Since Wednesday, 14 October 2015 the media has been abuzz with stories of the student protests that swept over 14 universities in seven of the nine provinces within South Africa. On Thursday, 5 November 2015 upwards of 16 000 articles had been created across traditional and online media platforms, including tweets that have been functioning as a call to action, as well as a platform of support or derision for the students participating in the protests.
Many comments have been made about the role that the media plays in reporting on issues or events and how much power they have in framing peoples’ perceptions. The media is powerful, in symbolic terms. According to Van Dijk (1995: 10) media has the ability to exercise some influence on the minds, but not necessarily the actions of readers. Readers engage with media content on an active level and therefore they retain a level of independence from potential influence and can therefore resist the effect of persuasive messages (Van Dijk, 1995: 11). The various comments against traditional media, coming from a multitude of sources with regard to the student protests, shows that many South Africans are conscious of the power of the media and therefore actively disengage themselves from it.
The student protests are said to have been fuelled by the social media activity of protesters, supporters and commentators, some even providing advice to protestors on how to effectively rinse out their eyes if they came into contact with tear gas. Bohler-Muller and Van der Merwe (2011) in an article titled ‘The potential of social media to influence socio-political change on the African continent’ speaks about the effectiveness of social media as a tool for ordinary citizens to hold their leaders accountable for their actions. Social media allows the ordinary citizen to become a ‘watchdog’, actively participating in bringing about socio-political change in their country, in this case South Africa (Bohler-Muller and Van der Merwe, 2011: 7). The authors cite the recent protests in Tunisia and Egypt as effective examples of “’leaderless’ revolutions” – the same having been said about the student protests – where technology was employed to manage the campaigns. It is also evidence of how powerful the youth is in making their voices heard and calling the government out on inefficiencies. It shows the potential for future participatory democracies, where citizens have a more active and direct role (Bohler-Muller and Van der Merwe, 2011: 7). The South African youth are holding leaders accountable by taking to the streets in protest, but they are also raising their concerns, loudly, on social media channels (Bohler-Muller and Van der Merwe, 2011: 8).
What follows is an analysis of how the media reported the #FeesMustFall student protests, with specific reference to post-apartheid realities such as financial exclusion and institutionalised racism.
Specific variables were devised in order to conduct a meaningful analysis, which included: institutionalised racism and racialised poverty; apartheid legacy and post-apartheid realities; financial exclusion and exclusionary fees. The variables were useful as, after immersion in the data, it became evident that the student protests are not so much about the fee increases, although this is an important factor in the overall debate, but more about what the fee increases mean in the larger social context.
Articles were chosen for analysis by clustering the data into subsamples. The subsamples were achieved by using a media data management system informed by a keyword logic. Therefore, the total amount of articles were mined for data that made specific reference to the variables mentioned above by employing the correct keywords. The articles were then clustered together by drawing the relevant articles into groupings. Once this had been done, a list of the media titles in which the articles appeared was drawn in order to establish which media titles had the highest reach and circulation. The titles were then selected and a sample was drawn based on a purposive sampling method. According to Macnamara (2005: 13), purposive sampling is useful when selecting articles from key media, which should be identified by the number of relevant articles and prevalence in the media landscape.
Selected articles from print and online media titles included the Mail & Guardian and The New Age, iol.co.za; mg.co.za, and msn.co.za. In order to situate and contextualise the media coverage generated around the student protests articles were also selected from an African publication - African Spotlight – and international publications – BBC.com and The Wall Street Journal. Interestingly, many of these publications, both online and print media, had contributors writing opinion pieces regarding the protests. The inclusion of contributors allows a broader view of the protests, giving a voice to many people who were on the ground during various times and in different spaces of the protests. It also makes the media titles seem more inclusive in their reporting of events which could perhaps skew the way they are perceived by the general public.
South African media
Reporting ‘Wits shuts down as ‘historic’ protest looms’, Bongani Nkosi, education reporter for Mail & Guardian, describes the students as “enraged” by the proposed fee increase at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Using the word “enraged” connotes an extreme form of anger which both highlights the extreme frustration that the students feel at the increase, but by calling the students, who went on to protest against the fee increases “enraged”, also potentially casts them in a negative light. Rage refers to violent, uncontrollable anger or the expression thereof.
The article by Nkosi, alludes to poor students being excluded by the proposed fees for 2016 – “the increases will exclude many poor students next year” – which undermines the reality of those who are already experiencing financial exclusion, as well as students who are currently registered but are struggling to pay their fees.
Speaking about the Wits students marching from the medical campus to the administrative campus in Braamfontein, the police are said to have “kept a watchful eye”. In the broader context of the student protest activities and the role that the police played, this reference to the arm of the law is interesting. “A watchful eye” alludes to being attentive or alert, to keep guard; it suggests a type of care which casts the police in a positive light but as many reports, photographs and tweets as well as the lived experiences of students on the front lines suggest, the police were often hard-handed and rough in their dealings with students. The way that police treated the students have amounted to, what many have labelled, police brutality.
