Framing of the 2019 Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa in Selected African Newspapers

Attacks on foreigners in South Africa are sometimes referred to as violence, xenophobia or criminality. This study focused on the framing of the 2019 xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Its objectives include how the violence was framed, sources of frames and reports; media functions used in the representation of the attacks; and differences in the framing of the attacks. The study was anchored in the framing theory and covered a three-month period between September and November 2019 in two newspapers. The findings of the study showed that the frame preferred most by both newspapers was episodic frame, while the major sources of frames were the news reporters and the public. The media function exhibited in the coverage was information and the study found that there were no major differences in the framing of the violence as both newspapers mainly described it as xenophobia. The paper concluded that the selected newspapers were balanced in their reportage of the 2019 xenophobic attacks in South Africa.