The time of the legacy media is up in the next local government elections

South Africans have become used to most of the legacy media (traditional media such as radio and television) mediocre interviews led by uninformed interviewers who are unprepared, having not done an inch of research before the interview, resulting in cringeworthy questions.  On top of that, interviewees allow them to get away with their unprofessionalism. 

While ANC politicians and those aligned to the ANC are given irrelevant softball questions, the DA is grilled with useless questions which have no relevance to the public.  The days of balanced, professional, researched and well-prepared interviews by the legacy media are long gone.    

It is no wonder that traditional radio listenership and TV viewership have been dropping year on year, while podcasts and other alternative new media (mainly podcasts) have almost doubled in the last 5 years. 

Since the official announcement that Helen Zille is the DA’s Mayoral candidate in Joburg, she has been interviewed by both the traditional legacy media as well as new alternative media.  The difference in the quality of questions between the different media formats is blatantly cavernous.  Radio hosts ask dumb cookie-cutter questions, which get rehashed at every election and which have nothing to do with local government, the problems confronting Joburg and solutions for them. 

Questions by most podcasters, on the other hand, show that they have researched their subject matter and have come prepared with pertinent questions.  One famous podcaster admitted that he personally disliked Zille but then provided a well-thought-out reason why he thought that she would win the mayorship of Johannesburg.

It was embarrassing to hear how a radio host made allegations of corruption against Zille without presenting any facts at all.  When challenged by Zille to provide just one example of the corruption allegations, the DJ couldn’t provide it and snapped back that Zille was being rude.  

Another radio host at another wireless station labelled Zille as having “no filter” –  although he did not mean to be a compliment, it is exactly this attitude that the residents of Joburg have been waiting for.  The days of stage-managed and pre-prepared scripts for local government Jozi politicians are long gone. 

When Zille becomes mayor, residents will be informed of what is actually happening – raw and unfiltered.  After the next local government elections, under the Zille administration, Joburgers may not see improvements immediately after almost 30 years of ANC corruption, mal-administration and mismanagement, but they will at least not be left high and dry when their taps are dry.  A Zille administration will at minimum explain what is going on so that residents are not left in the dark, when if they happen to actually be in the dark.

The good news is that such communications to the public will not be reliant only on the lazy traditional media, but the new alternative media (which is growing day by day in reach) will also be used.  This will mean that we as Joburgers will be more informed than ever before.

If the traditional media want to attract more listeners and viewers, they need to change course and become relevant by asking balanced, researched and pertinent questions that interest their audience.  If they don’t do that, traditional media will ultimately die. 

Manny de Freitas is a South African politician and former Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance