-ifestoanalysesandvotereducationamongotherthings,whichhavethepotentialtoinformtheelectorateabouttheviableoptions.Thisishoweverhardlysurprisingbecauseourmediaisdrivenbyeventsandnotnecessarilyissues.Inotherwords,ourmedia tend to cover to cover events andneglect issues,whichmay requiremoretimeand resources in order to unpack all thenuances. Theproblemwithfollowingeventsisthattheyareoftenonceoffissuesthatleadmediatohopfromoneeventtotheotherwithoutkeepingissuesontheelectionsagendasothatpoli-ticianscanbeheldaccountable.Perhapsthemoststrikingfindingisthatifwecom-parethetop10topicscoveredbymediaandtheissuesraisedbypoliticalpartiesintheiradvertswenoticeamassivedifference.Forinstance,whilemediafocusedonpartypolitics,violenceandprotests,politicalpartyadvertsraisedissuesofservicedelivery, labour issues,poverty,economicdevelopment,corruption,housing,ed-ucation,etc.–noneofwhichmadeitinthetoptentopicscoveredbymedia.Thismeansthateitherthemediahadtheirownelectionsagendaorwhenpoliticiansappearedbeforethemedia,theirpoliticalmessagingchangedinordertoensurethattheygetmoremediacoverage.

Itisalsointerestingtonotethatthereareanumberofmediathatwereobsessedwithcoveringpoliticianswhowerecampaigningaroundthecountry.Forexample,50%ofthetopicscoveredonSABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News and43%ofthetop-icscoveredonSABC 3 English Newswereaboutpartycampaigns.Whilepartycam-paignsshouldbecovered,todedicate50%ofyourentireelectionstopiccoveragetojustthatisdetrimentaltoothertopicsthatmaybemorehelpfultotheelectorate.Thatbeingsaid,therewereothermediathatfocusedonsomeusefultopics.Forinstance,49%ofthetopicscoveredon SABC 1 Election Debates were on manifesto analysesand54%ofthetopicsonSABC 2 Elections 2016 were about other issues outsideofthetop10topics.Althoughthisiscommendable,itwasexpectedsincetheseprogrammeswerededicatedtocoveringtheseelections.Further,mostofthetopicsthatmadeupthe54%onSABC 2 Elections 2016 wereabout‘servicedelivery’,whichatfacevaluemakessensebutashighlightedearlierlumpingservicedeliverytogetherdoesnothelptheelectorateunderstandwhichservicesaremeanttobedeliveredasdifferentareasmayrequiredifferentservices.

Nowthatweknowthetopicalissuesthatwerecoveredbythepublicbroadcasterand its competitors,byextensionwealsoknowthe topical issues thatwerene-glected.Thesearetheveryissuesthatshouldhavebeenontheelectionsagenda,namely, service delivery, corruption, housing, environment, racism, land, educa-tion,health,gender,children,etc.–thelistisendless.Byneglectingtheseissuesthepublicbroadcasteranditscompetitorsdidnotservesocietyinitsentirety.Thatistosayvulnerablegroupslikepoorpeople,children,womenandpeoplelivingwithdis-abilitywerenotserved.HowisitthatinasocietysuchasSouthAfricawherethereahighlevelsofinequality,gender-basedviolence,andchildabuse,topicsaboutthose


whobearthebruntoftheseandotherillsarebarelyspokenaboutduringaturningpointinthecountry’shistory?Whatisworseparticularlyforthepublicbroadcasteristhatitsmandateistoservesociety,youngandold,richandpoor,urbanandrural,yetiffollowedthemainstreammediaintermsofcoveringtopicsthatarerelevanttoasectionofsociety.Byfollowingpoliticians,theSABCstruggledtolocalisena-tionalissuesraisedbypoliticiansandmakethemrelevanttolocalpeopleinrelationtolocalelections.Itwouldseemthatthepublicbroadcasterprovidedtheelectoratelimitedinformation,especiallybecauseitfocusedonmainstreamtopicsattheex-penseoflocalissuesrelevanttopeopleontheground.

Itiswithoutdoubtthattheroleofthepublicbroadcasteristoservesocietyinitsdiversity.However,perhapsthetechnologicaldisruptionsinnewsroomsarechang-ing thewaynews isgathered,processedanddisseminated leading to thepublicbroadcasterfollowinginthefootstepsofotherprivatemediaintermsofprioritisingbroadernationalissues(oftensensational)andnotissuesrelevanttopeopleatthelocal level. In thiseraof technologicaldisruptionandmediaconvergence,atten-tionispaidtoconversationsthattrendonsocialmediaandgaintractionthroughpopularity.TheseconversationsshouldideallybeweighedagainstthesocialrealityofSouthAfricanstakingintoaccountthatonlyasegmentofsocietyhasaccesstodataandthereforeusessocialmediafornewsengagementpurposes,amongotheruses.Ratherthanfollowtheechochambersonsocialmedia,thepublicbroadcasteroughttocontinuouslyaskwhetherthetopicsit’scoveringarenotonlyrelevanttosocietyasawholebutalsohelpthemtomakeinformeddecision,particularlydur-ingelections.Thatallmedia,includingthepublicbroadcasterarefacingbacklashfromsocietywhencoveringprotestsforexampleisareflectionthatsocietyfeelsmisrepresented. This relationship betweenmedia and society canbe restored ifmedialistenstothecommunitiestheyserveandprioritiseissuesthatarerelevantto them.

