The article from the African news article shows evidence of bias, therefore lacking an objective point of view. In a sense objectivity and bias are inextricable. For example it states: “The 49-year-old Mineral and Energy Minister has so far been remarked for her outstanding work to economically empower South Africa’s black majority”. It claims that she has been remarked for her outstanding work, but we do not know who has remarked her work and whose standards her work has been remarked on. How sure can the readers be that the writer did not use his or her own opinion? To counter argue this statement, it is stated at the end of the article that it was written by the staff writers. This means that it includes more than one person, which should show less bias as it involves many opinions combined as one. This helps in reducing a single person’s opinion unless that group of people all feels the same about the specific subject at hand. When a journalist puts forward a statement without referring to an authoritative source that statement’s authentic value is lost. For example, it is said in the African news article that, “The President had further appointed Ms Lindiwe Hendricks as the new Minister of Minerals and Energy, according to a government statement” it is backed up with evidence. The statement that the staff writers have said becomes more valuable and plausible. This is more authentic than the statement “Some say…”
Opinions may be reduced, but they cannot be avoided. This article has claimed that Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka will be the next president of South Africa three times. Firstly when it says in the article, “Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka today was appointed South Africa’s new Deputy President, raising hopes that the country will get its first female leader when President Thabo Mbeki expectedly steps down in 2009” and two more times later on in the article. They presume this because she was appointed the Deputy President and because of the fact that Thabo Mbeki will step down in 2009 – “counting their chickens before they hatch”. It does not necessarily mean that she will become the next president, it is only assumed in this article and by viewing their opinion like this, they are being bias towards her.
The International news article, written by Justin Pearce, is more reductive and more objective. He turns issues into events and he has reduced details of the event, for example he only states that Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka was appointed Deputy President, it lacks details of where, when, and how she was appointed: “Her achievements in government have been acknowledged with her promotion to the deputy presidency”. There is no mention of her taking over Thabo Mbeki’s position. There are many reasons for this. Firstly it is possible that because it is an international news article, it can be presumed that it is addressed to an international audience and they are not necessarily interested in the details, only facts. Secondly, Justin is not involved with South Africa hence is able to tell the story from a more objective point of view. The African news article shows more detailed specifics about her appointment to Deputy President as it involves and may even affect them: “The decision to name Ms Mlambo-Nguka South Africa’s new Deputy President was announced by President Mbeki at a cabinet meeting this morning”.
The three characteristics of objective journalism according to McNair (1998: 68) are the separation of fact from opinion, a balanced account of a debate and the validation of journalistic statements by reference to authoritative others in other words the ‘elite’. The African news article does not show all three of these characteristics hence it is regarded as not having an objective point of view.
The staff writers from Afrol voice their opinion without clearly stating it. According to McNair (1998: 68) “the separation of fact from opinion” is one of the three characteristics of objective journalism. For example when the staff writers wrote, “…claimed that the rigged vote in the neighbor country was ‘credible’. She has also been in the spotlight for a questionable loan given to her brother”. The staff writers used the adjective ‘questionable’ to describe her behavior. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s action cannot be explained by anyone. There is no one that can be held accountable for that statement. It could easily be passed off as the staff writers trying to cover up her actions because they feel strongly towards her. Furthermore, the use of the word ‘claimed’ also adds to this. Therefore the staff writers are putting their opinions forward about the matter they are writing about.
As mentioned earlier, in order for a journalist’s statement to be valid, they must include quotes from authoritative others. By including statements from the authoritative others, the journalist is validating her journalistic statements. This validation of statements therefore increases the authentic value of the staff writer’s statements and the readers are more likely to believe what the journalist has written. So the journalist does subsequently strive to achieve an objective point of view. But in regards to a balanced account of debate, journalists lack in possessing that characteristic of objective journalism. This is because there is not equal amount of space given to Jacob Zuma as there is for Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka, and Bulelani Ngucka is not even mentioned in the African news article. Pearce on the other hand, has included the facts of Bulelani Ngucka’s involvement of Jacob Zuma’s downfall: “Her husband, Bulelani Ngucka, is the former chief prosecutor who initiated an investigation into the financial affairs of sacked former Deputy President Jacob Zuma – the man she replaces”. All parties involved should be given an equal chance or space to voice out their opinions about the matter at hand. In this case only one politician is given a platform to let her outlook be heard.
