Over the past couple of years, South Africa has seen a growth in independent journalism which is good for the country. The most fascinating thing about independent journalism is that, we can at least hope that it’s not influenced by the government to publish censored news. I believe that for a country to develop, the citizens must be well informed about issues that affect their country. Issues that involve the government’s failures should be brought up to the public. This is what we exactly need to be aware of the dangers that we face as citizens. I have to congratulate programs like 3RD Degree which have shown a great interest in trying to resolve problems that are inclined by the corruption and laziness of the government in the country (South Africa). It is for programs like these that we as citizens can say we know the truth about our country.
While 3RD Degree is being regarded as the winning program in journalism, what is happening to our local newspapers? The last time I read Isolezwe and ILanga which are the largest selling newspapers in my neighbourhood, they had headlines which read as follows: “a child was forced to drink whisky”; “Mrs Sheryl Cele whom is facing charges of smuggling drugs wears expensive clothes in court”. It is a sad that people practice child abuse in the country and I believe that their jail sentences should be intensified. But, that’s not the topic of this article which is why I won’t spend much time discussing child abuse. As an individual who is aware of the conditions of the country that I live in, the last thing I want to read about in a newspaper is a sad story which adds on to the problems that we have in the country. We need to read stories that involve a large portion of the public. Maybe a story like: “the rate of child abuse is increasing drastically in Gauteng”. These are news to me because they alert me about the rate of child abuse in Gauteng, not child abuse of a certain individual or family. I don’t see what is wrong with a person who is suspected of committing crime wearing expensive clothes, I mean, we have different choices. Maybe the article about Mrs Sheryl would be important to me if the newspaper reported that she bought these clothes with the money that she made from smuggling drugs. Day by day, I sense that our local newspapers are misleading us.
I understand that some publishers are taking the publishing of newspapers more as a business rather than reliable sources. My suggestion is that they should not run a business on our expenses. We can not afford to read material that is a driving force of stupidity and propaganda of political institutions. We as the citizens of this country want to know the problems that the country is facing so we can embark on trying to resolve them. Can’t our local newspapers at least have approximate statistics of the crime levels that take place in the areas that they target to sell in? Is it hard enough for them to release forecasts of where we are going as a country? How about answering questions that are a concern to everyone, questions like: “where are we compared to other countries in the world”? It is not that the public does not care about such issues; it’s the fact that the local newspapers do not want the public to care about them. These days, you get to read more about private lives of celebrities; you get to read about corrupted individuals. What about the corruption of the government? Why less about the private life of the president? I mean, he is also human right and arguably the biggest celebrity at the moment right? Some people watch generations knowing that they will get the extra coverage in one of the editions of a local newspaper. I think one can hold the local newspapers accountable for the ignorance that is taking place in certain areas of the country (particularly townships). Until they (newspapers) agree to make money from providing valuable information and content in their newspapers, we (the citizens of South Africa) are left in the dark.
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