The voiceless generation

Nyamnjoh (2005:1) argues that “… the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal project”. The problem is that the news media do not seem to be doing this for young people in South Africa. This paper provides an analysis of selected news media and their representation of...

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Main Author: Vanessa Malila
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1645
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author Vanessa Malila
author_facet Vanessa Malila
author_sort Vanessa Malila
collection DOAJ
description Nyamnjoh (2005:1) argues that “… the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal project”. The problem is that the news media do not seem to be doing this for young people in South Africa. This paper provides an analysis of selected news media and their representation of young people through coverage of the education sector in South Africa. The aim is to examine whether the media are fulfilling two key functions in their role as facilitators of popular empowerment in the public sphere: Do they provide citizens with the information they require to engage in issues that affect them (such as education), and secondly, do the media provide a space for citizens to voice their concerns and debates about those issues? A content analysis of print and online media provides an overview of the kind of coverage young people are exposed in reports on education. On the strength of the evidence thus acquired, this paper argues that the news media are failing to enable young people to be active citizens because they do not provide information that engages the youth in respect of education coverage and, when they do cover education, the reports do not feature the voices of young people.
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publisher University of Johannesburg
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spelling doaj-art-9e1be3d9d38b465c81e36cbae3a118302025-01-20T08:54:23ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0133110.36615/jcsa.v32i2.1645The voiceless generation Vanessa Malila0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6961-085XRhodes University Nyamnjoh (2005:1) argues that “… the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal project”. The problem is that the news media do not seem to be doing this for young people in South Africa. This paper provides an analysis of selected news media and their representation of young people through coverage of the education sector in South Africa. The aim is to examine whether the media are fulfilling two key functions in their role as facilitators of popular empowerment in the public sphere: Do they provide citizens with the information they require to engage in issues that affect them (such as education), and secondly, do the media provide a space for citizens to voice their concerns and debates about those issues? A content analysis of print and online media provides an overview of the kind of coverage young people are exposed in reports on education. On the strength of the evidence thus acquired, this paper argues that the news media are failing to enable young people to be active citizens because they do not provide information that engages the youth in respect of education coverage and, when they do cover education, the reports do not feature the voices of young people. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1645the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal projecnews medianot seem to be doing thisyoung peoplekey functionsinformation
spellingShingle Vanessa Malila
The voiceless generation
Communicare
the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal projec
news media
not seem to be doing this
young people
key functions
information
title The voiceless generation
title_full The voiceless generation
title_fullStr The voiceless generation
title_full_unstemmed The voiceless generation
title_short The voiceless generation
title_sort voiceless generation
topic the media … can, in principle, facilitate popular empowerment as a societal projec
news media
not seem to be doing this
young people
key functions
information
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1645
work_keys_str_mv AT vanessamalila thevoicelessgeneration
AT vanessamalila voicelessgeneration