Elections and TV News in South Africa: Desperately Seeking Depth

“This is an important book, from a global south perspective, on television coverage of South Africa’s post-apartheid general elections. Jones analyses the troubling mismatch between the issues that mattered to the electorate and the issues that mattered in, and to, the media, and explains why this mismatch occurred. She is deeply committed to moving beyond generalisations about media performance, and the limitations of policy and structural analysis. It is a pleasure to read as it is accessible while being academically rigorous, so it will appeal to a wide audience." — Professor Jane Duncan, University of Johannesburg
“With the crisis in mainstream media in South Africa and elsewhere – we journalists should shoulder much of the blame – this timely book places television coverage of general elections in South Africa post-1994 under the magnifying glass, pleads for more depth and proposes ways to improve narratives, visual rhetoric and framing. My hope is that this book will encourage deep introspection and debate among media practitioners from Africa and elsewhere. Jones' book is necessary, incisive and informative." — Max Du Preez, Journalist

This book takes television news seriously. 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.

Bernadine Jones is Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Stirling, UK. She was the Next Generation in Social Science Fellow at the University of Cape Town where she completed her PhD, and has published on visual analysis methodology, African representation in news, and political journalism during elections. She is proudly South African.