DESPERATELY SEEKING DEPTH: Global and local narratives of the South African general elections on television news, 1994 – 2014 By Bernadine Jones Town Cape Thesis presentedof for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY at the Centre for Film and Media Studies UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN UniversityAugust 2017 1 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Declaration of own work and publications This thesis is my own work, conducted in Cape Town, South Africa between January 2014 and August 2017. I confirm that I have been granted permission by the University of Cape Town’s Doctoral Degrees Board to include the following publication(s) in my PhD thesis: Jones, B. 2016. Television news and the digital environment: a triadic multimodal approach for analysing moving image media, in African Journalism Studies 37(2): 116-137 2 Acknowledgements What respectable body of work would be complete without expressing ones gratitude to those who have helped carry the author – mind, soul, and sometimes body – through the wilderness of research and analysis? It stands to reason then that I convey my utmost appreciation for my two supervisors, Drs Martha Evans and Wallace Chuma, for guiding me along this path with infinite patience, wisdom, and maddening attention to detail without which I would flounder. Despite being half way across the world and enduring difficult and uncertain times, my supervisors never fail to give consistently excellent feedback and support. Without the financial, academic, and moral support of the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa team, this study would not have been possible. The two NextGen Fellowships granted me the time and space to focus on writing, while the mentors and colleagues I met at the Zambia workshop in January 2016 gave me invaluable advice. My mentors and colleagues at the Centre for Film and Media Studies have stood behind me throughout this project. From countless sighing sessions outside offices and allowing me the opportunity to teach, to supporting me financially at critical moments during this journey, I am indebted to the Centre. Vital funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) enabled this study’s depth and original research. The NRF provided me with the Innovation Doctoral Scholarship for all three years of my degree, and Extension Funding for the last six months. Without this generous grant, I would not have been able to continue with this project, nor afford the expensive broadcast data that made up my sample. Speaking of archives, a special thank you goes to Sias Scott and Duma-Sandile Mboni at the SABC Archives, and Carmen Whitcher at the 3 eTV Archives. Their consistent hard work and helpfulness made a long and difficult task that much easier, and I want to acknowledge their capabilities in what is often a thankless yet important role at these two broadcasters. Parental support is not always a given in further study, and I am lucky to have parents who motivate, support, and encourage me in every step that I take in my career. I am eternally obliged to my father, Arthur, for his undying love and support throughout my degree, career, and my life. Without his advice and encouragement I would be a lesser person than I am today. My mother, Madeleine, has been a constant source of support and keeps the light in me burning even in the bleakest of days. After our life in South Africa fell apart in 2016, my mother-in-law Margaret took us in and has been a grounding influence for the majority of writing up my PhD. The simple act of leaving me in isolation has helped enormously, and I am forever indebted to her kindness, generosity, and love. So too my brother- and sister-in-law Cynan and Charmian, as little as I have seen them in the hardest 10 months of my life, their unending encouragement has meant the world to me. Thank you Cynan for the “3-for-2 and Storify” advice – it takes a writer to help a writer. PhD students are a nightmare to be around – in fact, it’s more their absence that is noticeable, especially in the later stages. My love and thanks therefore go to my small, important group of friends. Although oceans, mountains, and fields separate us, I can feel your encouragement as if you were right next to me. Toussaint, your critiques always motivate me to do better, to dig deeper, and to follow your example. I am grateful for meeting you in Cape Town in 2013, and repeatedly at IAMCR conferences. Perhaps one day soon again we’ll get “s**t-faced” and talk about Mandela. Dr Nothias, thank you for your input and friendship. My friends at UCT – for the PintNights, the Quiz Nights, and FAMAnon – I’ll miss the cheap beer and silly discussions, setting the world to rights and setting it ablaze. Alta, Clarien, Jaqui – we’re all in this together and your support means 4 the world to me. My friends from South Africa, the UK, America, and across the world, thank you for listening to me ramble in confusion and worry. I cannot underestimate the power music has had on my journey through this PhD. Music is my lifeblood, and the people I have met because of it, through a shared passion for alternative music and culture, has shaped my life. Without metal, I would be a husk of a person. Cape Town’s little metal community is growing, and I am proud to have been a part of it for a short time. The friends I met, gigged with, got into moshpits with, and made lifelong memories with, will stay with me forever. The dark, dirty, noisy corners of R.O.A.R, Gandalfs, the Rabbit Hole, and Mercury Live held little moments of motivation and inspiration in an escape from what was, at times, a bleak experience. The metal community, not just in Cape Town but also Telford (SH and GH), Aberystwyth (GM, RM, VH, and SB), Virginia (HB), and Texas / Illinois (BC), have kept me grounded, kept me normal, kept me weird, and provided escape these past four years. Realtime and Facetime friends, you deserve horns that would make Dio proud. To my soul mate, best friend, eternal optimist, and husband, Emlyn. For all those times you had to listen to my jumbled up thoughts and yet somehow managed to slowly drag them out into a solid, sequential line; for having to speak via Facebook Messenger for hours on end because I needed isolation; for letting me fall asleep on you during exciting movies; for taking me on long walks when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball. For joining me on this path and always seeing the light in this world; for supporting me emotionally, financially, physically, and mentally, without reservation, for many years. For all of these things, and countless others that you do for me and with me, I dedicate this thesis to you. Without you, I am nothing. 5 Abstract Eric Louw, Jesper Stömbäck, and W. Lance Bennett call the trend in late-20th century political journalism “mediatisation”, where the televisualisation of Western elections favours episodic, dramatic, fragmented, and event-driven reporting. This “hype-ocracy” results in narrow and shallow frames that entertain rather than enlighten. This thesis, titled “Desperately Seeking Depth”, examines this trend in both international and local news about South African elections. While scholarship of Western elections on TV news is blossoming, analyses of news coverage of South African elections is sparse. There is particularly little analysis of the visual dimensions of TV news coverage, which remains a methodological challenge for media and communication scholars. This thesis draws together a comprehensive analysis of South Africa’s general elections on international and local television news over two decades. It develops an innovative, multimodal analysis method dedicated to television news and adds meaningful data to the overall study of South African media and politics, and international communication. It combines analysis of previous studies of each election with the original analysis of over 150 news broadcasts to uncover the news narratives about the South African general elections between 1994 and 2014. This thesis demonstrates the difference between global and local journalism about South African elections. Restricted by mediatised news values that favour episodic reporting, Western journalists present entangled, contradictory narratives over the years. The fixation on 1994’s violent-turned-miracle election narrative ignored the complexities of 6 the new democracy, while an increasingly detached approach in covering the 2009 and 2014 ANC victories left journalists perplexed and unable to explore deeper narratives. Meanwhile, South African channels become progressively more hesitant to investigate controversial topics or criticise the ruling party. Avoidance of important issues such as the 1994 election violence, the AIDS crisis in 2004, and Zuma’s Nkandla fiasco in 2014 results in narrow reporting that limits the substantive information available during the election periods. All channels to some extent seek narratives that attempt to explain and explore South Africa’s complex democracy, but these narratives are often contradictory. The decline in journalists’ engagement with political leaders and citizens means that the full picture of the elections is reduced to a few easily digestible frames that confirm neoliberal news values. This thesis offers a new model for the analysis of TV news coverage of elections that can provide the basis for future studies.