Abstract

South Africa’s deep-seated social inequality problem has been exposed and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic pain and joblessness are disproportionately felt by the poor living in townships and informal settlements. This study investigates online news media’s coverage of the plight of poor people living in townships and informal settlements during the pandemic. Although numerous scholars have argued that the commercial media is biased and mutes the voices of the subalterns, this study shows an increase in the voices of ordinary citizens on the online media in question. During the pandemic, coverage of the poor and their issues increased and was framed from a human interest perspective. Despite this positive trend and the massive upsurge in online media during the pandemic lockdown, many online platforms are still linked to traditional media. In the final analysis, the commercial media’s problem of ownership, control, and concentration has migrated to online platforms. Because it is located in capitalist structures of power, commercialised media reproduces the views of the dominant powers and remains unable to unpack the underlying failures of capitalism. This article therefore makes a case for considering an alternative, decommodified media that will serve the majority as a public good.

摘要

Covid-19 大流行暴露并加剧了南非根深蒂固的社会不平等问题。居住在乡镇和非正规住区的穷人不成比例地感受到经济上的痛苦和失业。本研究调查了在线新闻媒体对大流行期间居住在乡镇和非正规住区的穷人困境的报道。尽管许多学者认为商业媒体存在偏见并压制了底层的声音，但这项研究表明普通公民在相关网络媒体上的声音有所增加。在大流行期间，对穷人及其问题的报道有所增加，并且是从人类利益的角度出发的。尽管在大流行封锁期间出现了这种积极趋势以及在线媒体的大规模激增，许多在线平台仍与传统媒体挂钩。归根结底，商业媒体的所有权、控制权和集中度问题已经转移到网络平台上。因为它位于资本主义的权力结构中，商业化的媒体复制了主导力量的观点，仍然无法揭开资本主义潜在的失败。因此，本文提出了考虑另一种非商品化媒体的理由，该媒体将作为公共产品服务于大多数人。