Do tabloids dislike foreigners?

The lunchtime public debate was held at the Soul City Conference room in Dunkeld West, Johannesburg, yesterday, 24 June 2008. Wits University humanities dean professor Tawana Kupe introduced and chaired the forum. The panel included Dosso Ndessomin, the chairperson of the coordinating body for refugee communities, Caxton professor of journalism Anton Harber and the director for the media monitoring project, William Bird.

Opening remarks

In his opening remarks, Harber said, “Daily Sun's labelling of foreign nationals has a clear negative attitude. The paper has stereotyped foreigners as people who take jobs [and] break into people's houses. They did it in an ugly way, screaming about how many criminals are foreigners. The Daily Sun will stand accused of reporting uncritically on or even stoking xenophobia, but they have also been the one media voice to warn repeatedly that this pot was boiling. Weeks before the violence they were reporting on what was happening in Mamelodi.”

“The media has created a perception about foreigners in South Africa and the people at the grassroots level picked up on it. We are faced with constant difficulties within the communities in which we live with. We are humans with potential and all we need is room to be,” said Ndessomin.

According to the director for MMP, the “Daily Sun is one of the few papers that has been reporting on violence calling foreigner aliens. That creates a negative perception about foreigners without taking into account the complexity of the issue. The paper's coverage of the attacks is being dealt with by the press ombudsman.”

Bird also made reference to a headline that was in the Daily Sun in June, which referred to HIV as an evil disease. “The use of such words perpetuates negative stereotypes,” said Bird.

Refrain from sensationalising

Tendai Sithole, a media studies student, commented that in view of the fact that the Daily Sun's target market is the man in overalls, it should carefully consider its use of language and refrain from sensationalising issues.

Tholwana Xhobela, a member of the public, remarked: “Are we talking about media literacy? Because quality papers hide their xenophobia by being subtle. The Star conveyed a sense of horror, referring to a picture of a burning man that made front page in most newspapers. When I looked at that picture, I didn't see an image of a dying man, I saw someone's son, father, brother, husband and it was inhuman. Hence, I say the so-called quality reads have their own xenophobia.”

In response to Xobela, Harber said, “The obligation of the media in South Africa is to address issues that affect communities, not to perpetuate them. Such images defy the generalisation that people make about the role of media when there is a crisis.”

One of the issues that was raised at the dialogue is that tabloid readers don't lay complaints with the press ombudsman. Lack of resources needed to lodge complaints could be one the reasons, or that the readers do not know how to go about laying their complaints with the ombudsman.

“The media is our window of hope that can help to bridge the gap between foreigners and the people on the ground,” said Ndessomin in closing.