All politics is local: suggestions for an editorial policy on political news for community media
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Date
2011
Authors
Marais, Willemien
Linström, Margaret
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Communication, University of Free State
Abstract
In South Africa, the three spheres of government perform distinct functions in terms of
the Constitution. By spreading the responsibilities of government across national,
provincial and local structures, the Constitution ensures that government does not
become too far removed from citizens. If local government is the closest level of
interaction for citizens, then media at community level provide the link for that
interaction. It is against this backdrop that this article views the quote widely attributed
to American congressman Tip O'Neil: All politics is local. Political news has social
importance for virtually everyone (Gelman 2011). On the flip side of the coin, people
are what matter in terms of community media (Lauterer 1995: 9). This implies that even
at grassroots level, media should have an editorial policy on political reporting if they
want their editorial content to be relevant to the community they are serving. This
loyalty to the needs of the community is the essence of media at grassroots level (Milne,
Rau, Du Toit & Mdlongwa 2006: 3-4). This article reports on a qualitative content
analysis of the existing editorial policies of community radio stations and newspapers
in the Mangaung area in the Free State. Based on these findings, suggestions are made
for a framework to draw up an editorial policy on political news for community media.
Description
Keywords
Local government, Media, Editorial policy
Citation
Marais, W. & Linstrom, M. (2011). All politics is local: suggestions for an editorial policy on political news for community media. Communitas, 16, 33-52.