The generally accepted view of the role of journalism in democratic societies is that it should hold people in power to account (i.e., watch over those who have power) and help democracy function (Mellado et al., 2020; Picard, 2014; Zelizer, 2013). This view of journalism has become so ingrained in academic and popular thinking that many journalists at legacy media like to think that they are the only real journalists and are the only ones who have the knowledge and skills to be real journalists (Picard, 2014; Swart et al., 2022). This is what academics call the liberal perspective. Journalists often justify their work from the liberal perspective as necessary to maintain democracy (Wasserman & De Beer, 2005), which is mostly true in democratic societies. This is called journalism’s watchdog role.
Journalists can do more than play watchdog roles, however. Many countries are not democracies and still have journalists; many individuals now have their own news platforms online on which they distribute news that interests specific communities; news is not only about politics but can also be about ordinary daily life and interesting events (Hanitzsch & Vos, 2018).
Some scholars also argue that the mass media should play a social upliftment, transformational and nation-building role in postcolonial societies such as South Africa (Rodny-Gumede, 2018; Skjerdal, 2012). South Africa has a strong media sector and is one of the countries in the world with a free and independent press and a well-functioning democracy, as can be seen in the two maps below. But, according to The Economist Democracy Index for 2020, almost half (44.9%) of the countries in the world, where half the world’s population live (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2021), are non democratic societies. They live under other forms of government.
Even those countries have newspapers, news websites, TV stations, and radio stations with journalists working there. South African journalists are lucky to live in a country where journalism and democracy are healthy; but even in South Africa, independent journalists have explored other ways to tell more stories to a wider audience. Some argue that the legacy media in South Africa serve only certain sectors of society. Press freedom in South Africa does not mean that all important stories in the country are being told, because media owners often have their own news agendas.
The world’s democratic and non-democratic societies
Countries marked in dark and light green are full or flawed democracies. Countries marked in red or orange are not democracies. Map: By JackintheBox – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=99565223
Press freedom worldwide
Countries marked in dark or light blue have very good or satisfactory press freedom situations. All the other countries have problems around press freedom. Map: By Karte: NordNordWest, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...urid=104022150
According to Journalists without Borders, there is real press freedom in only 53 of 180 countries surveyed by them in 2022 (see the map above). South Africa is one of them, ranked 37th in the world. In the other countries, there are problems related to censorship, self-censorship, media independence, infrastructure, or abuse. But even so, every society in the world has some kind of journalism. Wherever you live, you want to know what is going on in the wider world around you.
Reflect on this
Are people working as journalists for state media in non-democratic countries, where they may face restrictions on what they report, not really journalists? They cannot help democracy function if they live in non-democratic countries. Do they play other roles in society?
It is also true that, in the 21st century, there are now many new ways of communication; everyone with access to the internet is able to broadcast or publish information and also play a role in informing people in their country (or around the world), influencing politicians, effecting change in their country. Even in countries with censorship and restrictions on the media, some people use social media to influence political change. Just think of the #Rhodesmustfall campaign, #Feesmustfall, #Thisflag in Zimbabwe, and the Arab Spring, among many others.
The idea that ordinary people can now be journalists has changed how many academics think of the mass media, and it has changed the definition of who can be a journalist. Therefore, many researchers have explored new ways of doing journalism (Deuze, 2019), for example, by looking at independent journalists in small communities, or online. Residents sometimes take over the functions of local journalists by using social media (Nygren, 2019; Oremus, 2021); even TikTok influencers create journalistic content. One example of many is Philip DeFranco from the United States (US) who presents a daily 15-minute news broadcast and has 1.2 million followers (Malone, 2021) on TikTok. There are even theatre productions that some see as journalism (Adams, 2020). The new ways of doing journalism have helped broaden the scope and reach of journalism. More stories about the world and its many different communities are now being told by more people and reach a wider audience.
This is important in a country like South Africa, where the debate about what the media and journalists should do is complicated because of the colonial history of the media in the country. There are calls for decolonising the mass media and decolonising the teaching of journalism. Decolonisation does not mean that we should burn books written by white colonisers (Muldoon, 2019); it means that we should question what is being taught, whether it is still relevant, look at what is prescribed (for example, more texts by women and black writers), and create a curriculum that is relevant to all members of society by updating outdated content and adding new information. This is not just a question for South Africa but something that universities globally struggle with. For example, the debate about decolonising the curriculum is also happening in England, Australia, Canada, and Kenya (Lokhun, 2020).
