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South Africa’s media is acting like state PR | Rational Standard | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: South Africa’s media is acting like state PR
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Core Theme
The South African press is accused of acting as a propaganda arm for President Ramaphosa, similar to criticisms leveled against Fox News for Donald Trump, by uncritically promoting his agenda and persona rather than fulfilling its role as an independent watchdog.
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As much as our press media in South
Africa are, they always want to get a a
stab in at Fox News and they're like,
"Ah, the American Fox News, they they
kind of they're propagandists for Donald
Trump." It's like, well, it takes one to
no one, guys, because that is exactly
what is happening right now uh with with
Ramapoa and it's been happening. It's
been happening for a while really. I
would say that um the the South African
press has been pushing uh Ramapoa
specifically since the Zuma days, but it
kind of reached a a um I would say a
peak during the lockdowns when he was
called majestic and when he was said it
was like decisive leadership because he
kind of closed the economy down. It's
like no no the ANC has been very
decisive about that for many decades.
So, uh this is nothing new. But suddenly
he's this great um and they they
positioned him again as as a father of
the nation. We're going to have the
family meetings waiting patiently.
Sometimes he's an hour late, waiting
patiently for our daddy to come in and
tell us what the new rules are. And the
press was very keen on that. He didn't
answer one question from the press once
ever during co and the press never said,
"Hey guys, this is why are we here? Why
can just send us an email? Why are we
here in this room listening to you when
you don't take questions? The press
didn't care about that. They didn't
care. They reported it, called him
majestic, called him decisive, blah blah
blah blah blah. So, this is nothing
nothing new. But again, it's there's a
doubling down now. The the press media
thinks that the United States is
attacking South Africa. That is not what
is happening. I have not read anything
from the Americans insulting South
Africans. I have seen a lot of antipathy
towards the South African government,
the political elite. I have seen a lot
of that. But somehow somehow we must now
the press thinks we must now close ranks
around our political elite. Why do why
are they taking ownership of these
cretins who have really harmed this
country that have really kind of stolen
the fiscus blind? Why are they closing
ranks around these people? Um, so yeah,
it's it's it's I think the idea of an
objective press is is false. I think
it's it's uh something that creates
false comforts for a lot of people. So I
don't think we can say what they mean.
They need to be objective. But they need
to at the very least be more open about
the role that they are now playing. They
are not playing the role of the fourth
estate. That is that is very clear. They
are not playing the role of the fourth
estate against the South African
government. Yes, they expose corruption.
And again, no, no one has taken that
away from our mainstream media. No one
has said, "Oh, you're not really
exposing corruption." Of course, they're
exposing corruption, but that is like
the same thing that uh in in a
government department, an inspector
general has to do. He has to he's
supporting the government department
that he works for by exposing corruption
inside that institution. He is cleaning
up the institution to ensure the
institution can um prosecute its agenda
more fully. So what is the press doing?
They are trying to help the government
by exposing corruption in government.
They are trying to get the bad apples
out of government so that the state can
do the things that it wants to do more
heavily. That is not supposed to be the
press's role. The press cannot just
assume as our press does that this the
government's agenda is the right one.
Like the press didn't do this during
apartate. They didn't assume oh you know
the group areas act is actually great
and we really want pe the government to
implement this more fully. So we really
need to kind of get some of these
radical nationalists out so that they
can uh have a more humane implementation
of the group areas act. That didn't
happen. That didn't happen from the
English press, which is now our dominant
press. The English press rightly said,
"Yes, there's nationalist radicals, but
that doesn't matter. The the agenda is a
problem. The the policy of the
government is a problem." Or if they
didn't say it's a problem, they said,
"Liz, there's at least another side to
this policy that we need to kind of uh
take cognizance of." That is not
happening right now. That is not
happening with specifically the agenda
of Sarama Poison's administration. So
that's that's a big problem and and I
think Zakes, you're right. This is a uh
uh this is very close to a Fox News type
um situation that's developing uh around
uh the persona of Sir Mapoa specifically.
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