The statement by the coordinators of the #NationalShutDown is referenced in the article, particularly interesting quotes are:
“On this historic day of 21 October 2015, in a moment of unbridled ambition, we collectively act in defiance against escalating tuition fees, state inaction and the mental trauma that students experience due to financial exclusion.” Students experiencing “mental trauma” as a response to their financial exclusion is indicative of the deep rooted psychological effects their social position has on their psyche. Their marginalisation is therefore severely distressing, a situation students are finding hard to cope with. Furthermore, the coordinators state that: “We, the students of 2015, stand in solidarity with one another to proclaim that we will not be complicit in an endorsement of the capitalist agenda of commodification of education and any oppressions which seek to denigrate our being.” Selling education as a commodity is unconstitutional according to the protest coordinators, as education is a basic right.
Wits, along with other universities, stated that they needed to implement the fee increases “because state funding to universities was declining”. Similarly though, government is pointing to universities as autonomous institutions, free to adjust their fees as they see fit without too much government interference. Therefore, at this time, government and universities are engaging in mudslinging, hoping to avoid the blame. But, students have identified their own culprits; sighting both universities and the government as perpetrators of violence against students of little economic means.
An opinion piece by Suntosh Pillay, published on iol.co.za on 22 October 2015, was titled ‘On post-apartheid nightmares and narratives’. He describes the student protests as an event that is “energising” - to energise is to give vitality or enthusiasm to something, in this case South Africa as a country. The author argues that the student protests are working to undermine or overthrow, “Trojan horse”-style, the post-apartheid narratives that South African society has been made to believe. It is an opportunity to construct new narratives that are more applicable to the situation in which the country finds itself today. False narratives are apparently supplied by the government to cover up the failings of the ruling party, but according to Pillay “young people, have finally realised nobody is coming” and that it is time to rise up and demand opportunities for themselves. This statement is also indicative of a loss of faith in the government and the promises that the ANC made when they came into power in 1994. The ANC government “can no longer be trusted”, according to the author, as they are the ones guilty of creating the “political narratives we have been fed and led to believe” producing the false consciousness that South Africans are plagued with.
South Africans have entered a time where citizens have developed a consciousness of the shortcomings of government and they are unwilling to accept the current status quo on which the ANC has built its government. Citizens are actively participating in constructing a South Africa that they want to live in. They are holding the powers that be accountable and demanding action from leadership that they feel are merely figureheads. This is evidence to the argument made by Bohler-Muller and Van der Merwe (2011) where the youth is voicing its concerns and are demanding leaders to implement change immediately.
“…the narrative of hard work”, according to the author, is not enough to achieve success and those who espouse this as a value are chronically naïve and/or blind to the difficulties facing the poor – hard work being something that many who condemned the protests sighted as a solution to the students’ woes. Economic exclusion is deeply ingrained in public spaces such as universities where achieving top marks, often through hard work and dedication, is not an insurance policy to the settlement of fees. Pillay goes on to accuse universities of having “morphed in neo-colonial vestiges” that exerts its power of access over the vast majority, who are looking to institutions of higher learning to provide them with the tools to achieve economic freedom. Universities are also still entrenched in their colonial past as there is a lack of real transformation where evidence of their African context are not visible. The universities place emphasis on economics as opposed to social issues.
Traditional media stands accused of being “dry, sterile, disconnected, sensational, predictable and irrelevant” in their reporting of the fees protests, but more dangerous is what Pillay terms traditional media’s “false neutrality”. By reporting the protests as violent or by providing analyses that are tainted by power relations, the media is only working to entrench inequalities.
An article by Mmasekepe Matsebane, a journalist and social commentator for The New Age, wrote on 23 October 2015, ‘Open the doors of learning’. The proposed fee increases were clear evidence of “systematic and institutionalised racism” according to the author. The fees serve an exclusionary purpose that works to further marginalise those who are already on the cusp of educational and economic opportunities. Economic exclusion of black people in South Africa is still a reality and will continue if black students are not given the opportunity to receive higher education without consequently drowning themselves in debt. Referring to students as “cash cows” that are exploited by universities in order to increase their bottom line shows the author’s frustration with the current system.
He goes on to accuse both the President and Higher Education Minister Nzimande of idleness – they “sat blankly” – and lack of leadership. He was also derisive of political opportunists, especially the DA’s Mmusi Maimane who was one of the first political figures on the scene of the protests. The author believes that many politicians as well as universities’ management “do not take the students seriously.”