The news media in South Africa have not really changed in what they see as their primary roles, namely protecting democracy, informing people, serving as a public forum for debate and discussion, and acting as watchdog (Rodny-Gumede, 2018). But there are other journalism traditions in Africa. These include journalism for social change, communal journalism (a type of journalism that is more compassionate and emphasises the importance of the community), and oral journalism (Skjerdal, 2012). In postcolonial societies like South Africa and most other African countries, many journalists already take their role of helping to transform society seriously despite the colonial ownership history of many media houses (Rodny-Gumede, 2018). In South Africa, there is a view among some academics that journalism in South Africa developed in colonial times and that mass media bosses are still powerful elites who have certain views that influence the news produced by their mass media outlets (Rodny-Gumede, 2018). Therefore, there are already (and have, in fact, always been) many alternative media forms in South Africa.
It is not unusual that some South Africans are searching for other ways to tell stories that matter. Historically, there has always been a form of oral journalism. In South Africa, long before printed newspapers arrived, African people relied on oral traditions to hear the news and get information.
Some researchers regard oral storytelling and other oral traditions as a type of journalism that existed long before colonialism arrived. These oral journalists informed the community, built social cohesion, and created spaces for conversation (a type of public sphere, as will be discussed below). Skjerdal (2012) sees oral traditions in Africa as a form of communication that fulfilled journalistic roles.
In the modern era, one could perhaps think of social media as a space where people tell stories in their own voices, a rebirth of a longstanding tradition. There are also other alternative media forms that have come to the fore in South Africa – attempts by marginalised or excluded people to have a say in what is happening in the country and what is important to them.
There are some news websites in South Africa (such as GroundUp and New Frame) that focus exclusively on giving marginalised people a voice. Ordinary people also make the public aware of issues in their communities or at their universities by using social media, YouTube, or websites. Many suburbs now have community WhatsApp groups where residents share news and information about what is happening in the area. In some neighbouring countries, such as Zimbabwe, the story is a bit different yet similar. There, most of the mass media is state owned and only tell the government’s viewpoints. Even there, people have found other ways to tell the news as they experience it in their daily lives, such as on social media or through independent news websites like newzimbabwe.com, and Nehanda Radio, an internet radio station. The era of the internet made it possible for ordinary people to challenge the monopoly of legacy media – whether state-owned or the legacy of colonial times – and to take control of the stories about their lives, their news, and the information that is important to them in ways that have not been possible before.
Legacy media still serve an important role as the fourth estate. Media Texthack Group (2014), writing in Media Studies 101, say that in liberal democracies (which would include South Africa, where democracy is very strong), a key tenet of democracy is the separation of powers into the various independent branches of government, usually in the form of the legislature that makes the laws, a judiciary that interprets and applies the law, and an executive that carries out the administration and operations of governing (the first three estates), and journalism that watches over all three these branches. Because of its function as a watchdog that monitors the running of the nation by exposing excesses and corruption and holding those in power accountable, the media is regarded as the fourth estate, supplementing the three branches of government by providing checks and balances. The media becomes a voice of the people to those in government.
However, because journalists and the mass media are seen as representatives of the public, some ask whether there is a wide enough range of opinion in the media to represent the public’s interests. As the media became increasingly commercial, there are also questions about the quality of the news and information, which may be compromised when the media focus more on entertainment to keep their audiences’ attention.
There are many news websites who now publish very entertaining stories to attract views and clicks. Where citizens now feel that the media do not represent their views anymore, they simply raise their own voices online, often on social media. During the widespread protests and looting after the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma in South Africa in July 2021, citizens and instigators used social media to plan and orchestrate the protests and looting, but also to comment on and act against the unrest to protect their communities. This is a clear example of citizens expressing their voices in public without relying on the media to represent them, in effect becoming journalists themselves. According to Carlson and Lewis (2019), the boundaries of journalism are no longer fixed. This means it is no longer clear who is a journalist and who is not. People who were once seen as the “only” journalists are now joined by other people who do some of the work that journalists do.
If anyone can be a journalist, there are, of course, also dangers. Unskilled and uneducated journalists can easily spread disinformation or incorrect information, without even knowing it. Therefore, to be a good journalist, in whatever way you define being a journalist, you still need some theoretical knowledge of what journalism is and does, critical thinking skills (Picard, 2014) to evaluate information, practical skills to do it well, and an understanding of the ethics of journalism.
This textbook, therefore, aims to provide anyone who would like to practise journalism with the basic tools to be responsible, trustworthy, ethical journalists in whichever way they choose. This textbook further aims to provide a simple but sufficiently complete introduction to journalism. This textbook shows you what journalism is, what journalists should do, how to be a journalist in practical ways, how to make difficult ethical decisions, and how to develop critical-thinking skills.
Summary
As you read through this textbook, remember that references to journalism or journalists in this textbook mean both traditional ways of being a journalist, such as working for a newspaper or a TV station, and all the new ways of being a journalist, such as running your own YouTube or TikTok channel, or writing a regular newsletter with news content. You have now been provided with a general introduction to journalism. The next chapter discusses the development of mass media and journalism’s role in society.
