SA Media and Ideology

The media in South Africa promotes ideology through frequent exposure i.e. political ideologies: the call for nationalisation by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema. Influence: using public figures to lure customers to a certain product and having the power to choose for the audience what to read, what to see and what to hear.

The media in South Africa claims everything is in the public’s interest, whereas in some instances not everything is in the public’s interest and by the way, who chooses what is in the public’s interest... a certain individual who claims that the media doesn’t hurt people but helps, watch and protect the state and its citizens. The media “uncovers” public figures, government officials and the state’s wrong doings but who uncovers theirs. Different ideas pull reporters to different directions leading to “errors”. Other professions are regulated by law i.e. Doctors but journalist (in South Africa) are left to regulate themselves especially in democratic countries like South Africa.

It’s easy for the South African media to promote any ideology as long as they hide under the words: freedom of expression and public interest. Unlike in a country like Zimbabwe were the media is not protected by freedom of expression and other rights. The media has the power to choose what the audience may read, see or hear. The media also conditions, indoctrinates and persuades, especially through adverts, using pubic figures to get their message across i.e. Shield deodorant uses Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Sphiwe Tshabalala to claim that their product keeps one dry and protected for 24 hours a day. “I sweat a lot after training but shield deodorant protects me all day long for 24 hours so I need not to worry anymore. Try it, if you want to stay dry all day long” (Sphiwe Tshabalala, Shield advert on TV and on Billboards). This advertisement through the media was meant to manipulates and condition people about Shield deodorant’s ideology and to agree with their opinion about the “perfectness” of their product.

The Daily Sun claims to be The People’s Paper but do they really represents the people’s views, thoughts and opinions in their paper ? Do they promote the ordinary person’s ideas? Do they promote the majority’s ideas in their paper? Or are they just claiming to be “The People’s Paper”.                                                                                                                                                     

The ideology of the South African media is to educate, inform, develop and help society make informed and civilized decisions and choices. Unfortunately the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), politicians and individuals who feel “victimized” by the media, have an on-off working relationship with the media especially when the media tails them about certain allegations for example,

But even thought the media will be chasing the truth but the angle on which the story will be emphasised from, whose idea is it? Whose ideology is being promoted? Politicians and the media are not the best of friends, proof to that is: The Media Appeals Tribunal (MAT) that was proposed by the ANC in 2010, hoping that the media be regulated by a body other than the South African Press Appeals (SAPA) but on whose command was the ANC acting on, because in a democratic country regulating the media means taking their freedom of expression away from them, and the SABC can attest to that because being associated to the state means reporting to the state and it means damaging information about the state cannot be published or communicated to a 3^rd person. The proposed MAT got the whole country talking (and the world) because they (media) and individuals against the MAT thought the ruling party wanted to promote a certain ideology through centralizing and controlling the media like they did with the crime fighting unit The Scorpions.

“In democracies, journalists are left to regulate themselves (Ed Linington: 2004 page 35) the Press Ombudsman, says anything else would eventually land up in the hands of the government”. With this statement in mind, the media knew that a MAT would properly hide information from journalists, “end” journalism, stories or information will be censored, restricted or limited on how far can a reporter report on a certain story, intimidation (like in the apartheid epoch), journalists will be arrested (as we saw with the arrest of Sunday World journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, were he was arrested by the Nelspruit police for allegedly being in possession of a resignation letter of Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza). All of this might lead the country back to the apartheid era. In fighting the ruling party’s MAT ideology, the media used a very effective and powerful platform to protect their “freedom”... themselves! i.e. Talk Radio 702‘s morning show host John Robbie once said “The ruling party controls Eskom, South African Airwaves (SAA) and the South African Broadcast Corporations (SABC) and look at how in shambles financially and in the boardrooms these organizations are. Allegedly the state always has a say in everything that happens there” this words by Robbie shows the Fragmentation mode (Media Studies page 317) that promotes disunity in the political opposition and emphases the differences between those groups that opposed power of the ruling group. The Talk Show host continued arguing, saying bad things about organizations owned by the state; he also claimed that if the media was to be controlled by the state then that will be the end of a free media in South Africa. “We will be arrested for disclosing shaky government deals, private information, why are they in government if they want to hide information from the public, lets stand together lead and maintain SA media as free as it is”.

Whose ideology was the presenter promoting? Who was he persuading to agree with what he was saying? Whose ideology was he trying to protect? Will the public gain anything by standing together with the media and “Lead SA” as Talk Radio 702 urges the public to? Whose ideology will successfully change anything in society? Even thought it might sound ideal to people to be the change they want to see in society as 702 urges the masses to but this dominant ideology promoted by the radio station cannot entirely be imposed on all the people in society, (as Thompson 1992:60-66) identifies in one of his five modes through which ideology is imposed on society by dominant groups: Unification is domination maintained by constructing stories that unify individuals into collective identity regardless of their differences i.e. Talk Radio 702’s Lead SA promo, aims to offer change in society by encouraging individuals to be the change they want to see.

Another example is when the country was about to host the 2010 FIFA soccer world cup, FIFA, the Local Organisation Committee (LOC) and the South African Football Association (SAFA) used the media to promote and condition people about the soccer world cup. Thompson’s Reification mode states that a message is communicated through the mass media so that it can be accepted by the majority of the people in society. Thompson also points out that the mass media excludes other alternative ideologies or ideas by not communicating them. As a result of such exclusion of alternative views the ideology of the dominant group becomes the dominant ideology and serves their interest manufacturers consent and consensus. The Reification mode discloses what soccer’s governing body FIFA did, not only to South Africans but to the entire African continent by promoting the mode of Reification using the media e.g. SuperSports, SABC, local newspapers and radio stations preaching the unification mode to the public, persuading the public and promoting FIFA’s propaganda ideology. FIFA conscripted SAFA into their camp and made them believe and trust their ideology of hosting the world cup, might (will) bring different people together to share a common goal but guesses what? As a resident from Cape Town said on Debra Patta’s 3^rd Degree show, months after the soccer tournament ended “FIFA were the winners, they took all the money and went back to Zurich richer and what about us, they left us as they found us... poor”.