Towards the end of the article the author takes a poetic turn likening the burden of the educationally disadvantaged to that of slavery. The consequences of not being afforded the opportunity to improve their economic standing he compares to shackles that needs to be broken off, yet the only way to achieve this is through education, but in order to get this much-needed education they become “debt slaves”. This causes a conundrum in the lives of young black people who do not have the economic means to improve their lives and that is what they are ultimately fighting for - a chance at change.
Matsebane, like many other tweeters, authors, commentators and protestors, called on the wisdom of Frantz Fanon, quoting: “each generation must out of obscurity discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” In his book ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ Fanon argues that leaders of decolonised countries take on the habits and manners of Western culture, corrupting them in such a way that they prioritise their own interests above those of their people. In this way the West still indirectly casts a web of power through these corrupted leaders and therefore keep decolonised countries in their net and continue to exploit them. This argument by Fanon could be why so many involved in the student protests have cited his work, as they identify with his statement regarding corruption of leaders and the lack of transformation. It speaks of the power of the West in dictating the South African agenda.
An opinion piece in The New Age by Katlego Disemelo published on 28 October 2015, emphasises that ‘Students protest about more than just fees’. Despite what the hashtag #FeesMustFall suggests, the student protests are about more than just the fee increase – “it is inherently intersectional”. It is about what the fee increase represents - the economic exclusion and lack of access that is brought about by entrenched class relations spilling over from the apartheid era. Directly linked to this is the idea of institutional racism, as those who are excluded are black and poor due to a long history of oppression and economic exclusion.
The protesters are demanding the dissolution of power that operates by continually reproducing “poverty, racism, classism, sexism and patriarchy”. These techniques work to continually oppress the black and poor by enslaving them via their debt - disallowing them to become economically participatory citizens. The reference to enslavement has been used by a few authors, Matsebane being one of them, which evokes images of the brutal system of oppression and degradation suffered by many black Africans at the hands of power generally seated in the West.
The author refers to the concept of the 'rainbow nation' as a plaster that was stuck over the injuries and injustices of the past. It is a concept that was created to eradicate, almost magically, the oppression experienced by the majority of South Africans during apartheid. But those injuries have not disappeared, they have become “festering abscesses” and now they are reaching a boiling point where the youth are unwilling to maintain the status quo and keep mum on their frustrations. Instead, they are giving voice to their anger, the least of which is the fee increases.
The author is also critical of traditional media who only report on sensationalist stories - "Blood, tears and images of marauding crowds make headlines”. The real story of the "dissolution of structural racism and disenfranchisement" goes quietly untold. In side-lining the real issues, the media is only supporting the power of institutions such as universities and the government to oppress and exclude people from reaching economic emancipation and becoming contributing citizens.
Ben Turok, former ANC MP and editor of New Agenda Journal, voices his surprise at the support for the protests in an article on iol.co.za titled ‘Support for student protest surprises’. He says he was “taken by surprise”, indicating that he was astonished or amazed that the student protestors were not divided by race, despite the fact that they were addressing racial issues. Later in the article he says “the number of white students joining in the protests and facing the police brutality, despite some of the student rhetoric being about Black Consciousness” again shows the author’s disbelief at the fact that the students were not divided along racial lines and were fighting for the deracialisation of tertiary institutions.
Turok describes the student movement as “militant” – the word militant often refers to individuals favouring confrontational or violent methods in order to achieve their goal. By branding the student movement as “militant” Turok is inadvertently dismissing the fact, for the most part, that the student protests were peaceful.
“The media have been amazingly supportive,” according to Turok, but the media was divided on how they were reporting the protests with some framing the students as hooligans or vigilantes and others coming out in support of the protests. Negative, or “false neutrality” as Pillay calls it, was mostly found in traditional media sources, specifically print media, but it must also be stated that some media sources made a point of highlighting the students’ pleas. The Cape Argus responded to the challenge issued by students and had them co-edit the paper on Friday, 23 October 2015.
The need for change is evident when one considers the experiences the students had when they were confronted with stun grenades at what the author ironically refers to as the “people’s Parliament”. Placing the concept in inverted commas could be indicative of the fact that the author is using irony or scepticism according to Stevens (2014). The fact that students who entered the parliamentary precinct were met with brutal force delivered by the police (whose job it is to serve and protect the citizens of the country) negates the fact that parliament is there for the people, by the people.
Referring to the student protests as an emergency indicates that the author considers it a severe issue. In the next paragraph he also refers to funds that can be made available for natural calamities and defence needs – both also considered emergencies. He therefore equates the student fees issue to these issues which are of a catastrophic nature.
African media
Looking at articles from a broader context, African Spotlight, on 19 October 2015 published an article ‘#FeesMustFall: Student protests shut 3 top South African universities’ – University of Witwatersrand (or the University of Whites-with-rands as it was known during the opening days of the protest initiated by Wits students), the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University (or the university currently known as Rhodes).
