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| Image by LiveBlog Mail & Guardian edited by Naledi Sibisi |
In August 2012, South Africa experienced what the French
would refer to as Déjà vu, “the illusion of remembering scenes and events
when experienced for the first time: a feeling that one has seen or
heard something before” (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, 2013:1). The Marikana massacre resulted in extensive coverage
in both the local and global media arena. The following presents an analysis of
the way in which storytelling strategies uncovered the event.
The
Marikana Massacre, as it has been coined, is the conflict that
occurred between The South African Police Service (SAPS) and South African
miners who were striking for increased wages at the Lonmin Platinum Mine. The altercation resulted in supposedly the
most brutal form of police violence recorded in South Africa since the
Apartheid regime. Numerous local and international news networks documented the
event as it proved to be crucial in affecting the nation’s reputation. International
and acclaimed news network BBC News
covered the story a day after the news broke. Both the article and footage
included will allow for a joint analysis of the story.
The headline and lead immediately provide the information
which answers the questions highlighted according to the 5 w’s and How model – alerting the audience as to who was involved,
where and when the event occurred, what happened, how many were involved and
why this took place. The hard lead is therefore evidence of good journalistic
writing as it is informative without having to read through the entire article
to receive the necessary answers. One can now begin to analyze the strategic
word choices presented in the article.
According to the lead, an unspecified police chief is
quoted which evokes the readers curiosity as it suggests that an inside source
is being quoted. The specified number of people allows for an emotional
reaction from the audience as it does not state whether the deceased are in
fact the miners or the police officers – another way in which suspense is built
and the audience member is enticed to read the remainder of the article. The
acknowledgment that the police were the ones who “opened fire” suggests that
they are the perpetrators by use of framing which can pattern the opinion of
the audience as one may be led to link this idea to Apartheid history by virtue
of diction because of the way in which framing is designed to shape the opinion
of the audience through the way the messages are constructed thus interpreted.
South African National Police Commissioner, Mangwashi
Victoria ‘Riah’ Phiyega is later quoted, allowing the article to be objective
as she represents the voice of the police force. It is interesting to note the
role of the Police Commissioner and the relevance in quoting her.
"We have in the past few weeks witnessed a disappointing
spectacle of police officers jeopardizing state security by placing information
in the public domain, in contravention of their oath of office. This is
unacceptable and cannot be tolerated if the fight against crime is to continue
being effective."
- (All Africa, 2012:1).
The job of the commissioner is to address the above
grievances therefore, by quoting Phiyega, bias could arguably be heightened
because the voices of policemen who were at the scene are not heard. Moreover,
the way in which the police are positioned as the wrongdoers through the lead,
ridicules the above idea, placing the audience on the side of the miners. The
article then documents the string of events in chronological order, providing
factual information and background as well as reports from witnesses and an
employee who can validate the claims and challenge those made by Phiyega, who
made prior claims that the police acted in self-defense. This structure of
writing can be seen in the inverted pyramid model – reinforcing the idea that
this is a hard news piece.
The story further includes numerical figures that
contextualize the amount which the strikers were demanding regarding increased
wages. Due to the fact that this is an international report, the figures are
translated into dollars thus allowing for priming to occur as it places
authorities in a negative light and ultimately tarnishes South Africa’s
reputation by implying that the cost was minor because of the emphasis placed
on Lonmin being amoung one of the top
platinum producers in a global context.
The underlying reference to Apartheid history and mass
killing at the hands of the police force is constantly supported by factual
information in succeeding paragraphs, disclosing the number of deaths and
injuries as well as presenting the miners’ account. This demonstrates
well-balanced, journalistic writing. Moreover, visual footage is included,
showing a video of Phiyega explaining the ordeal and confirming the claims made
in the article. This shall be used as the second source for analysis.
The video is not supported by any additional commentary
by the news network, allowing the audience to formulate an independent opinion
thus making the footage free of priming – which would in some sense manipulate
the audience into the way in which they should receive the information.
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The source however, presents only the opinion of the
police force thus showing only one side of the story. By virtue of agenda
setting, one can argue that BBC News
deliberately excluded commentary on the footage in order to provoke an
emotional reaction from audience members. The idea that only one voice is heard
may lead the audience to question the validity of these claims. Additionally,
the lack of texual frames enhances the negative light the police force is seen
in. Interestingly, the physical placement of the footage on the page could also
be considered strategic in the sense that it appears directly next to the
quotations of the experience of miners on that fateful day. This allows the
audience to make a comparison between the two and reiterates the idea that the
police are being viewed in a negative light. The absence of the miner’s voices
is questionable and challenges the Phiyega’s credibility. Essentially, with the
police force and their commissioner being portrayed in this manner, the leader
of the nation comes into question without having been mentioned. One can see a
similar method of reporting in the following cartoon.
From a local perspective, an analysis of a visual text by leading South African cartoonist, Zapiro, can be carried out.
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No difference between Lonmin
tragedy of 2012, the Sharpeville tragedy of 1960 and the Sowetan riots of 1976 published in Sunday Times on 19 Aug 2012
The above cartoon is a powerful method of reporting
because of its satirical nature.
“Satire
is both an “oblique” – or indirect way of suggesting the need for social
change, and a “baser” method of personal attack”
-
(Kaplan, 2008:124)
For the above reason, one can argue that through use of
humour and sarcastic undertones, Zapiro is directly debasing the current
government and the police force by comparing the Marikana incident to the
Apartheid regime pre-democratic elections. Because it is a visual piece, textual
references are minimal thus the focus is placed on what is not being said,
enticing the audience to ask questions and conduct further research on the
story. According to news values, what constitutes news would be the idea that
it is dramatic, involves conflict, it is factual and relevant. The above
cartoon was published during the weekend succeeding the event. Moreover, it is
factual in capturing the dates when similar historic events happened in South
Africa, thus supporting previously insinuated ideas about the South African
Police Force in the BBC article by
use of agenda setting and framing – the way in which the media present stories
or events to the public strategically via placement and frequency of coverage (Bull,
2010:168). The audience then prioritizes the importance of the story because of
the way the media covers it. In this case, the continual references to
Apartheid history may evoke concern and an fear by reminding the audience to
date back to thirty years ago.
As seen above, there were similarities in
reporting styles in both a local and global context, particularly in the way in
which the audience was swayed towards the side of the miners and against the
police force through both verbal and visual storytelling strategies.
http://bit.ly/LwdkG5 (All Africa)
http://bbc.in/NLjMXB (BBC News)
http://bit.ly/10uEpNn (Zapiro Cartoon
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