Media can help voters make informed decisions
A HEALTHY functioning democracy is predicated on the electorate making informed choices which, in turn, rests on the quality of information they receive.
The work of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), is incomplete without the presence of the members of the media.
Since the dawn of South Africa’s democracy 30 years ago, the media has been used to facilitate not only the realisation of democracy but also the representation of all its facets.
Through the media, we have archives of the dire implications of colonialism and apartheid on the lived experiences of civilians and the consequences of systems established centuries ago.
Today, the media continue to have not only a constitutional mandate to uphold but it enjoys access to diverse communities in order to accurately represent the lived experience of South Africans.
Benefiting from freedom of expression and a vibrant civil society, the media has contributed to a culture of robust democratic debate while playing a watchdog role.
However, its role has also been strongly contested.
Compromised media
In the past 30 years of democracy, we have seen the misuse and sometimes the abuse of the media by public figures, the private sector, civil society and even civilians, when the media failed to authenticate reports and postured them as newsworthy facts.
At times, we have witnessed journalists placed in compromising positions of their objectivity by using their platforms to reinforce a single narrative about particular communities, as well as particular individuals.
This has not gone without impacting how the media are perceived collectively. At times, it has led in some areas of society to questioning the role of media , based on the particular group in society to which you belong.
Some scholars have argued that the media bear the characteristics of the continuing severe socio-economic inequalities in the rest of South African society. This is especially seen in the print media that has been accused of serving mostly an elite.
Normative self-regulatory policy in the country has also been contested and gone through several revisions in order to be more responsive to the needs of the developing South African society (Wasserman, 2020).
Reinforce role of the media
We cannot afford, as a transitional democracy, to create precedence and or a culture where audiences associate particular media houses as being tools or machinery of news for particular groups.
The integrity of our democracy is linked to the integrity of the Fourth Estate. The role of the press in disseminating information as a way of mediating between the state and all facets of civil society remains critical.
The IEC and the South African Editors Forum, held a media workshop three weeks before the general election. During the workshop, Izak Minaar emphasised the importance of the media being factual and clear in what they report on the election.
Minaar highlighted the proposed areas of focus on the election outcomes that reporters are to consider: the race for votes, the result analysis and the final results.
He also emphasised the importance of the media being informed, verifying their findings and responsibly reporting on the outcomes of the voting process.
The media play a critical role as the watchdog, an entry way for the public to access institutions and platforms otherwise restricted to particle groups.
They also serve as a notable and trusted source of information and, as such, have a responsibility and constitutional mandate to represent the nature of South Africa’s democracy without bias.
We must create a culture where progressive and regressive views are held and demonstrated about the nature of our democracy as accurately as possible to the reality found in South Africa.
Citizen journalists
The youth network, Activate! Change Drivers established a writer hub that has more than 30 young people stationed across the country who report at the community level the lived realities of the communities.
The young people have also received notable attention from national media platforms that have seen their articles published across media houses. Last year, members of the Writers Hub received in-person citizen journalism training at Wits University, where the marriage of civic duty, passion and skill found footing.
Support for the media
From the training, it became clear that we must hold the media and journalists accountable to uphold their platforms and the Constitution.
We must also create an environment in which media and journalists are supported in their efforts to tell the stories of South Africans. In doing so, we will avoid cases of journalists being misinformed.
Misinformation threatens the outcome of the 2024 election. Fake news and false news dampen the efforts and integrity of the Fourth Estate which stands challenged with the advent of technology and the digital era.
Supporting the media as an institution requires an understanding of what it constitutes that goes beyond the specific outlets that deliver news and information.
While we give credit to many Struggle stalwarts for their influence on the realisation of democracy, we must not ignore the efforts of Henry Nxumalo, Nat Nakasa, Ruth First, Juby Mayet, Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, Noni Jabavu and Aggrey Klaaste, whose role as journalists made a significant difference in the advent of democracy.
It thus remains important for us to guard our democracy. Civil society organisations like Activate! Change Drivers have made a notable impact at the grass-roots level in the dem ocratic processes leading up to the exercise of their right to vote.
Similarly, the media which has access to information, is tasked with not only educating citizens about the electoral process but also of informing them accurately about the collective challenges and gains of this democracy.
Media activities should not be viewed in isolation from other areas of democracy and governance and understood to be important only in civil society programming. A greater impact may be achieved by integrating media support into additional democracy and governance areas.