Media content diversity in SA: why is government still asking all the wrong questions?
- Julie Reid
- Feb 6
- 2 min read
The following is an amended version of a presentation delivered by the author for the Print Media Transformation Colloquium, 25-26 August 2016, held at Freedom Park, Pretoria and hosted by the Department of Communications (DoC).
It is true that in South Africa we are in a significant dilemma with regard to media content diversity. The Minister of Communications proposes the deracialisation of the print sector, and transformation of the newspaper industry, which would see more black owners of more titles. Unfortunately, even if this comes to pass, it will do very little to solve our content diversity problem. Here is another case of where challenges present themselves, the solutions proposed by government have utterly no symmetry with the problem.
It is important to take note of the difference between media content diversity, and the diversity of media ownership or the plurality of media markets, which though related is something different. Media content diversity is not about who owns our media companies, but rather about the diversity of content we see on our television screens and read in our newspapers. It is about our experience of the end product, not about the guy who owns the company that produces the product.
Describing things very simply, content diversity can be understood on two levels. The first level involves the obvious things, like language. Here we ask, is the media published/broadcast in a number of languages or do only a few languages dominate? Also on level one is the representation of diversity. In South Africa one of the most important representations of diversity is the fair representation of race, and diverse ethnic identities. Another important consideration is that of gender representivity. All of these aspects on the first level of content diversity are fairly easy to measure for media researchers, and they are all important. But key determinants of content diversity also go deeper than that.