Sunshine reporting or reality?

As I was watching the news last week Tuesday, September 10^th 2013, my attention was caught by something to the effect of “when I read the news in this country, I want to leave sometimes”. As a journalism student I was gob smacked to say the least. Since I caught the news report halfway through, I had a percentage of the information. So, using skills acquired already I decided to research this report.

The Mail and Guardian on September 10^th 2013 reported that the president of South Africa addressed a group of Tshwane University of Technology journalism students that were visiting Parliament. The paper quoted him saying "…when I am in South Africa, every morning you feel like you must leave this country because the reporting concentrates on the opposite of the positive," http://mg.co.za/article/2013-09-10-zuma-condemns-opposite-of-the-positive-sa-media . Perhaps I’m still wet behind the ears but in a country where crime and corruption are prevalent, I would think that it makes it a bit of a challenge to report on positive news. Undoubtedly, good news never hurt anyone and it would seek to improve our sullen moods when it comes to the state of the country. So he might have a point there.

What I did like about this address was that he was speaking off the cuff. None of those awkward pauses as he pushes his spectacles up his nose while reading a speech… He raised important points such as who owns the media, who are the watchdogs of society and that these media owners are concerned with profits. What I found a bit disturbing is juxtaposing South African and Mexican media models. One has to take into account and scrutinize the current climate of both countries. I can only think that he was referring to crime statistics, perhaps I stand to be corrected. The following day, an article in the Mail and Guardian titled “Mexico is no mentor for SA press, Mr President” http://mg.co.za/article/2013-09-11-mexico-is-no-mentor-for-sa-press-mr-president echoed some of my sentiments.

In my view, the president has told us how to construct the news. I wonder what this means. Do we leave the negative stories and start reporting on about dogs that are run over on the freeway? Or do we report about my neighbour that swears at passerby at 3am? Help me out here, I’m already running out of ideas!

It would be to my benefit to go and research more on this before I shoot my mouth and look like a complete idiot. The points that the president did raise are a point of discussion in future blogs. Let’s keep reading and watching with critical minds folks!