Whileitisoftenarguedthatpublicbroadcastercannotcovereverythingallthetimeowingtorelativelylimitedresources,itcanleverageontheadvancingtechnologiesandinnovate.Inanycase,thepublicbroadcasterisbetterresourcedandequippedmorethananyothermediainthecountry.Withtheadventofcitizenjournalism,thereisnobettertimetousesocietytotelltheirownstories.WehaveseenthisworkwithnewonlineplatformlikeThe Daily Vox,whichisoftencreditedforchang-ingthemedianarrativeontheFeesMustFallmovement.Mostimportantly,whendealingwith issuesaffectingSouthAfrican, thepublicbroadcaster should reflectthediversityofitspeopleandthecomplexitiesofthesocialissues.

Inordertozoomintohowthepublicbroadcastercoveredtopicalissueswechosetofocusononeissuethatemergedduringtheelectionsperiod–protests.Wechosethisspecificissuebecauseearlierintheyear,theSABCtookacontroversialdecisiontobanbroadcastingfootageofviolentprotestsontheirplatformsarguingthat it“might encourage other communities to do the same... [hence] the SABC would not assist these individuals to push their agenda that seeks media attention.” This was

4.3.3How did the SABCcoverprotests that tookplaceduringelectioneering?


4.3.4Which frames did theSABCusetocoverprotests?

afteralotofpublicpropertyincludingpublicschoolsandlibrarieswereburntbyprotesterswhowerenothappyaboutmunicipaldemarcationsinVuwani,Limpopo.Ofcoursethedecisionwasnotonlyirrationalbutitwentagainsttheethosofmediafreedomsowe(MMA)challengedittogetherwithotherlike-mindedorganisationandICASAruledinourfavourandtheSABChadtorescindthedecision.However,ittookthreatsoflegalaction,andaformalcomplainttogettheSABCtowithdrawthedecision.FastforwardtoJune2016whenANC-MPandnationalassemblychair-personThokoDidizawasannouncedasthepreferredformayoralcandidatefortheANCshoulditwintheelectionsinTshwane.Tshwanewasinflameswithcindersofburntbusses,tyresandproperty.AgaintheSABCwasfacedwiththedilemmatocovertheseprotestsunderacloudofhavingdeclaredatsomepointnottocoverviolentprotests.ItisagainstthisbackdropthatwelookedathowtheSABCcoveredtheseprotestsasanelectionsissue.

Framingisanimportantaspectofnewsdissemination.Itiswhatmakesmediasostunninglysuccessfulintellingaudienceswhattothinkabout.Manymediascholarsagreethatthewaynewsisframedcanaffecthowconsumersrespondtomediaanditsproducts.Forexample,thattheSouthAfricansocietycurrentlytakesahostileapproachtomediaisinandofitselfareflectionofhowsocietyrespondstonewsframesparticularlywhenitcomestoreportingonviolentprotests.OurassumptionwasthatthedecisiontobanfootageofviolentprotestswasgoingtoshifthowtheSABCwasgoingtoframetheprotestssowesoughttotestthatassumption.WhatwefoundisthatwhileboththeSABCanditscompetitorsmainlyframedthesepro-testsintheconventionalsensewhereinthefocusisontheviolence(SeeFigurebe-low).Whatisdisturbing,however,isthat80%oftheprotestcoveragewasframedaspublicviolenceandpoliticalviolencecombined.Thisagainshowsthemediafo-cusoneventsandnotnecessarilytheissuesaroundthoseevents.ThesamewasalsoobservedinKwaZulu-Natalwheremediaagainfocusedonthepoliticalkillingsandnotmuchontheissuesaroundthoseactivities.

FIGURE 9: The frames used by the SABC and its competitors to cover protests


4.3.5From whose perspectivedidtheSABCcoverprotests?

Therealityisthatjournalistsworkunderserioustimelimitationsandotherresourceconstraints,andconsequentlymaynotalwaysgetenoughsourcestospeakaboutaparticularissue.Theimportanceofgettingmultipleviewsonanissueissimplyanattempttoensurethatvariouspeoplegivetheirownperspectivetotheissue.Inotherwords,whoeverspeaksthemostonanissueoftengetstodirectthenarrativeaboutthatparticularissue.InthiscasevoicesofvariousgroupsneededtoweighinontheTshwaneissue,whichhadgrippedthenation’spsycheatthetime.Whatisclear,however,isthatasisalwaysthecaseontheseissues,officialvoicesoftencountmorethanvoicesofordinarypeople.(SeeFigurebelow).

FIGURE 10: Who spoke about protests on SABC platforms and its competitors

Thesefindingsmirrorthegeneralbreakdownofsourceswhereinofficialsarealwaysquotedbymedia.Similarly,whatisclearinthisinstanceisthatonbothSABCplatformsanditscompetitorstheprotestswerecoveredfromtheperspectiveofofficialsourceslikepoliticians.Ordinarypeople’svoiceswerestifledwiththeexceptionofe.tv News wherevoicesofordinarypeopleconstitutedapproximately35%ofallsourcesaccessedaboutthe.Thisfindingmakessenseifoneconsidersthefollowingtwothings.1)Mediaoftencoverprotestsbehindpolicelineshencetheyalmostalwayshaveofficialsourcesincludingthepolice.2)Itwouldseemthatmediaconsidervoicesofordinarypeopleorprotestersaslessvaluableandthereforeprivilegeofficialvoices.

