Examining the relationship between the news media and the ANC: A case study of Nkandla coverage

The ANC's 2010 document, intended to inform the party's position on media policy, identifies key print media challenges and criticises the news media. Journalists, in turn, have voiced concerns about attempts to curtail freedom of expression and access to information. This article examines what the press and politicians do and say in relation to each other when engaged in a contestation. Using ANC criticisms of news content, it considers the coverage of the scandal surrounding expenditure on President Zuma's Nkandla homestead, in the City Press and the Mail & Guardian, from September 2012 to January 2013. A close critical reading examines the arguments made and how they are variously legitimated, concluding that the ANC's attitude to the media works against democratic principles and media diversity. In effect, it is guilty of the misdemeanours it accuses the news media of and which it seeks to legislate against.