In the aftermath of xenophobia: a critical discourse analysis
Els, Christina Aletta
English: While evidence confirms that print media in South Africa has contributed to the development of a xenophobic environment (McDonald and Jacobs, 2005:306; Danso and McDonald, 2001:124), particularly in the manner in which the media has stigmatised non-nationals, this does not necessarily imply that the print media was complicit in the xenophobic outbreaks of April/May 2008 (Smith, 2011:111). However, an investigation into the representation of non-nationals in the print media is nevertheless a lacuna that needs to be addressed (Smith, 2010:188). The focus of this study is on the discursive representations of non-nationals in the tabloid, the Daily Sun, during April to May 2008 –it focuses not only on the way in which the Daily Sun represented the ‘Other’, but also identifies some of the underlying ideologies that underpin these representations. The tabloid phenomenon, which presented itself in post-1994, has created a new trend of inclusivity in South African society in that previously marginalised groups have now, for the first time, been targeted as a viable market. The Daily Sun has been instrumental in providing people, who have been voiceless under apartheid, with a sense of identity by providing access to affordable newspapers. By the same token the Daily Sun has been accused of stoking the fires of xenophobia by means of uncritical and biased reporting. This led to a formal complaint against the newspaper in 2008, spearheaded by the Media Monitoring Project (nowadays MMA). These contradictions, as Wasserman (2007:791) points out, are characteristic of a society “in rapid and unequal transition and the tabloid media as commercial entities reliant on a public caught between history and progress…”. The researcher, working within the frame of Critical Discourse Analysis, draws a parallel, although not necessarily a causal link, between the xenophobic pogroms of May 2008 and the discursive representations of the tabloid, the Daily Sun, during April to May 2008
Afrikaans: Ten spyte van bewyse wat bevestig dat gedrukte media in Suid-Afrika bygedra het tot die ontwikkeling van ʼn xenofobiese omgewing (McDonald en Jacobs, 2005:306; Danso en McDonald, 2001:124), vernaam op die wyse waarop die media nie-burgers gestigmatiseer het, beteken dit nie dat die gedrukte media aandadig was in die xenofobiese aanvalle van April/Mei 2008 in Suid-Afrika nie (Smith, 2011:111). Daar bestaan wel ʼn leemte in die literatuur rakende die uitbeelding van nie-burgers in gedrukte media, en hierdie leemte moet aangespreek word (Smith, 2010:188). Hierdie studie fokus op die diskursiewe uitbeelding van nie-burgers in die poniekoerant Daily Sun vanaf April tot Mei 2008. Die studie fokus nie net op die wyse waarop die Daily Sun die ‘Ander’ uitbeeld nie, maar identifiseer ook die onderliggende ideologieë wat die basis van hierdie uitbeeldings vorm. Die poniekoerant fenomeen, wat ditself ná 1994 voorgedoen het, het ʼn nuwe tendens van inklusiwiteit in die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing meegebring, soveel so dat voorheen gemarginaliseerde groepe nou, vir die eerste keer, ʼn lewensvatbare teikenmark was. Die Daily Sun was gesaghebbend in hierdie proses deur, vir dié gene wat gedurende die Apartheid regime geen stem gehad het nie, ʼn sin van identiteit te skep deur hul toegang te bied tot bekostigbare koerante. In dieselfde asem word die Daily Sun daarvan beskuldig dat dit die vure van xenophobia aangeblaas het deur middel van onkritiese en subjektiewe verslaggewing. Dit het gelei tot die lê van ʼn formele klag teen die koerant in 2008, gedryf deur die Media Moniteringsprojek (deesdae die MMA). Hierdie teenstrydighede, noem Wasserman (2007:791), is kenmerkend van ʼn samelewing vasgevang in “ʼn vinnige en onegalige oorgangstydperk en die poniepers as kommersiële entiteite, afhanklik van die publiek, vasgevang tussen die geskiedenis en vooruitgang”. Die navorser, wat binne die raamwerk van Kritiese Diskoersanalise werk, ontbloot ʼn parallel, maar nie noodwendig ʼn kousale verband nie, tussen die xenofobiese slagtings gedurende Mei 2008 en die diskursiewe uitbeelding in die poniekoerant, Daily Sun, vanaf April tot Mei 2008.