Thequestionofwhichsourcesarequoted innewsstoriesspeaks toethicalcon-siderations of credibility and reliability of the media, especially when the in-formation being distributed contributes towards a greater social dialogue. Thesweeping statement made by the former SABC Chief Operating Officer, HlaudiMotsoenengthat“whenpeopleseethecameratheygetexcitedandstartburn-ing property” dismally failed to recognise the nuances that exist between poli-tics andmedia. In an interview on eNCA, political analyst Dr Somadoda Fikeni5

notedthattheviolencewassymptomatictothelargerprobleminsocietyandwas

5 See article here: https://www.enca.com/south-africa/why-are-the-tshwane-protests-so-violent


startingtoreflectthroughpoliticalkillingsandviolentprotestovercandidateselec-tion.Itiswithinthesocietalcontextthatthepublicbroadcasteranditscompetitorsneededtocovertheprotests,meaningthatvoicesofordinarycitizensmattered.

Apartfromprivilegingthevoicesofofficialsources,boththepublicbroadcasteranditscompetitorsamplifiedmalevoicesandsilencedfemalevoicesonthisissue.(SeeFigurebelow).Thisisnotnewconsideringthatforalongtimemediahasbeengivingmen(mostlypowerfulmen)thespacetoarticulateissuesonbehalfofothers.Thequestionstoaskhereare:whatmakesmediagenerallyaccessmorementhanwomenonissuesthataffectbothmenandwomendifferently?Isitbe-causeofthepatriarchalnatureoftheSouthAfricansocietywherethemajorityofwomenoccupyfewpositionsofpowerandauthority?Orisitbecausemediadoesnottryhardenoughtomainstreamwomen’svoices?Whateverthecase,whatwedoknowfromtheseresultsisthattheprotestswerecoveredfromtheperspectiveofpowerfulmeninpositionsofauthority.

FIGURE 11: Sex of the people who talked about protests on SABC and its competitors

Ashighlightedearlier,priortotheelections,theSABCtookadecisiontobanfoot-ageof‘violentprotests’ontheirplatforms.Asfarasweknow,eventhoughwetooktheSABCtoICASA’sCCConthisdecisionandtheyhadtorescinditunderduress,thereisnoevidencethatSABCcommunicatedtoitsemployeesthemeasuresthebroadcasterput inplacetoensurethatbanwas lifted.Asa result,we lookedatwhethertheSABCshowed‘violentfootage’ intheirprotestcoverage.Inordertodeterminethis,weanalysedprime-timenewsbulletinsonSABCtelevisionfora2weekperiod(21June2016to4July2016).Duringthisperiod,therewasawaveofproteststhatgrippedthecountryasreflectedbythefollowingstoriesthatwerecoveredbyseveralmedia,includingtheSABC:• 20June2016,IOL,“ProtestoverHlaudiandcensorship”6• 20June2016,eNCA,“CosatutoprotestMetroraildelays”7• 21June2016,M&G,“Tshwaneburning:ViolencecontinuesfollowingThoko

Didizaannouncement”8

4.3.6DidtheSABCshow“violentfootage”intheirprotestcoverage?


• 21June2016,SABC online,“CapeTownnursingcollegecountscostafterprotest”9

• 21June2016,The Citizen,“ArmedmobattacksMalemainTembisa”10 22June2016,The Citizen,”Primroseroadblockedbyburningrubbish”11

• 24June2016,IOL,“VictoryforUCTworkers,students”12

• 27June2016,IOL,“AndileLiliheldhostagebyANCmembers”13

• 28June2016,SABC online,“Servicedeliveryremainsproblematicaselectionsapproach”14

• 28June2016,SABC online,“Limpoporesidentsurgedtoreportwaterdisruptions”15

• 29June2016,Times Live,“N2betweenCapeTownandairportclosedbecauseofprotests”16

• 30June2016,IOL,“IrateresidentsthreatenmoreprotestactiononN2”17• 30June2016,The Citizen,“EFF,Tshwanemetrowrangledoveroutsourced

workers”18

• 30June2016,IOL,ANCsuspends‘ringleader’ofN2violence”19• 1July2016,Time Live,“Beitbridgeborderpostshutdownbyprotestaction”20

• 1July2016,IOL,“#BlackFridayattheSABC”21

• 1July2016,IOL,“ANCprotestersburnpartyT-shirts,posters”22

• 1July2016,SABC online,“VillagesinKurumandemandtarredroads”23

ThehighlightedprotestswerereportedtohavebeenviolenthencewesoughttofindouthowtheSABCdealtwiththeseprotests.

6 http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/video-protest-over-hlaudi-and-censorship-20365967 http://www.enca.com/south-africa/cosatu-to-protest-metrorail-delays8 http://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-21-violence-in-tshwane-continues-following-thoko-didiza-announcement9 http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/dc72b7004d36a294aa97aa830b7eb7b6/Cape-Town-nursing-college-counts-cost-after-protest10 http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1171637/armed-mob-attacks-malema-in-tembisa/11 http://citizen.co.za/news/1173067/primrose-roads-blocked-by-burning-rubbish-tyres/12 http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/victory-for-uct-workers-students-203837813 http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/andile-lili-held-hostage-by-anc-members-203908614 http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/d531b0804d4d3df7a983ef4b5facb1b5/Service-delivery-remains-problematic-as-elections-ap-proach-2016280615 http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/7de360004d5b84f08c01ce4b5facb1b5/Limpopo-residents-urged-to-report-water-disruptions16 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2016/06/29/Breaking-news--N2-between-Cape-Town-and-airport-closed-because-of-protests17 http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/irate-residents-threaten-more-protest-action-on-n2-204029218 http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1184975/eff-tshwane-metro-wrangle-over-outsourced-workers/19 http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/anc-suspends-ringleader-of-n2-violence-204050120 http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2016/07/01/Beitbridge-border-post-shut-down-by-protest-action21 http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/blackfriday-at-the-sabc-204057822 http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/anc-protesters-burn-party-t-shirts-posters-204095323 http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/4be18e004d564851959bdf4b5facb1b5/Villages-in-Kuruman-demand-tarred-roads-


