A comparative analysis of the coverage of the South African electrical energy crisis during the period 2005-2010 by Cape Town newspapers

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electrical energy has become an indispensable part of the modern world, supportingindustries and economic systems. Any disruption of supply is felt immediately in all spheresof life. The operation of a power system is a complex process involving rotating machines thatmay fail from time even though they are maintained regularly. The overhead transmissionsystem is likewise prone to faults caused by environmental factors such as pollution andlightning. Power authorities therefore operate their systems in such a way that they havesufficient reserve capacity available to allow for contingencies. In the last decade of theprevious century a condition developed, for various reasons, that the reserve margin was toosmall in the South African electricity supply system. At the end of 2005, a spate of failuresoccurred at Koeberg power station and later in 2007 serious coal supply problems developedat the large power stations in Mpumalanga, aggravating the situation.This research project focuses on the complexity of the task of the reporter whenreporting on occurrences such as these. It is required to convey the factual situation to thereaders, avoiding alarmism and sensationalism. At the same time the reporter also has a role toplay in educating the readers. It was a difficult task, seeing that the reporters were notnecessary versed in the technical field. They therefore had to rely on Eskom's spokespersons.In this project newspaper clippings of various Western Cape newspapers containing theword Eskom were analysed. The method of analysis was content analysis. Firstly thequantitative content analysis was used to obtain distribution of articles over the period andamong newspapers. Thereafter the topics covered and the types of article were obtained forthe various newspapers and years. Next articles for 2006 and 2008 were investigated usingqualitative content analysis. Certain attributes in the articles were detected manually and aprofile was obtained for each newspaper for each year period.Questionnaires were sent to reporters responsible for some of the articles and to atechnical expert who was consulted regularly by the news reporters.It was found that the number of articles and style of presentation vary among thenewspapers. There is evidence of framing of Eskom as incompetent.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University