The ideas that people have in their heads or the beliefs they say they support are not simply a matter of abstractions. “Ideas” as  Thompson (Media Studies; 1990:2- page 307) puts it “do not drift through the social world like clouds in a summer sky...” Thompson continues saying “ideas circulate in the social world as utterances, as expressions, as words which are spoken or inscribed.”

Thompson’s words proves how an ideology can drive one’s ego. i.e. ANCYL president Julius Malema has been calling for the nationalisation of South Africa mines, with an idea that nationalisation will “protect”, “secure” and “create” job opportunities for the people of

South Africa especially the youth, Malema argues that privatization of mines and other organizations in the country is not creating enough job opportunities for the youth. Malema claims that privatization helps in inriching individuals and foreigners rather than natives of the Republic in its masses. (Tebogo Khaas, City Press) asks “If we really outsomethinged anyone, how else does one explain the fact that 16 years  after democracy the entire socioeconomic stratum is still under white control”  with Malema calling for the nationalisation of mines in the country, Khaas’ question identifies an ideology of capitalism and neo-colonialism in a democratic South Africa. Whose ideology is Julius Malema trying to promote? Using which platform to spread his nationalisation campaign? Malema whenever given the platform in any media organisation, he only tells the side (of nationalisation), he wants the society to know. His ideology of a state mine industry is a belief shared among the ANCYL  corridors, a “few” people in society  and “communist” that concurres with him.

With the SABC owned by the state, Malema usually uses the transfer technique (chapter 7, instruments of policy propaganda, propaganda technique) “ the propagadist attempts to identify one idea, person, country or policy with another to make the target approve or disapprove it. One way to evoke a particular hostile attitude among religious people against communism is to equate it with atheism. Malema’s call for nationalisation is an attempt to oust the capitalist ideology, an ideology the country has adopted since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Two communist of the 19^th century Frederick Engels and Karl Marx defined communism as a utopian vision of a future society envisaged. Communism stands for the ideas and policies of communists parties e.g. Soviet Union, the regimes which such parties established when they gained power e.g in Eastern Europe, China,  Cuba and so on,  in the MANIFESTO of the communist party (1848) Marx summed up the theory of communism in a single sentence: “abolition of private property” (Political Ideologies; page 115). In Malema’s case the nationalisation of the country’s mines will abolish private property, this means that the ANCYL president is promoting Marx and Engel’s communism ideologies because both gentlemen believed in wealth owned collectively, shared equally and the state catering for its citizens.

Marx also claims that a communist society is a classless society in which productive wealth is owned collectively (precisely what Malema wants). Although Marx was reluctant to describe such a future society in any details, he clearly envisaged that it would provide conditions in which human beings could achieve full emancipation. Wealth would be used for the benefit of all rather than the profit of a few and individuals would be able to realise their talent and skills through unalienated labour. E.g. Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club owner and mine mogul Patrice Motsepe, doesn’t go underground to dig out gold but he’s rich and the people who risks their lives underground for the same gold that has made him rich, are still living in informal settlements. Motsepe doesn’t equally share his wealth with his workers of which that is a capitalist ideology that Marx didn’t envisage.

A communist ideology is being promoted by Malema for apparently a “better, classless and equal” South Africa. From an oblivious and communist angle it is the “perfect” solution to inequality and an ideal situation to narrow the gap between the poor and the rich. Capitalists will be wary that Malema might have a solution to inequality but at the expense of their ideology. Is Malema pushing a political propaganda with a hidden agenda, using a solution, a man on the street would see as the great escape from poverty to a “better life” promised by the ANC since 1994. (Political Ideologies: the role of ideas; page 2) Politics has sometimes been thought to be little more than a naked struggle for power, if this is true, political ideas are a mere propaganda, a form of words or slogans designed to win votes or attract popular support.

The SABC’s Touching Lives campaign can be seen as the Hegemony ideology because, yes it is a  life changing campaign in society but they are not using force nor forcing anyone to contribute as this campaign is seen as aiding those who can’t help themselves but the dominate/ruling class (In this case the individuals running the SABC) provides leadership and the masses follow. The masses is made to believe they are changing lives. According to the Hegemony ideology that is “ideology seemed like social cement”.

I believe propaganda and ideology don’t differ that much because both ideas need the media to spread and reach the masses. Both ideas have a severe impact in society and in a way individuals think, behave and make certain decisions. Propaganda easily influence people because it message is usually carried out by a prominent figure or celebrity, of whom people idolise. People or individuals believes a message carried out by a prominent figure easily compare to a carried out by an ordinary person or member in a community e.g. Nike and McDonald uses a lot of soccer players to attract people to their products. In South Africa McDonald uses Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana midfielder Teko Modise,

In Spain Nike uses Real Madrid and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo. With these two footballers loved by soccer fanatics, its easy for both Nike and McDonald to attract people to their products cause of these two soccer “gods”. Ideology easily influence the individual because it is a set of aims and ideas that knows what the individual or people want and needs at that particular time. Ideology targets the individual when he/she is weak.