1.6 News consumption online: Global and South African trends
1.6.1 Online news reporting
Online news is progressively becoming the primary source of information, particularly for young consumers of news (Mitchelstein & Boczkowski, 2010; Trilling & Schoenbach, 2015). Web journalists, bloggers and amateur ‘backpack’ journalists have different work routines and ideas about how to constitute a story compared to print journalists (Paterson, 2011). Clear technological and market restrictions, such as time and a reliance on ‘clicks’ as well as an abundance of differing resource tools and working routines, contribute to the fact that online media reporting is generally less meticulous than print media. These online reports also lack working business models (Humprecht & Buchel, 2013) and, in general, rely more strongly on the most efficient way of producing news, which refers to agency copy (Johnston, 2009; Fenton, 2010; Doyle, 2015). According to Paterson (2011) who analysed the reliance of online reporting on news agencies, the Internet provides the illusion of multiple perspectives although news may actually originate from only a few sources. Online news also breaks away from traditional centralised news agencies to a more decentralised presentation of issues through trained journalists as well as novice bloggers, opinion piece advocates and not-for-profit interest groups (Boumans, Trilling
& Vliegenthart, 2018).
In South Africa, over 66% unique browsers of online news tend to do so on cellular phones, whereas the country’s top five websites are mainly news agency portals. The growth in mobile access to online content presents an opportunity for newspapers and other news brands to present reports on issues affecting citizens in a broader, more accessible way. Approximately 80% of global online traffic to news agency portals is mobile (Jordaan, 2017). According to Adriaan Basson, News24 Editor, the desktop decline was much quicker than anticipated (Jordaan, 2017). Basson confirms Paterson’s (2011) concern that digital is not separate from print – journalism is journalism. What are changing from print to online reporting are the pace, the frequency and the variety of storytelling forms that lead to online
22 content that is either dogmatic or explicitly incorrect. Another popular online news website is TimesLive with 3.6 million unique browsers (Johnson, 2015). According to Gustav Goosen (2019), CEO of The SpaceStation which is a digital media sales company, there is definitely a shift of advertising budgets from print media to online platforms, but it is not keeping up with mobile growth. Goosen (2019) acknowledges that audiences have migrated to mobile online news content consumption. However, there is still a challenge in terms of utility as a result of user apprehension to maximise the value of mobile news sites (Jordaan, 2017).
Investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh's book entitled Gangster state: Unravelling Ace Magashule's web of capture won the Taco Kuiper award in 2020 (Basson, 2020). The time-honoured tradition of bestowing rewards on investigative journalists has been applauded, and it seems that none of these accolades would have been possible without dogged shoe-leather reporting, including tracking down sources, interviewing experts, digging up public records, telling all the sides of the story and analysing data. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 may have accelerated the great disruption in the news business that began at least two decades ago (The Times Editorial Board, 2020). For example, the economic effects of the novel Coronavirus and its global lockdown have exacerbated a crisis in the South African media, particularly of the printed media, with the latest being the announcement of Caxton to close its entire magazine division. This decision affects publications such as Bona, Your Family, Country Life, Rooi Rose and Food & Home (Cohen, 2020). The causes of the disruption are due to changing reader habits; the migration of classified advertising to, for example Gumtree and other internet services; the dominance Facebook and Google have built over online advertising; and also the slow adoption of media organisations of the digital transformation in the production, distribution and consumption of news. The rise of citizen journalism and other not-for-profit news, however laudable, is nowhere close to the scale that would be needed to make up for the reduction in original reporting by newspapers. And that loss affects other local news sources as well (The Times Editorial Board, 2020).
The sharing of fake information online, for example, is not only distracting and upsetting, bit it can also prove to have long-term harmful repercussions. In online reporting, breaking news, once it is published, may be picked up by other reputable media in a matter of minutes and can therefore have ancillary implications (Anthony, 2020).
1.6.2 Quality news reports of LGBTIQ issues online: What is ‘good’?
In the article “Sunday Times stripped of journalism award for Cato Manor 'death squad' reporting”, Kamya Somdyala (2019) exposes how the conveners of the prestigious Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism withdrew the awards given to three Sunday Times journalists for their Cato Manor killings reports. The reason for the withdrawal was that, upon review, it was found that the reporting, writing and editing were sloppy and unprofessional and led to errors and gaps in the report.
23 Somdyala explains that even though entrants for such a prestigious award may be subjected to detailed screening before the judging process, there are still challenges to judging what ‘good’ quality news reporting is (Somdyala, 2019). The threat of retractions, public apologies and the withdrawal of industry awards of recognition might be a deterrent for news agencies, but what about online news report writers who might include citizen journalists, social media users, bloggers and advocacy or interest groups with no journalistic training or being bound by regulatory codes? What advice could they use to support their writing about the LGBTIQ community, for instance, if the intention is to write credibly and accurately?
And, more importantly, what could audiences use to judge the online reports they are reading?
