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Analysing the period January 2007 to April 2008, Media Tenor South Africa attempted to establish how reporting patterns in South African media may have contributed to negative perceptions of non-Western nationals in South Africa. From the outset, it must be stated that the research did not set out to determine a direct link between media coverage and public violence, or that media have contributed directly or indirectly to the recent xenophobic attacks themselves.
For this research, 1085 reports in 26 media (6 dailies, 10 news broadcasts, 5 weeklies and 5 financial media) were analysed. The research compared which issues are most often associated with individual foreigners. Both residents in South Africa and visitors to the country were analysed.

Monthly coverage of issues attached to foreigners

Examining the month by month coverage in which foreigners were the main protagonists of reports, there was not an unusual increase in reportage in the run-up to the May violence; rather, the persistent negative coverage they received was the most striking feature of the coverage.

The high volumes seen in April 2008 in many ways echoed a peak last seen in February 2007 when President Hu Jintao visited South Africa to promote relations between the two countries. But this year's coverage was clustered around two topics; firstly, reports on the plight of Zimbabweans living in South Africa were further increased immediately after the 29 March general elections, and secondly, Carlos Pareirra's resignation as coach of the South African football team attracted increased news to the Brazilian national.
The only time when the continuous negative reports on asylum seekers, illegal refugees, and the crimes they commit was mitigated, was in the months where sporting news contributed to positive perceptions of foreigners.

When one examines the nature of reporting, i.e. whether reports focused on the negative contexts of protagonists or whether journalists injected their own biases into the story (defined here as the slanting of reports), unusually high levels of negativity occasionally appeared.

If it is assumed that journalists follow the principles of classical journalism (reporting should be as balanced as possible) it becomes clear that South African media have at times injected their own biases into reports that were already very negative because of the situations they highlighted. It is particularly interesting that this bias in March - May 2007 had little to do with the attacks on the MDC electorate, which may have culminated in greater coverage of foreigners as victims escaping to SA. Instead, 67% of the bias against non-Western foreigners sprung from the coverage of crimes committed by them, and their interaction with the courts and correctional services. This trend was continued in October 2007 and April 2008. Hence, South African media bias is more often than not linked to perceptions that foreign nationals are committing crime.

The stories selected for broadcasts or print (i.e. the contexts of reporting) have also been very negative, which raises concerns about what media are doing to highlight the benefits of having foreigners in the country. For example, only 18% of reports clearly distinguished non-Western foreigners as sportspersons or artists. Another 3% illustrated them as professionals working in the country. But perhaps most significant was the paltry 1% of reports which explicitly described them as tourists or as investors in the country. This means that media have risked reducing non-Western foreigners, particularly Africans, to little more than criminals and illegal immigrants.

The top issues attached to non-Western foreigners: A case for stereotyping

The top issues attached to foreigners in South African news reports appear to reflect widespread stereotypes rather than challenging these perceptions in the public domain.

Crime, the prosecution of foreign criminals, and their interaction with police and correctional services accounted for the largest share of opinionated coverage (that is, reports which could be either described as positive or negative). Hence, 42% of opinionated news cast foreigners as dissident members of society. A further 11% of these stories either criticised South Africa's immigration policies (especially lacks border controls), or cast non-Western foreigners as illegal immigrants. Only 6% of opinionated news items highlighted the victimisation of foreigners in South Africa or the poor services they face in the country . This illustrates that South African media appear to have been more willing to cast foreigners in a negative light than criticise this country's effective handling of refugees and asylum seekers.
Positive news linked to foreigners could not keep up with the barrage of negativity. It was mostly linked to sportspersons and only accounted for 10% of opinionated coverage. Positive commerce and investment news followed this, accounting for a further 2% of opinionated reports.

The deficit in positive news is further exacerbated when one examines which issues are linked to which territories. The largest share of criminal and illegal immigration reports were attached to Africans, while sporting news was mostly linked to Carlos Parreira (as a Brazilian) and (non-African) cricketing stars visiting SA.

The distribution of non-Westerner coverage according to world territories

South African media, like all Western media analysed by Media Tenor International, show a propensity towards negative reporting on foreigners in the country. Whether this situation should be accepted as normative is open to debate, especially in light of the effect it might have on societies which are heavily strained by disparities between the rich and the poor. But it is interesting that Africans are treated with overwhelming negativity in South African media, compared to foreigners from any other region.

Stated in a different way, the evidence is clear that South African media are heavily focused on foreign nationals from three African countries: Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Nigeria:

It is interesting to note that the highest volumes of negativity are attached to foreigners from individual countries that have a high number of refugees and/or migrant workers living in South Africa. Foreign nationals from these same countries were also eventually targeted in the May violence.