FIGURE 12: The wave of protests between 20 June 2016 and 4 July 2016


Giventhewaveofproteststhatrockedthecountryduringthisperiod,weanalysed75newsbulletinsonSABCplatformscombined(SABC 1 IsiZulu/IsiXhosa News, SABC 1 Siswati/Ndebele News, SABC 2 Afrikaans News, SABC 2 Morning Live, SABC 2 Ses-otho/Setswana News, SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News and SABC 3 English News)and15newsbulletinsone.tvEnglishNewsoverthesameperiod.Asshownbelow,ofthe75newsbulletinsbroadcastonSABCovertheperiod,57coveredprotestsand18didnot.Ofthe57,only40%showedtheactualincidentsofviolence.Sim-ilarly,ofthe15newsbulletinsanalysedone.tvoverthesameperiod,12coveredprotests compared to three that didnot.Of the12, 50% showed violence. (SeeFiguresbelow).

FIGURE 13: News bulletins that covered protests and showed violence on SABC platforms

FIGURE 14: News bulletins that covered protests and showed violence on e.tv


Ifwedisaggregatethenewsbulletins,wenoticethatwiththeexceptionofSABC 2 Afrikaans News,allSABCtelevisionchannelsdidnotshowactual ‘footageofvio-lence’inmostcaseswhentheycoveredprotests.(SeeFigurebelow).Infact,itcouldbearguedthatSABC 3 English News and SABC 1 Siswati/Ndebele News downplayed theviolentnatureofsomeoftheprotestsbyshowingverylittleoftheviolence.Inanycase,unlikeone.tv English News,whentheSABCtelevisionchannelsshowedviolence,theyshowedtheaftermathofit.Inotherwords,theyshowedtheimpactoftheviolence,that is,burntproperty, lootedshops,blockedroads,etc.Seldomdid theyshowpeoplecommittingviolentactswherease.tv English News mostly showedfootageoftheeventshappening.Further,e.tv English News showed the violencemostlyinthenewsheadlineswhiletheSABCshowedtheviolenceinsidethebulletins (mostly in themiddle), therebyunderminingthe importanceof theprotestsandwhattheyrepresentedparticularlyduringanelectionsperiod.

FIGURE 15: News stories that covered protests and showed violence on SABC platforms & e.tv


Whenproteststakeplace, themediashouldnot justcovertheviolencebutalsocovertheissuesbehindtheviolence,andcriticallywhatisbeingdonetoaddresstheissuesleadingtotheprotests.Thatinthe12timese.tv English Newscoveredprotests,halfofthetimeitshowedfootageofviolenceisinterestingfortworea-sons.Giventhate.tvisaprivatebroadcaster,ithadnotobligationtobalancethecoveragebutitmaybethate.tvwantedtobeseenasindependent.Itmayalsobethatby thetime itarrived in thedifferentareaswhere theprotestswere takingplace,theviolencehaddieddownsoitcouldonlycoverviolenceinhalfthepro-tests.Whateverthecasemaybe,the50/50splitintermsofviolentandnon-violentimagesone.tv English News creates the impressionthateventheprivatemediawerebalanced in termsof coveringprotests than thepublic broadcasterwhoseremitistobalancetheseissues.Unlikeprivatemedia,thepublicbroadcasterhasafarreachingmandatewhichistocoverissuesofpublicinterest.ThattheSABCwashighlyandclearlyinconsistentinitscoverageofprotestsduringthiselectionperiodisanindictmentonthepublicbroadcasterwhoseroleistoprovideinformationthathelpscitizensmakeinformeddecisionsabouttheirlivesandlivelihood.

Uncovering instances of poor leadership, corruptionorbrokenpromisesaswellashighlightingtheproductiveactivitiesandbehavioursof leaderswhoaredoingagoodjobareallpartofmedia’sroleinhelpingthepublicunderstandthetypeofleadershipbeingoffered,particularlyinelectionseason.Withinthis,oneofthefun-damentalprinciplesacknowledgedbymediatheworldoveristhatofbalancedandfairjournalism.Here,reportingmustseektoprovideamorethoroughunderstand-ingofeventsorissuesbyaccessingandanalysingasdiverseanopinionaspossible.Byjournalistsactivelyseekingoutmultiplesidesofastory,thereisalowerpossibil-ityofnewsbeingtaintedbythereporter’sownsubjectivityandotherformsofbias.Inthisway,consumersaretheoreticallyprovidedwithnewsthatismoreaccurateandimpartial,andallowsthemastheelectoratetomakedecisionsaboutpoliticalcandidatesthatarenotshapedbyerroneous,misleadingorbiasedcoverage.

Withthatbeingsaid,absoluteobjectivityinanyfieldofjournalismremainsafallacy.Everyeditor, journalist,photographerandproducerhave theirownexperiences,opinionsand ideasthatshapetheirdecisionsandultimatelythewaytheywrite,selectandconstructthenews.Inthatregard,biaspresentsitselfinmultipleforms.Itcanbetheinclusionofhighlyexaggeratedlanguageagainstonespecificparty,theexclusionofvoicesfromotherpoliticalpartiesorsimplyinthewaypartiesarepre-sentedthroughimages,sourcesorwords.Withthis,itiscriticalthatconsumersofelections-basedcoveragegetaglimpseintothetypeofreportingbeingofferedandwhetherbias,beitintentionalorsubconscious,ispresent.WethereforeanalysedtheSABC’selectionscoveragespecificallyfocusingontheextenttowhichthepub-licbroadcastermayhavebeenbiasedinitscoverage.Thisisparticularlyimportantwherebiasdisseminatedbythenationalbroadcasterhasthepotentialtounder-minethedemocraticprojectbynotresponsiblyandaccuratelyreportingonevents.

