Local print media content is starting to reflect diversity

The press has the ability to influence what their readers think about by setting the news agenda. An important issue is not so much what readers should or could think and talk about, but how many diverse topics the press enables them to think about and discuss.

Media Tenor SA has designed and conducted a large-scale research project on the issue of diversity of news in South African newspapers, running from 1 January to 31 December 2001. All Gauteng mainstream daily newspapers were included in the research project.

Overall results

According to the ten criteria used on the Media Tenor News Diversity Index, the Sowetan offer its readers more diverse news on more diverse topics than the other dailies in its region followed by Business Day, The Citizen, The Star and Beeld.

Gender

Where gender could be distinguished in the news and business reports, more than 80% of the people quoted were men. The Sowetan slightly lead the way (18.9%) followed by Beeld, The Star and The Citizen while Business Day only qouted woman 9% of the time.

Race

In contrast to the past, the latest results show that about half of the people now quoted in Business Day, The Starand The Citizen are black.

International content

Business day covered 38.1% international news followed closely by The Citizen, The Star and Beeld while the Sowetan only had 17.3 international news.

Media Tenor is the world's leading provider of international media content analysis with offices in South Africa, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States.