The South African broadcasting corporation's coverage of the Russia–Ukraine war

Abstract

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused ideological confusion in South Africa, which holds Russia in high esteem as a Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) partner and a major player in Africa's political economy since 2000s. Against this background, this article examines the coverage of the Russia–Ukraine war on selected days from the start of the war to April 2022 on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Through content analysis, the study concludes that war-related topics that received the most coverage were security, peace, United Nations, and civilians. War-related topics that received least coverage on SABC News were sanctions, battlefield, EU policies, nuclear, U.S. policies, justification, and disinformation. The article argues that SABC News coverage was largely objective.