4.4Was the SABC coverage of these elections biased?


4.4.1To what extent wastheSABCbiased in their electionscoverage?

Withthis, itmustberememberedthatourdefaultassumptionisoneoffairnessandonlywhensetcriteriaofbiashavebeenbreachedisitclassifiedassuch.Thefol-lowingsectiondetailsthedegreeofbiasfoundacrossallmonitoredSABCplatforms(toprovideanoverview)andthenhonesinandunpacksthreetelevisionstationswiththehighestlevelofbiasobserved.Wealsoofferamorein-depthanalysisoftheamountofcoverageandthetypeofbiasseenaswellastowhichpartiessuchpartisanreportingwasdirected.

Over thetwomonthperiod,wemonitored2573election-relatedstoriesputoutby theSABC.Of these,2316or90%were identifiedas “fair”. In these cases, allnecessarypartiesweregivenanopportunitytorespondtoallegations(ifany),theiractionswerepresentedinanimpartialmannerandthelanguageusedwasseenasbothmoderateandbalancedtoallpartiesi.e.theactionsofpoliticalgroupswerenotinflatedordownplayedbyjournalists.Giventhehighvolumeofelectionstoriesbroadcast,thislevelof“fairness”mayseemacceptableorevengood,insomere-spects.However,whenwelookdeeper,thepatternsoffairnessandbiasareunevenacross the spectrum (see thefigurebelow)of SABCplatformsandpresent cleardangersinsomecases.

FIGURE 16: Percentage of biased items on SABC platforms

SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News had the highest percentage of biased articlesstandingat34%.Thismeansthatforeverythreestoriesputforwardintheir17h30newsbulletin,at leastoneofthem,onaverage,wasidentifiedasbiased.Incon-trast, only two stories from Umhlobo Wenene fmweredeemedunfairresultinginonly2%ofnewscoveragebeingbiasedfrom82stories.These inconsistencies inthedegreeofunfaircoveragemaymeanoneoftwothings.Itcouldreflectthefactthattheseinstancesofbiasareunintentionalor,onthecontrary,thatdifferentpro-grammesareatlibertytodecidehowtheychoosetocoverpoliticalparties.Theselevelsofchoicemayoccurevenifthereisadecisionfromhigherlevelsofauthoritytoportraycertainpartiesinpositivelightattheexpenseofotherparties.


Interestingly,radioprogrammesfaredthebestoverallotherplatformswherenosingleradiostationhadmorethan15%oftheircoveragebeingidentifiedasbiased.WhilethismaystemfrommoreconsciousandpurposivereportingfromthoseinSABC’sradiodepartments,thisfindingismorelikelytoresultfromradionewscastshavingamuchshorterduration(lessthanfiveminuteslong)thanbothtelevisionnewsbroadcastsorelections-centredshows.Theshorterdurationalsomeansthatoftenonlythebareminimumofinformationisconveyedinanitem.Itmustalsoberememberedthatourdefaultassumptionisoneoffairnessandwemovethenonthe basis of set criteria to determine if an item is clearly biased or not and if so who doesitclearlyfavourorclearlydisfavour.Fortelevision,theperiodanalysedherewerebetween30and60minutesandtherewouldthereforebefarmoreopportu-nitiesforpartisanstories.

ItmustalsobenotedthattherewerenoinstancesofbiasrecordedforSABC 1’s Election Debatesseries.Thiswasaten-weeklongprogrammethatwasairedinthebuild-upto3August.Itsawrepresentativesfromahostofdifferentpoliticalpar-tiesargueanddefendtheirparty’spositiononarangeofissuesinfrontofastudioaudience.Owingtothefact thateveryweek,anumberofpoliticalpartiescametogetherandeachweregivenopportunitiestovoicetheiropinionsandobjectionsduringtheshow,itwasdifficulttodefineanysessionasbeingclearlybiasedonewayortheother.Asaresult,thiswastheonlyprogrammeandindeedstationtohavehad100%fairelectionscoverage.Thisalsoservestohighlighttheimportanceofofferingandpresentingdiverseviews.

Ashasalreadybeenstated,weacknowledgethatacertainlevelofsubjectivitywillalwaysfilterintonewscasts.However,wemuststilldrawattentiontothosemediathatfrequentlyofferedbiasednewsitemsinordertoholdthemtoaccount.Thefollowingsectionthereforepresentsamoredetailedanalysisofthetopthreemostbiasedprogrammes,thatis,SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News, SABC 2 Morning Live, and SABC 3 English News,eachwithover15%ofbiasedstories.

SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda Newshadthehighestproportionofbiasedstoriesacrossallplatformswithatotalof33biaseditemsoutofatotalof98.Whileidentifyingthedegreeofbiasputoutbyaspecificprogrammeisimportant,whatisevenmorecriticalistoexaminewhichpartieswerefavouredordisfavouredbythecoverage.Intheanalysisbelow,wetherefore lookat: (1)whichpoliticalpartiesweremostcommonlyaccessedassourcesinnewsitems,(2)whethertheseitemswerefairorbiasedand(3)inthosebiaseditems,whichpartieswerefavouredandwhichwerenot.Byunpackingthecoverageinthisway,wecanmoreeffectivelyunderstandthepotentialnuancesofferedinpartisancoveragebroadcastbytheSABC.

