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Towards the end of 2005, M-Net’s current affairs programme Carte Blanche received some criticism by leading marketing experts citing, amongst other things, declining quality of journalism (‘electronic tabloids’, Clive Simpson in Marketingweb, 19 September, 2005). .

The latest criticism seems to be in slight opposition to the opinion of leading South African print and electronic media. According to Media Tenor’s research of leading South African media, no individual newspaper, website or TV programme has been more often quoted by other leading media than Carte Blanche, but it must be noted that the number of references has declined from 967 references to 442, a drop of over 50%. .

In its ongoing and current analysis of leading South African media, Media Tenor has, for the past six years, captured all references to news organizations in media – as far as they were explicitly referred to. .

In 2005, with 442 mentions, Carte Blanche was ahead of the Sunday Times (157 mentions) and the Mail & Guardian (138 mentions). In fourth position is City Press (64), followed by the SABC news @1 (57). .

Both Mail & Guardian and City Press have shown the greatest increases in ‘quotability’ from the previous year (M & G on position 6 with 81 mentions and City Press on position 8 with 75 statements). The biggest drop as ‘agenda setter’ for other media was experienced by the Sowetan (2004: position 4 and 90 mentions; 2005: position 10 and 41 mentions). .

In general, Media Tenor observed a strong decline in media quoting other media in South Africa. According to Wadim Schreiner, Managing Director of Media Tenor in South Africa, media tend to refer to other media as ‘news breakers’ indirectly (‘a leading Sunday paper’) instead of acknowledging the achievements of the relevant media as a reliable source of information. On the other hand, when the reason for breaking a story is negative, media seem to have no problems pointing fingers at their fellow colleagues by referring explicitly to the relevant broadcaster or publication. .

This attitude of South African media is in contrast to research from Media Tenor’s international offices, showing generally an increase in media acknowledging other media. .

In terms of international media, BBC was the most quoted international medium in South African media (265 mentions), ahead of the New York Times (149 mentions) and The Times (127). While British media dominate the list of quoted media in South African media, CNN has re-established its position over Al-Jazeera, having lost it in 2004.