Media Flaws

Steve Biko would weep for us, if he were alive.
If we are alive, we should weep for ourselves.

Weep for the black image in the black mind.

In 1994 South Africa’s veil on multiracism multiculturism was officially lifted, revealing parallel societies. This veil was replaced with blankets. Blankets of imagined democracy.

17 years later I sit here thinking those were very costly blankets.

17 years later I sit here feeling a gentle wind that consistently reminds us
of who we are and what we were before we got those blankets 
a wind that lifts these blankets as we sleep through existence 
a wind that carries specks of stereotypes beliefs and fears of what lies under blankets
                                        
                                             ?An, unpunctuated; wind! – called_ Media.

For how long will we continue to undermine how the media intentionally or unintentionally reinforces the negatives of this country?

For example...

What is the general image of blacks in South Africa’s media?

- They are largely criminals
- They are largely corrupt
- They are largely incompetent
- They are largely poor
- They are largely needy victims of self
- They are largely more than this list can accomodate

Of course the general image of whites in South Africa’s media is the exact opposite of the above.

Put simply: blacks are inherently inferior in how they are positioned and represented in the media. There’s a limited scope of expression and representation of blacks as humane, on par, equal, in the media. A media with a paucity of positive black models/images that go against pre-1994 stereotypes. The black South African’s image in the media is critical to how they are imagined by an other, and most importantly by themselves.

Take a look at news. If black people are always on the rampage, destroying things, stealing from state coffers and generally represented as social deviants with an inclination towards the worst – how do we suppose the black audience imagines itself? Tell someone they’re a rockstar for long enough and they might just start acting like a rockstar.

The counter-argument is simple: But they are like that, they are doing that – the media’s role is to provide accurate verbal, written and/or visual records.

Correct? No. They might teach you that in Media schools. But I am prepared to stand alone and say that is wrong.

Within the context of South Africa we cannot merely push accuracy or reflection without taking into account the audience’s understanding or what mental representation it stimulates. That would be to be irresponsible. So much so that you will now find people, like mam' Mamphela Ramphele saying “That’s us! We are like that!” upon reflecting on the black’s image in the media. That, I am afraid, is the height of ignorance. That is the problem of the modern person. We accept things as they are with scant regard for codes embedded therein, that leave no room for counter-schematic thought - thought that highlights that not all blacks are like that. “That’s us!” is not us. There are deeper areas we do not want to go into with regards to the media’s [mis]representation of the black image in South Africa. It’s very easy to show people news as they are, but seemingly hard to think about how this bodes for the national psyche. Our media convicts us in the confines of our past.

We need a thinking media.
We need a media attuned to the complexities of the societies they serve.
We need a media that is prepared to facilitate racial comity.
We need a media that is less commercially driven.
We need a media that doesn’t serve “imagined communities”, but Real Communities.

It is very easy to report. Very. Even a toddler can report what they saw. If we limit ourselves to just reporting as we see it, we undermine conceptual and normative complexities of our times.

We need to think carefully about these things and submit ourselves to deeper self-critical awareness in our thinking. We cannot bumble about consuming information without understanding the side-effects.

The problem is the images of one another that we have of one another in one another’s minds. Who reinforces and provides a steady stream of those images?

That’s us.