A picture says more than a thousand words. And some of them have the power to encapsulate events and become the visual symbol for political or humanitarian situations. An example of this is the picture of Hector Pietersen being carried by his sister which became a symbol for the Sharpville massacre. The image of a man who was set on fire that shocked South Africa and the world in the second week of the xenophobic violence has done the same for the recent xenophobic attacks. The Media Monitoring Project looks at the issues that this image raised for ethical journalism.

World population day is celebrated on the 11th of July each year, this year, the subject is family planning. UNFPA states that worldwide access to family planning could save the lives of approximately 175 000 women each year.

A current issue around family planning in South Africa is the Amendment of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which made termination of pregnancy facilities more widely available for South African women. Recent monitoring by the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) suggests that press coverage may stigmatise abortion by associating it with irresponsible sexual behaviour and provides little information on the procedure and how to access it.

The Media Monitoring Project (MMP) and its partner Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) submitted a complaint with Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) today.

This update represents the findings of the research done into the coverage of the racist incident that took place at the University of the Free State recently and the controversial relaunch of the Forum of Black Journalists.

During elections, the media have a very important role to play.  Reporting on Zimbabwe was undoubtedly particularly challenging.  However, South African media performed well.  Although they can be accused of bias, it seems they performed well in promoting human rights and democracy. This update will give a summary of how the South African media reported on the Zimbabwean elections in 2008 and explore the main themes of the coverage.

Media reports about the abuse of cleaning staff by students at the University of the Free State got horrified responses from various quarters. In this climate of public outrage, the print media had the choice of whether to make the identities of the offenders and victims public, or not. Most media seemed to have decided to publish the identities of the perpetrators, some media even added to the initial infringement on the victims’ dignity by revealing their identities. This article explores the ethics and reasons around this decision.

The Media Monitoring Project is now a friend of the court in the Sunday Times’ application to the Constitutional Court for an order declaring that section 12 violates the constitution.

Read the full story by Business Day

The coverage of Microbicide trails in 2007 the following findings showed the following patterns:

• The stories were afforded significant prominence in some of the newspapers monitored.
• Just over a quarter of the content items dramatised the issues.  This included using phrases such as “frantic search”, describing the volunteers as “desperate” or “pleading”, the use of exclamation marks, different font sizes and capitals to emphasise controversy, and the use of unnamed sources who make allegations that are not substantiated in the items monitored;
• Most content items analysed show a clear bias either in favour of the HIV and AIDS researchers, or against the researchers.
• In contrast, the volunteers are treated ambivalently and even in a demeaning way in several content items.

As a reader of Daily Sun newspaper, you will very possibly have a different understanding of what recently happened in Zandspruit, Honeydew than if you were a reader of The Star. The angle these two newspapers took on the story of the 7-year old girl who was found dead on the 10t March 2008 allow for an interesting comparison. The Star  focused on the accusations that the police failed to act on several phone calls from the family to report the missing girl. Daily Sun however did not mention this at all and limited its reporting to describing the incident, making the reaction of people to the police completely unfathomable. These stories gives a clear example of the necessity of balanced reporting.

The ANC Conference in December was without doubt the best and biggest media show in town. It came at a time when traditionally the media has to hunt for stories as key activities wind down and people go on holiday towards the end of the year.