Thebreakdownofelectionscoverage,asseeninthetablebelow,specificallylooksatthestories inwhichthethreemainparties(ANC,DAandEFF)wereaccessed.Overall, these threeparties receivedover 65%of all coverage across SABCplat-

4.4.2What was biasedonSABC2Xitsonga/TshivendaNews?


forms,andtheyarethusthemostobviouschoiceforanalysisaroundbias.OnSABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News,theANC,DAandEFFweresourcedin38%,29%and12%ofelectionsitems.Clearly,theANCwereaccessedthreetimesmorethantheEFF.WhileitmaybearguedthattheANCdeservedthecoveragebyvirtueofitoc-cupyingthespace,thishighlightshowskewedthecoverageofpoliticalpartieswasespecially if we consider how biased SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News was when coveringtheseparties.

FIGURE 17: Breakdown of biased coverage on SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News

ItmaybearguedthattheANC,asthecurrentleadingparty,mayhavereceivedmorecoverageaspartoftheSABC’smandateofequitablepartyrepresentation.Thismeansthatpartiesgetalevelofcoveragethatisbroad-lyinlinewiththeirstandingintheexistingpoliticalland-scape. While this may be true, the fact that almost half oftheANCcoveragewasbiased(48%)is incrediblyproblematic.This issueiscom-poundedbythefactthat84%ofthosebiasedstoriesfavouredtheANC.Inthiscase,notonlyistheANCreceivingmorecoverageoverall,buttheyarealsobeingaccessedinstoriesinwhich,muchofthetime,theyarebeingopenlyfavoured.

Here,wealsoseethattheANCandtheDAhadanalmostequalpercentageofunfairstorieswherethestoriesinwhichtheDAwassourcedalsodemonstratedequallyhighlevelsofpartisanship(52%).WhilethesimilaritiesbetweeninstancesofbiasandfairnessaresoclosebetweentheANCandtheDAthatsomemightsaythatthenumbersessentially“canceleachotherout”,wearguethatsuchbiasedcoverageisflawedregardlessofwhichpartyorsourceischampioned.

In terms of the EFF, the proportion of biaseditems stood at 40%. The level of fairnesswastherefore higher than both the ANC and theDAcoverage.Interestingly,90%ofthesebiasedarticles favoured the EFF.While this coveragemight therefore appear to favour theRedBe-retsoutright,whentakenintermsofabsolute

numbers,therewereonly9EFF-favoureditemscomparedto32ANC-favouredsto-ries.Onceagain,thishighlightshowtheANCreceiveddefinitivelymorefavourablecoveragethanitstwoleadingcounterparts.Theresultsthereforeclearlypresentacaseofbiasednewscoverageonthischannelovertheperiod.

Sources in coverage (%)

Fair items of total (%)

Biased items of total (%)

Biased items that favour

own party (%)

Biased items that favour other

parties (%)

ANC 38 52 48 84 16DA 29 48 52 78 22EFF 12 60 40 90 10


SABC 2 Morning Live isanewsandtalkshowairedonweekdaymorningsonSABC2.Inourtwo-monthmonitoringperiod,wecollected93electionsrelatedstoriesfromthisshowwhere119peoplewereaccessedfromvariouspoliticalparties,and22%of the stories were deemed biased.

Whenwelookatthevoicesaccessedacrossthe coverage,we see that the ANCwas ac-cessed in more than double the number of storiesthanthatoftheDAandfivetimesmorefrequently than the EFF (see table below).This rangeofparty sources ishighly skewedand therefore points to how much more com-monlytheANCwasofferedanopportunitytospeakinnewsitemsthananyotherpartiesorgroups.Theseresultsreplicatethoseseen on SABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News wheretheANCwereaccessedinasignif-icantlyhighernumberofstoriesthanthetwomainoppositionparties.

4.4.3What was biased onSABC2MorningLive?

FIGURE 18: Breakdown of biased coverage on SABC 2 Morning Live

Whenwedelvedeeperintothesestories,weseethatthoseinwhichtheANCwasaccessedweredeemedfairin71%ofcases.Ontheotherhand,thestoriesinwhichtheDAand theEFFwereaccessedwere fair inonly45%and42%, respectively.WhilesomemightarguethatthislevelofunfaircoveragemayhaveadvancedthecampaignsoftheDAandtheEFFovertheANC,weactuallyseethatinonly43%ofbiasedstories inwhichtheEFFwasaccessedactuallyfavouredtheEFF.Similarly,only55%ofDAbiasedstoriesfavouredtheDA.ThismeansthatdespitetheDAandtheEFFbeinggivenavoiceinsomeofthebiasednewsitems,manyofthosesto-riesstillfavouredotherpoliticalparties.Interestingly,thiscontrastsfindingsfromtheANCwhere,despitetherebeingaconsiderablylowerpercentageofbiasedsto-

ries(29%),almost60%oftheseitemsfavouredthe ANC. These findings tend to indicate notonlyhowbiaswasusedtofavourtheANCbuthowitwasalsousedtoswayfavourfromtheDAandtheEFF.AswiththeSABC 2 Xitsonga/Tshivenda News, the results therefore clearly presentacaseofbiasednewscoverageonthischannelovertheperiod.





own party (%)


parties (%)

ANC 50 71 29 59 41DA 18 45 55 55 45EFF 10 42 58 43 57

These findings tend to indicate not only how

bias was used to favour the ANC but how it was

also used to sway favour from the DA and the EFF


4.4.4What was biased onSABC3EnglishNews?

