SA media in a good place

I have been away from South Africa in the belly of the beast so to speak. I have spent five weeks in the US and must admit I was relieved to go, not because I never enjoyed myself or that I missed my dog, I hated the media. I would yell curses at the TV with its unwavering acceptance of the status quo of the two-party electoral system, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or the world news that only included places the US was bombing, thinking of bombing or paying for their bombs.

As a media scholar (one of my other academic hats) I am sometimes hard on the South African media but I must admit they look really cosmopolitan compared to the American inward-looking news.

The US print media had a paltry international section that covered Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea and Israel. If America was not intimately and explicitly involved in the region it basically wouldn’t exist. The television was even worse as I was staying at a place that only received local news on one channel. On this station the rest of America did not even exist, let alone Zimbabwe or South Africa.

Visiting Millersville University campus in Pennsylvania was great but accessing the news there was no better. Again the pattern repeated itself with the occasional mention of Darfur and a few places American celebrities were discussing. I was relieved there was no mention of U2’s Bono (it’s not just American celebrities).

Why is it that the American and world press give such a forum to these often ill-informed people? Why are experts not being consulted?

I was watching the SABC (a station that deserves some harsh criticism and words on occasion) and was relieved to see experts being interviewed about the upcoming election. Can anyone in South Africa imagine bringing Mandoza in to comment on the state of the nation?

For sure some of our politicians sing and dance like celebrities and I do enjoy the political and social criticism in some of the soaps and South African television shows but this is a far cry from that level of engagement with celebrities as thought leaders.

What I would like to do is first offer some accolades to South African media institutions and organisations.

First accolade goes to the late-night SABC Africa, which covers the rest of the continent in great detail using specialists. But why is this brilliant coverage put on in the middle of the night? It should be on when we are awake to watch it. It is well worth watching.

South African television channels deserve our support for developing local content and developing local actors. As I said above, some of the shows themselves are great commentary on society and using American television shows is not to be slammed completely as some shows are excellent. Though that may be a matter of taste I think most of us can agree that an American show like George Lopez deserves no airtime in Africa. The Hispanic references and slapstick deserve no primetime coverage in Africa. How about a comedy we can all understand and enjoy? It must have come as part of a package.

And finally a global critique of satellite television. Though I do not have or want satellite television (it’s kind of like a literary scholar not liking books) I hate the packages that are on offer. If you want the good programmes you have to purchase a hundred or more extra rubbish channels you will never watch. Why can they not just offer a choice of channels and you pay per channel, not these huge bundles with arbitrary groupings?

So in conclusion, we as media consumers must continue to push for content that is critical and engaging. We must beware of swamping our stations and therefore our minds to vacuous hollow amusement from abroad that allows the de-linking of the middle class media consumer with the rest of Africa and the real issues that haunt our society as we seek a better future for all.

Most importantly, we must fight for access to the media for those excluded so that they are part of national discourses and ideas. Media must not be left for passive consumption, as they are often treated, but as a means of dialogue. Communication is never, or at least should never be one-way flows of ideas, but created with feedback and critique in mind.