The article immediately emphasises the economic exclusion that poor black students have historically and continue to experience as it states that “thousands of students have attended rallies focused on hikes in fees that many say will force poor black students further out of the economic system.” The article takes quite a neutral stance towards the protests as the only reference to “disruption”, or the unlawfulness of the protests, are quotes from university management.
Interestingly the author mentions UCT as “Africa’s top-ranked university”, which seems ironic as both the much publicised #RhodesMustFall protest and now the #FeesMustFall protest has affected the university in the space of only a few months. Despite the fact that the university is highly ranked, it seems that there are internal tensions that plague the university, the most prominent of these being issues of transformation. The article summarises the student protests that have swept South Africa during the last year as demonstrations against the “limited racial transformation” that has taken place since the end of apartheid. Students are calling for broad institutional transformation on a social, as well as a financial, level.
International media
The article that appeared on BBC.com entitled ‘South African students clash with police near parliament’ by Phumza Fihlane reports on the students in Cape Town who protested outside parliament during the medium term budget speech delivered by Finance Minister Nene. At the beginning of the article a sentence reading: “Police fired stun grenades as the protestors were trying to force their way into the parliamentary complex,” makes it seem as if the author is justifying the actions of the police as the students were attempting to enter parliament by using physical means. The use of stun grenades on the students have been widely condemned as police brutality.
The author’s use of the word “may” in the sentence “higher fees may exclude poorer black students” downplays the severity of the issue. The increased fees will economically exclude many poorer black students and many current students are already struggling to pay their fees, which has the consequence that many will not be allowed to write their exams which will disallow them from moving on to the next year of study or graduate.
The author also refers to the students’ response to the 6% increase proposed by government, saying that they “threatened to close all the country’s universities”. “Threatened” or threaten is defined as stating ones intention of taking hostile action, overall this has a negative connotation, as any form of hostility or threat speaks of violence. This again places the students in a negative light.
Fihlane points out the reality of white privilege when he reports that white students formed a “human shield between black students and the police”. White students are less likely to be victimised or brutalised by the police as they are viewed as less likely to pose a threat. This is often referred to as a remnant of the apartheid legacy that still plagues the country.
In the Wall Street Journal’s article ‘South African Students, Police Clash Over University Fees’ the author, Patrick McGroarty, refers to meetings between protesting students and the university powers as “violent clashes” that cast the protest in a negative light. The article does however point to the reason for the protest by sighting the economic exclusion that poor black students face due to exorbitant university fees. It also speaks to the difficulties that poor black students face in overcoming institutional racism that economic exclusion is a symptom of.
The author, similar to Matsebane, mentions political tensions that have come to the fore during the protests as well as political opportunism that some parties have displayed. The author aptly points out the tension between the statements of support for the student protests made by the ANC – “pledged its unwavering support” - against the universities but “the ANC also leads the government that runs South Africa’s public universities”. This also speaks to political opportunism displayed by the ANC, which calls into question the politics of the political parties in South Africa.
Conclusion
South Africa has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of protest action in the last few years. The most notable has been service delivery protests, but also protests that have been led by students across the country. Student protests have mainly centred on issues of racial transformation as is evidenced by the #RhodesMustFall protests at the University of Cape Town in March, followed closely by #OpenStellenbosch at Stellenbosch University in April. Social and traditional media both had parts to play in how the student protests, specifically the latest #FeesMustFall protest, developed, expanded, was criticised and how it was managed by those on the inside.
Traditional and online media reported from various angles sometimes giving a voice to the protesters, other times providing a platform for politics – here both university management and political parties had prominence – as well as being a platform of critique and what has been termed ‘false neutrality’. All of these angles have worked to shape how the student protests have been framed and how it will be remembered. Much was reported around the various activities that the protestors engaged in, from blocking university entrances to marching on parliament in Cape Town and Luthuli House in Johannesburg and finally to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Comments have also been made regarding suspected police brutality and violence that was displayed by students. Others spoke out about the worthwhileness of the cause but some labelled it as absurd. Political parties made comments and students responded by calling them opportunists. University management blamed government and the students blame(d) both. In all of these messages many voices were heard but others were drowned out. The above analysis adds to the debate on the effect that the media has on social realities.
In conclusion, I would like to point to an interesting aspect of the protests that have perhaps not received enough media coverage. Two key events were set to take place around the time that the protests started looming and once it had broken out. The first being the National Higher Education Transformation Summit and the second the medium term budget. Students effectively leveraged the opportunity of the medium term budget by marching to parliament during the delivery of Minister Nene’s speech. Both these occasions speak to what the students are protesting about – financial shortcomings and questions about (the lack of) transformation – one event was more successfully leveraged than the other, but it is something that perhaps warrants consideration.