The English News is broadcast during prime-time onSABC 3andouranalysisrevealedthat ithadthethirdhighestproportionofbiasedstorieswith22of146ofits elections stories being biased. Of the 470 sourcesquotedacrossthecoverage,36%ofthesewerevoicesthatrepresentedtheANC.WhatisstaggeringisthattheANCsourcesisdoublethenumberofDAsources(18%)andtriplethenumberofEFFsources(12%).Here,onceagainitwouldappearthataclearpreferencewasgiventoANCsourcesintheelectionscoverage,andonethatisclearlyatoddswithmanyothermediacoverage.

FIGURE 19: Breakdown of biased coverage on SABC 3 English News





own party (%)


parties (%)

ANC 36 64 36 64 36DA 18 56 44 32 68EFF 12 57 43 25 75

Similarly,thepercentageofbiasedANC-accesseditemswasnotablylowerat36%comparedtotheDA(44%)andtheEFF(43%).However,andasfollowingthetrendsof the other case studies seen above,much of this biased ANC coverage (64%)openlyfavouredtheANC.Incontrast,only32%and25%ofstoriesinwhichtheDAandtheEFFwereaccessed,respectively,favouredthem.Thismeansthatevenforstoriesinwhichoppositionpartiesweregiventherightofreply,otherfactorsmeantthatthenewsitemsdidnotnecessarilyofferpositivecoverageofthem.Thisfollowsthetrendoftheothercasestudiesseenabove.Aswiththeothertwocasesstudiesabove,theresultsthereforeclearlypresentacaseofbiasednewscoverageonthischannelovertheperiod.

WhilebyandlargetheSABCprogramminganalysedacrossallitsplatformsoffersmostlyfaircoverage,thethreecasestudiesabovedemonstrateclearbiasthatfavoursonepartyovertheothers.Thein-depthanalysesofthethreemostbiasedplatformsrevealtheveryrealthreatofgenuineintentionalandsystemicbiasandintentionallyunfaircoverage,withaparticularinclinationtowardstheANC.ThiswasseenfirstlyintheconsistentlyhigherproportionofsourcesthatwerefromtheANCoverotherpoliticalparties.Westressthatinandofitselfthisfactoraloneisnotsufficienttodeterminebiasasotherchannelshadhigherlevels,butcom-binedwithaninterrogationofthebiasitself,itisclearlyproblematic.Thecover-agewasattimesmorethanfivetimesmorethanthatofotherparties.Secondly,whenweinterrogatethecoveragefurther,weseethatthebiaseditemsinwhichoppositionpartieswereaccessedweremorelikelytofavourotherpartiesthantheydidthemselves.Incontrast,biasedstoriesinwhichtheANCweresourcedweremorelikelytofavourtheleadingparty.Thisspeakstoaconsistentprefer-ence,howeversubtle,totheexistingrulingpartyandcouldindicateintentionalprogrammingstrategiesratherthaninadvertentandunplannedbiasedfootage.


Importantly,whileonemightexpectallSABCprogrammestodemonstratebiaslev-elledatspecificpoliticalparties(i.e.allinfavourofonegrouporallopposedtoanoth-er),theresearchabovedemonstratesthedifferencesbetweenstations.Thismayre-flectthesemi-autonomyofsomestationmanagersintheirdevelopmentofthenews.

Overall,theanalysisrevealsforthefirsttimeinourdemocratichistorythattheSABChasatleastonthreeprogrammesnotonlyclearlyfailedinitsbasicdutyofbalancedandfairreporting,buttheprogrammesinquestionhavealsoservedtounderminethemandateoftheSABCanditscredibility.Inour2014electionsreportontheSABC24wenotedtheworryingtrendsofbiasthatwesawemerging:

“Critically however, the impact of the banning of advertisements, as well as other stories relating to comments about editorial

interference, as well as the clear bias in presentation all served to deeply undermine not only the credibility of the SABC but also gave, in some respects justified support to allegations of unfairness by political parties. While we do not believe the findings serve to undermine the democratic nature of the elections process in South Africa these are issues, which must be addressed constructively in the run up to the

local government elections in 2016.” – pp 38

“What is clear is that the culture of self-censorship and the crass actions of those in high levels of authority, (where decisions are taken to not broadcast programmes critical of those in power for example,

the Big Debate or Miners Shot Down) are impacting the overall quality and fairness of the news produced by the SABC. To ignore

this will be an injustice. These decisions will in some way impact the manner in which news is reported by the SABC...” –pp33

Itwouldseemthatdespitethewarningsandrecommendations,stepswerenotonlynottakenbutitisclearthatthesituationhasdeterioratedtoalevelthatne-cessitatesurgentstepsfromtheboard,ParliamentPortfolioCommitteeonCom-municationandtheIEC.

24 Carol Mohlala and Kate Skinner. 2014. “The more things change, the more they stay the same: The SABC’s coverage of the 2014 National Government Elections”. Johannesburg: Media Monitoring Africa. Online access: www.mediamonitoringafrica.org


5.Conclusion

African society in all itsdiversity, it tendedtocover theseelections in thesamemanner as other privatemedia,wherein it represented these local governmentelectionsasiftheywerenationalelections.In this regard, the public broadcaster failed to distinguish itself as the epitome of quality broadcasting. For example, justlikeotherprivatemedia,theSABConlyfocusedonbiggerpoliticalparties(ANC,DA,EFF,NFP&IFP)tothedetrimentofsmallerpartiesandindependentcandidateswhocontestedtheseelections.(TheproofofthiscanbeseenintheveryexceptionswheretheSABChadmadecleareffortstoensuremoreequitablecoveragein itsdedicatedelectionsprogramming). By following politicians, the SABC struggled to localise national issues raised by politicians and make them relevant to local people in relation to local elections. Further, followingpoliticians feeds into thenotionofevents-drivencoveragewheremediatendtocovereventsaroundpolit-icalpartiesandnotissuesthathelpinformtheelectorate.Thishadarippleeffectontheelectoratewhomaynothavebeengiventhefullspectrumofcandidatestochoose from.