The GLAAD Media Reference Guide - Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Glossary of Terms (2016) proposes some advice, including terminology, when writing about LGBTIQ people. For example, ‘openly gay’
describes a person who self-identifies as gay. The term also applies to ‘openly lesbian’ and ‘openly queer’. Although generally lauded, the phrase still implies a confessional aspect in publicly acknowledging sexual orientation or gender identity. Some terms are deemed offensive while others are preferred. For example, ‘homosexual’ as a noun or adjective is seen as offensive because of the clinical history of the word. It is aggressively used by anti-LGBTIQ conservatives to suggest that people attracted to the same sex have a psychological disorder. The preferred terminology is ‘gay’ as in ‘gay man’ or ‘lesbian’ for women. Another example would be the pejorative expressions ‘homosexual relations or relationship’, or ‘homosexual couple’, or ‘homosexual sex’. Rather, according to the GLAAD Media Reference Guide, one should refer to a same-sex couple as ‘relationship’, ‘couple’ or
‘sex’. It is important to avoid labelling an activity, emotion, or relationship as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer. ‘Sexual preference’ is also seen as derogatory as it is typically used to suggest that being attracted to the same sex is a choice and therefore can and should be ‘cured’. The accurate phrase is ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘orientation’, because the attraction to members of the same as well as opposite sex is inclusive of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and queer people, as well as straight men and women.
Defamatory language and references to be avoided that are used when describing LGBTIQ people include the epithets ‘faggot’, ‘fag’, ‘homo’, ‘dyke’, ‘sodomite’, ‘deviant’, ‘perverted’, ‘pervert’,
‘dysfunctional’, ‘disordered’, ‘diseased’, and ‘destructive’, as well as similar degrading descriptions.
Also, associating LGBTIQ people with paedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, bestiality, bigamy, polygamy, adultery and/or incest is fallacious and is a cognitive error. These associations and innuendoes insinuate that LGBTIQ people threaten the sanctity of society and families, and children in particular (GLAAD, 2016).
A British based organisation, The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), offers further support to reporters of LGBTIQ issues by explaining that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have the right to equal, accurate and inclusive reporting that is fair and respectful. The NUJ further states that significant progress has been made in reporting on LGBTIQ issues, but states that there continue to be
24 concerns, particularly in how the media, especially in terms of online reports that remain difficult to monitor, treat stories. Therefore, before committing to any reporting on LGBTIQ people and issues, journalists and reporters on matters concerning the community should question themselves whether the use of labels such as ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ would be appropriate. If these terms are not necessary and relevant to the report, they should not include them, as the sexual orientation or gender identity status of a person should only be mentioned if relevant to the story. Intrusion into the private lives of LGBTIQ people is only justified by overriding considerations of public interest. Therefore, a journalist or reporter should not produce material that is likely to lead to accusations of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. Moreover, online reporters of LGBTIQ issues should strive for diversity, accuracy and balance in their reporting, especially when it comes to sensitive social issues. They should clearly understand that not all organisations campaign for all LGBTIQ people.
Stonewall, for example, does not campaign for transgender people, just as Trans Media Watch does not drive gay and lesbian rights. The NUJ also recommends that journalists and reporters on LGBTIQ issues should avoid publishing letters, make phone-in contributions or online comments that contain gratuitously offensive and possibly illegal statements and attitudes concerning LGBTIQ people, as this could encourage negative sentiments and cause discriminatory mobilisation. This is what occurred in Uganda in 2014 and Tanzania in 2017, when national newspapers and tabloids published the names of known gays and lesbians without their permission (AFP, 2017). This exposure led to numerous incidences where people suspected of being gay or lesbian were attacked (AFP, 2017). According to NUJ (2019: 17), “...the words ‘gay’ and ‘transgender’ should not be used as nouns as it is gender specific, similar to how ‘lesbian’ is gender specific. For example, while ‘lesbian couple’ is grammatically correct, the term ‘lesbian woman’ is both unnecessary and tautological”.
Online news agencies have been exploring ways in which they may affect better quality news reports.
For example, News24 ran a promotion in 2019 where readers could win R10 000 if they completed a survey to express how they felt about the news agency’s reporting of news. Respondents were asked questions such as “Are news reports written in a way that is interesting?”, “Do you trust the information provided in the articles?” and “Describe to which extent you would recommend the reports you have read to friends and family”. Because there was a monetary incentive attached to the respondents’
participation, there might have been some bias in the answers. However, the outcomes of such promotions indicate how credible news agencies might collaborate with their consumers through inviting feedback in order to improve the quality of their reporting (Media24, 2019). In an interview with Carl Peters, Sports Editor for The Witness, Pietermaritzburg, he was asked what would make online reports more credible and less superficial. Peters (2019) responded that the main element to look for in a report is that the journalist must mention which sources they used and that audiences should consume news from credible news outlets such as News24.
25 Zubeida Jaffer, anti-Apartheid journalist, writes in an article “20 years of unshackled journalism”
(2017) that good online reporting is writing each story with unwavering courage to tell the truth [while]
knowing that online content exists in what she termed “unshackled times”. In the spirit of the South African Constitution writing is noble; however, the Constitution is a piece of paper. It must gain life through the ethical and technical practice of the journalist and reporter. Jaffer continues to advocate that every generation produces journalists that meet the demands of their time. Therefore, for this generation, the challenge is to hold power to account through decentralised platforms and by understanding who the powerless are (Jaffer, 2017).