Frames and Marginalisation of Counter-hegemonic Voices: Media Representation of the Land Debate in South Africa

Abstract

The South African commercial press marginalises alternative and counter-hegemonic voices partly due to its location in the capitalist power structures. Notwithstanding its transformation post-apartheid, the ethos of this media remains rooted in apartheid-like economic and ideological rationalities. This media still functions within Western news values and a neoliberal paradigm; hence, the reporting of ideological discourses delegitimises the concerns of the dispossessed. This paper uses the critical political economy of the media in conversation with decolonial theories to analyse the media’s representation of the land debate by assessing economic and political interrelations that shape its structures and practice. Stories in the South African English-language print media in 2018 are analysed using thematic and framing approaches. It emerges that the land debate is framed negatively. The media employed a narrow neoliberal frame in the stories and thus failed to support a legitimate discourse. Instead, the media gave voice to individuals located in capitalist production structures who defended the status quo.