Perhaps the most striking finding is that if we compare the top 10 topics covered by the public broadcaster and the issues raised by political parties in their adverts we notice a massive difference. For instance, while public broadcaster focused on partypolitics,violenceandprotests,politicalpartyadvertsraisedissuesofservicedelivery, labour issues,poverty,economicdevelopment,corruption,housing,ed-ucation,etc.–noneofwhichmade it inthetop10topicscoveredbythepublicbroadcaster.ThissuggeststhateitherthepublicbroadcasterhaditsownelectionsagendaorwhenpoliticiansappearedbeforeSABCplatforms, theirpoliticalmes-sagingchangedinordertoensurethattheygetmoremediacoverage.Whilepolit-icalpartiesunderstoodthattheselocalgovernmentelectionswereaboutservicedeliveryandfocusedonissueslikeinequality,unemployment,corruption,housingandeducationintheiradverts,thatthepublicbroadcasterinsteadfocusedontheusualevent-basedandoftensensationalstoriesaboutpartypolitics,violenceandprotestsleavesonewonderingwhetherthepublicbroadcasterisoblivioustotheissuesaffectingsociety.

The public protest visuals ban was clearly in force during the elections period and this deeply undermined the SABC’s ability to provide balanced and fair coverage in a critical period. Given the wave of protests that rocked this election period, it is interesting to note that the public broadcaster was not balanced in the way it covered these protests.Althoughthepublicbroadcasterfocusedonprotestsandframed themasviolent, itprivilegedvoicesofofficial sourcesoverordinaryciti-zens thusexacerbating thealreadystrainedrelationshipbetweenmediaasocie-typarticularlywhenitcomestocoveringviolentprotests.Even then, SABC rarely showed violent footage of these protests and further reduced their importance by not including them in the news headlines thereby limiting and undermining people’s access to what was happening in the country at the time, as well as the events’ importance.Unliketheprivatemedialikee.tvthatcreatedtheimpressionofbalancebycoveringboththeviolenceandnon-violenceassociatedwithprotests,thepublicbroadcasterprivilegednon-violenceover theviolence that camewiththeprotests.At thebareminimum, theproblemwithprivilegingnon-violence is


thatitpresentsonesideofthestorytherebypreventingSouthAfricansfromsee-ingthefullextentoftheprotests.Atworst,SouthAfricanmaymakemisinformeddecisionsbasedonthehalf-backedinformationpeddledbythepublicbroadcaster.That thepublicbroadcasterprivilegednon-violence in its coverageofprotests ishardlysurprisinggiventhedecisionthepublicbroadcastertookbackinMay2016tobanfootageofviolentprotestsonitplatformsonthebasisthatthiswouldleadotherpeopletoemulatetheviolencetheyseeontelevision.AlthoughtheSABCwasforcedtorescindthisdecisionunderduress,thereisnoevidencetosuggestthatitliftedthebanonviolentfootage.Infact,theseresultsshowthatsomeplatformsontheSABCsawthebanthroughwhileveryfewothersdidnotabidebythedecision.

WhilebyandlargetheSABCprogramminganalysedacrossallitsplatformsofferedmostly fair coverage, the case studies above demonstrated clear bias that fa-voured the ANC over other parties. The in-depth analyses of the three most biased platformsrevealedtheveryrealthreatofgenuineintentionalandsystemicbiasandintentionallyunfair coverage,withaparticular inclination towards theANC.Thiswasobservedonthebasisoftwofindings:1)TheANChadaconsistentlyhigherproportionofsourcesthanotherparties.(Whilethisaloneisnotsufficienttoattrib-utebiasasotherbroadcastershadhigherlevelsofANCsources,ifcombinedwithaninterrogationofthebiasitself,itisclearlyproblematic).2)Thebiasedstoriesinwhichoppositionpartieswereaccessedweremore likely to favourotherpartiesthantheydidthemselveswhilebiasedstoriesinwhichtheANCweresourcedweremorelikelytofavourtherulingparty.Thisspeakstoaconsistentpreference,how-eversubtle,totherulingpartyandcouldindicateintentionalprogrammingstrate-giesratherthaninadvertentandunplannedbiasedfootage.However,notallSABCprogrammeswerebiased,whichmayreflectthesemi-autonomyofsomestationmanagersintheirdevelopmentofthenews.Whateverthecaseis,suchdisparitiesneedtobeinterrogatedmoreasthepublicbroadcasterhastoabidebythehighestlevelsofethicaljournalism.Over and above, despite the warnings we have been issuing over the years, it is clear that the situation has deteriorated at our public broadcaster to a level that necessitates urgent steps to rescue the broadcaster from the ghosts of its apartheid bias.ThesestepscancomefromtheSABCboard(ifeveritbecomesfunctional),theParliamentaryPortfolioCommitteeonCommu-nication,theMinisterofCommunications,ICASAandotherinterestedparties.

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Analysing SABC Elections Coverage of the 2016 Local Government Elections

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