Sobering observation from the year that was 2011

If one should ask any South African news media consumer which individual featured the most prominently in the local news during 2011, the more than likely response would be “Julius Malema of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).” That is also reflected in our coverage during the year. He did not however deliver the most read article of the year to date.

We had a look at the statistics  on which articles our readers clicked most during the course of the year. It is one of the wonderful features and advantages of online-publishing that valuable and accurate stats on readers’ interests are instantly available.

The fact is that Mr. Malema, as a direct subject of an article, only came in on the fourth spot for the year – although two articles on the recent ANCYL conference  also feature in the fourth and seventh spots in the top 10  list.

What our readers have told us during the year about where they moved their cursors and clicked on their computers, is that they are most interested in things that affect them directly and personally.

The top spot by a clear margin, counting into the thousands over the second most popular article, was one on the Consumer Protection Act. Although the  article was uploaded on 28 March a reader still commented on it as late as last week.

This factor of direct personal interest features right up to the 10th spot, which went to an article published in early September on the social media. The  article dealt with attempts of governments to establish some control over the social media and the implications for personal privacy.

That does not however mean that South Africans are not interested in the broader issues. As well as the articles on the ANCYL-conference, the subject of nationalisation, developments on the labour front and police brutality also feature amongst the 10 most read list.

Themes of the year

In addition to  Malema and the ANCYL and the controversies they got themselves involved in, there were other prominent news themes during the  year on the domestic front.

Among  these were:

• The local government elections early in the year and service delivery protests that lingered throughout the year;
• The Protection of Information Bill, which was a spillover from 2010 and it seems it might live on to become part of the news scene  during 2012;
• The battle over gas exploration in the Karoo by the controversial fracking technique, which has gone quiet for now but is also likely to return in 2012;
• Corruption and the role of institutions like the public protector; battles over the heart of the judiciary, reaching a crescendo with former police commissioner Jackie Selebi starting to serve a 15-year jail term and elements of this wider issue also sure to have a life well into 2012; and
• Toward the end of the year the so-called succession-debate within the ANC seemed to have simmered down considerably with signs that President Jacob Zuma was successful in consolidating his position. It is however expected to pick up some steam again as the elective conference in Mangaung at the end of 2012 comes closer;

On the international front the first part of the year was dominated by the conflict in Libya and related developments in the broader Arab spring of North Africa and the Middle East. During the second half of the year the sovereign debt in the eurozone and all the implications for the European Union, the global economy, for the international financial system, social unrest and even the future of representative democracy, became the main story.

All indications are that the world is heading for a restless Christmas season on this front and that it is an issue that will be with us during 2012 and probably well beyond.

A sobering story

As the year was coming to a close, the news scene, especially in South Africa, was dominated by the issue of climate change with the hosting of the United Nations’ Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in Durban.

One of the themes in the buildup to and during the COP 17-conference was the contribution that nuclear power generation could make to a cleaner energy environment.

What was a sobering experience,however, was after scrolling back through the stories of the year and being  reminded that there was a period during 2011 when the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan dominated the news scene, to realise that it has become almost forgotten.

And then, on Wednesday morning last week in one of the three newspapers I read in the morning, on the front page there was a smallish article about traces of radiation found in Japanese baby milk formula. The article also was a reminder that areas around Fukushima will have to be evacuated for a period of 100 years.

Let’s hope and pray that the world is not about to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

Piet Coetzer, Editor