Dark cloud over top political parties

Media analysis of Political Landscape in South African media
1 January 2014 – 31 March 2014

Pretoria, 7 April 2014: It is a month before the national elections, and both ANC and DA have lost the appeal they carried in the media running up to the 2009 general elections. More so, ANC continues to see its share of coverage in the media eroded by opposition parties.

“The drop in tonality that leading political parties are receiving in the media, compared to the same period in 2009, suggests that undecided voters will have an even tougher time resonating with one of the predicted fore-runners in the 2014 general elections,” notes Stephano Radaelli, Senior Researcher at Media Tenor South Africa.

The image for DA and AgangSA in mainstream media has been following a very similar trajectory as very little is separating them at present. Similarly, Jacob Zuma’s and Helen Zille’s media images are also quite inseparable. “Both appear to be affected by scandals, societal disapprovals and protests which are keeping their reputations neck-and-neck at the moment,” adds Radaelli.

Analysis by Media Tenor South Africa further reveals that Julius Malema and his party EFF are both enjoying better media reception where the media tone is not as negative as is seen with their opposition. Both the ANC and DA carry almost twice the amount of reputation damaging coverage that EFF has been receiving.

“The increasing visibility of DA and EFF in the media would only really impact and pull in undecided voters should their media image see a turnaround and become positive,” suggests Radaelli.

These results are based on an analysis of 65 756 statements in 47 opinion-leading print and TV news media. For 20 years, Media Tenor’s mission has been to contribute to objective, diverse and newsworthy reporting by bringing together the diverse parties who impact and are affected by the news. Media Tenor’s global research projects include analyses of election campaigns, investor relations, public diplomacy, corporate communications and other topics critical to news makers and news audiences.

For additional information, or to schedule an interview with Media Tenor, please contact Stephano Radaelli on +27 12 369 7760 or +27 82 645 3041; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.