Document details

Elections and TV News in South Africa: Desperately Seeking Depth

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2021), xxxii, 244 pp.

ISBN 978-3-030-71792-6 (ebook); 978-3-030-71791-9 (print)

"Over the course of nine chapters, Elections and TV News in South Africa shows how six democratic South African general elections, 1994-2019, were represented on both local and international news broadcasts. It reveals the shifting narratives about South African democracy, coupled with changing and challenging political journalism practices. The book is organised in three parts: the first contains a history of South African democracy and an overview of the South African media environment. The second part is a visual analysis of the South African elections on television news, exploring portrayals of violence, security, power, and populism, and how these fit into normative news values and the ruling party's tightening grip on the media. The final part is a conclusion, a call to action, and a suggestion to improve political journalistic practice." (Publisher description)
PART I: THE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA
1 Contextualising Election Reporting, 3
2 Political Parties Over 25 Years, 29
3 Story of South Africa's Democracy, 1994-2019, 45
4 South Africa's TV News Landscape, 83
PART II: SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS ON TELEVISION NEWS
5 News Values and Frames of Elections, 111
6 The ANC Has No Clothes, 133
7 Power and Populism, 155
8 Visuals and Violence, 193
PART III: CONCLUSION
9 Desperately Seeking Depth, 217