Examining the distribution of crime coverage vs. all other coverage attached to the most prevalent foreign nationals, further stereotypes are revealed:

Share of crime-related reports vs. all other reports

Zimbabweans: 26.70%
Mozambiqueans: 73.10%
Nigerians: 55.30%
Chinese: 33.90%
Brazilians: 0%

It is not surprising that a relatively low share of the coverage Zimbabweans receive in the South African media is linked to crime-related topics , because border control, deportation, illegal immigration, asylum and refugee status are the issues that dominate reportage on these nationals. However, a large number of violent crime stories were nevertheless associated with Zimbabweans; 8% of stories on them involved violent crime. The media frenzy attached to Ananias Mathe's escape from prison in the first quarter of 2007 ensured that 79 of 108 reports on Mozambiqueans dealt with crime. Besides reportage on Nigerians standing trial, coverage linked to this group most often involved fraud and drug trafficking, but also underlined murder. Crime issues most associated to Chinese immigrants were murder, environmental crime, but also DVD piracy. In other words, the reportage appears to further entrench stereotypes.

Whether media are feeding stereotypes or whether actual events reinforce them is an interesting avenue for research. A self-fulfilling prophecy might be in operation: reportage on actual events gives rise to stereotypes, which are then reinforced by further coverage in the media. Whatever the case may be, media are in a better position than other centres of power in society to combat stereotypes (or enforce them), and therefore carry a grave responsibility. On this note it is rather ironic that Brazilians were never linked to crime, even when one major cocaine route runs between the airports of Sao Paulo and Johannesburg. Despite the fact that Brazil is one of South Africa's strongest economic and political BRIC partners, 63% of coverage on Brazilians as foreign nationals was directly linked to Carlos Parreira.

South African media: Negative bias in reporting on foreign nationals

Without implying that South African media in any way devised to incite the xenophobic violence that appeared in May, one recent example in Africa's history underlines the crucial role media can play in affecting public violence: the frequent broadcasts by Rwanda's Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which called on Hutus to cut down the Tutsis, helped spark off tribalism and genocide that quickly brought the country to its knees.

In an attempt to establish which media might have contributed to the worst perceptions of foreign nationals in South Africa, Media Tenor did not take into account the contexts of reporting. Instead, only the slanting of reports was examined, to see where individual media and journalists may want to improve on their approach to a story, so that more fair and balanced news items reach the South African public.

Comparing the combined impact that bias and volumes could potentially have on the public domain, the Daily Sun emerged as the medium most likely to identify protagonists as foreign nationals and also report on them in a biased way. The newspaper frequently alludes to 'aliens' when referring to foreign nationals, which can itself be construed to be a derogatory remark. The prevalence of the newspaper's headlines on Gauteng's roadsides, and its high circulation value, means that it, perhaps more than any other medium, has the potential to cause damage to the reputation of foreigners, particularly Africans.

It is particularly commendable that broadcast news bulletins have perhaps set the standard for reporting on foreign nationals: The SABC's English and Zulu/Xhosa News, along with eTV, were media amongst those who most often reported on foreign nationals, but their content appears to have been the most balanced.

Only 4 out of 26 analysed media were slightly positively biased towards foreign nationals. Of these, only The Business Day and Die Burger had very high volumes on foreigners, and it was them that most often reported on foreign nationals as tourists, investors or sportspersons.

Conclusion

Though the negative circumstances under which many African nationals arrive in South Africa cannot, and should not, be avoided in South African media, the violent events of May underline how media could be playing an important role in shaping very negative public perceptions of foreign nationals. The research further suggests that foreign African nationals are more often than not type-cast as either illegal immigrants or criminals by South African media, without due consideration for their importance to the South African economy.

It is therefore recommended that the very low coverage they receive as professionals, tourists and investors is immediately addressed, to ensure that a more balanced image of visitors is created. Furthermore, the biases that emerge in newsrooms suggest a strong case for not alluding to foreign nationals as foreigners unless it is absolutely necessary to the story. In this sense, continuously categorising this group as outsiders could be as divisive in the long-term as South Africa's policy of racial categorisations used to be.

Appendix 1: Media Set

Broadcast
E-TV News
SABC: Sotho News
SABC: Afrikaans News
SABC: SiSwati/Ndebele News
SABC: Zulu/Xhosa News
SABC 3: News @ 10
SABC 3: News @ One

SABC 3: Africa News Update
SABC: Venda/Tsonga News
SABC: English News

Dailies
Sake 24
Business Day
Die Burger
Cape Times
Sowetan
Beeld
The Star
Daily Sun

Weeklies
Sunday Independent
Finweek
Financial Mail
Business Report
Rapport
Sunday Times
M & G
City Press