Comrade Matankane I believe we lack progressive and transformative journalism in this country. The political economy of the media in this country does not reflect the role that should be played by the media. There are bigger 'expectations' , liberal media is running the country. Media has positioned itself as agenda setting in this revolution. Newspapers like The Star want to do what Noam Chosmky calls ' Engineering of opinion'. I understand that our local media that gave Malema huge coverage space in the past and they want to get back at him after his public spat with them in the past but that does not justify gutter journalism.
The way media relate to the systems of power and authority has made them commercial scavengers. There is a lack of credible public broadcaster, whether electronically or in print, as a result commercial media try by all means to get profit by publishing petty issues that feeds to the already engineered. Public discourse is not owned by the public rather fed to the public by the media, and this media lack proper intellectual acumen and kno-how on how to play its role. Media nowadays is more like a study of molecule where the product is more hypothetical than practical. It is from assumptions that one would come with hypotheses and if there is no further process beyond assumptions obviously you are bound to get or give untruths, lies. *Elite Media *has got its own way of operating, this is the main agenda-setting media. In most cases it positions itself as the *mass media *and in the process divert people from the real issues that directly affect them. *They publish sex scandals, proffesional sports (soccer for example), the personal lives of 'celebrities' etc. *Behind the scenes they concentrate on real issues and even influence the state direction. *How many of us like to read about soccer, tenders, the life of Khanyi Mbau or the Mandoza and not focus on the news side in a newspaper. * The media, being a doctrinal system that they are, they are so-called 'university experts' on the core issues of the society. These reporters also goes outside institutions and foundations to seek, for example, some 'proffesional knowledge' or advice on service delivery protests or 'black-on-black' violence. *These institutions are not class neutral and are also delinked from the societal realities. It's true you might find independent people in these but independence of these instituions cannot be guaranteed. IT IS FROM THIS INTERACTION AND RELATIONSHIP THAT YOU'D MAINLY GET FALSE MORALITY. * It is these newspapers of *false morality *that would expect a sociey to be puritanical and homogenous, and this is impossible and impractical. The expectations of this homogenity are that you should ascribe to western values and behave like a member of a certain class, upper class. Are you really in that class? What really is upper class. Most fall for that crap. Cigar chomping, Anglicisation/Americanisation, expensive whisky binges, 'upper class' social circles, individualistic mentality, conspicuous consumption and show-off. *Ask yourself why are the so-called elite concentrating on personal accumulation, nice times, personal seclusion, 'anti-social stance', personal glory, illiterate bashing etc. * In a nutshell *gutter journalism *has got a role that it plays in rewriting our history and setting the agenda, *on behalf of its own reactionary tendencies. *Hence the need for the support of alternative media that will reflect us. Star newspaper will never be progressive and can never play any developmental role. Engineering of Opinion will forever be the terrain of the media in the capitalist society. Mzukisi Ronyuza On 3/17/10, matankana mothapo <[email protected]> wrote: > > Greetings Cdes > > Let’s me first apologise for introducing a topic that may not be of > interest to you. But I am very disturbed by the leading story in today’s The > Star newspaper. > > Its lead story is that Julius visited Jub-Jub and they ate Nando’s and so > on and so forth. Please see this newspaper and advice if this is the > standard of journalism that we deserve. > > This newspaper is not a tabloid as far as I know; as such I think that we, > as consumers, are being (highly) undermined by the proliferation of such > content. > > I just need to be made to understand the significance of this very > important front page story. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind if important > debates that the Youth League introduces preoccupy the public discourse such > as nationalization of the mines –but this? > > I think there was a reason why the Daily Sun was established. > > Rgds > > Matankana Mothapo > > -- > You are subscribed. 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