It has been stated that when journalists write stories for newspapers they tend to use the inverted pyramid, meaning that they state the important things first and then the less interesting information later. With an inverted pyramid story we give away the solution (or in our case a summary) at the very beginning. The rest of the story contains less important information until we just stop (Perrone, V, 1994, , 30/09/2005). This article somewhat attempts to use this strategy. The staff writers have first stated details of promotion to Deputy President which is the most important detail but they also write about what she’s done for the country – as if to praise her which is not quite necessary. Then one of the essential details of her wrong doings to the country is left until after the third paragraph in attempt to minimize the amount of space given to her negative aspects. When using the inverted pyramid things that are significant usually appear in the first three or five paragraphs.
In addition the article also contains unwitting bias because of where it is located on the website. This is when the gatekeepers decide where an article should appear in terms of the space that particular story is allocated and the page number that that story is placed. The gatekeepers’ make these decisions based on the newsworthiness of that story an the story’s ability to attract the reader’s attention (Street, J, 2001: 147). For example this particular story appeared on the homepage of the African news website which shows that it was an important fresh story, relevant to Africa, unlike the international news website as they considered other articles to be more newsworthy. The editors and the journalist may even make these decisions unconsciously. Space allocation is something that is regarded as one of the conventions to follow when running a newspaper or news website.
“Analysis the relationship between politicians as communicators and media personnel as observers of the political scene is in some conceptual disarray” (Mueller, C, 1973: 148). The political journalist’s effect on the public would be to enlighten the reader’s knowledge about what politicians are doing. After a story about a politician, the reader is supposed to be more knowledgeable in terms of insight into the politicians plans and values. The audience has the ability to influence the type of entertainment presented in the media, it has little control over the selection of information and quality of interpretations transmitted.
The roles in political communication systems are complementary. The relationship between the audience, media personnel and the politicians correspond to each other. “A second line of analysis would pursue the possibility that audience role are matched by similar orientations among political and professional communicators” (Blumber, J, G and Gurevitch, M, 1995: 67). According to Blumer and Gurevitch, for every partisan audience there is an editorial guide media personnel and a gladiator kind of politician, and for every liberal citizen there is a moderator and a rational persuader, for every monitor there is a watchdog and an information provider and for every spectator there is an entertainer and actor or performer. So it is safe to say that journalists cannot be regarded as purely objective beings because of things like ideological bias and the belief that there is no ‘objective truth’ that journalists can objectively deliver to the public.
The illustrations accompanying an article (for example the photos) are an extension of the story. They either draw the reader’s attention or sort of give the reader what is to come in the story, like a head start before reading the article. This is because the reader immediately knows what the story is about after seeing the photo and reading the headline of that story. The photo accompanying the article is of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka probably making a speech, immediately that tells the reader who is involved in the story.
They way the politicians are dressed say a lot about them, what they believe, it is regarded as an extension of their personality. This is called image management and the term means two things, “the supply by politicians of structured news for the purposes of maximizing favorable media coverage ins accompanied by a heightened concern with image: the personal image of political actors on the one hand and the corporate image of the party on the other” (McNair, B, 1995: 147). Politicians are no longer just judged by what they say and do, but how they say and do it. According the Mcnair (1995:147) clothes convey messages, because they involve choice, and those choices express personality.
As it has been previously stated in this essay, journalists aspire to be objective, but when it comes to photographs people think that they are objective. It is not always the case as there are many things that have to be taken into consideration before a photographer takes a photo. “It is always the image that someone chose; to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude” (Sontag, S, 2003: 41). This quote shows that even though a photograph may seem to capture reality, it will still exclude some things. The way the photographs appear in the paper affect the way the reader will read the story. In the case of the African news article, there is only a picture of Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka hard at work. She is dressed in a suit which is usually associated with positive connotations. That type of clothing demands respect and it conveys positive messages, the suit reinforces the ideology for what that particular party stands for, it is seldom that a politician is seen wearing a suit that looks like a Christmas tree. In the international news article, a different kind of image is portrayed. She is smiling which hints at her satisfaction of her appointment to Deputy President. There is also another image in the international news article; an image of her husband, his facial expression is serious with the subtext that says: “Bulelani Ngucka started the investigation which eventually led to Zuma’s downfall”. It shows that he is a serious and determined man who knows what he wants.
In conclusion what the analysis was trying to prove is that most if not all articles have, to some extent, a degree of bias. This is because of the kinds of bias’s that have been identified and the assumption or ‘reality’ that there is no real ‘objective truth’ out there. For example if two people viewed an accident together at the same time, they will have different stories to tell, this is mainly because of cultural background and experiences. These aspects are what result in ideological bias, which is regarded as unintentional and hidden.
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Claus, M, The Politics of Communication, Oxford University Press: New York, 1973.
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McNair, Brian, Party Political Communication II: Political Public Relations’ in An Introduction to Political Communication, London: Routledge, 1995.
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Perrone, V, 1994, Building Language Art Skills [Online]. Available: [30 September 2005].
