Regional newspapers and their diverse readers: a case study of the South Coast Herald and its reception in rural, township and suburban areas.

Abstract

Employing the Stuart Hall Encoding/Decoding Communication Model as a theoretical framework, the qualitative study looked into the phenomenon of regional (community) newspapers and their diverse readers, using the South Coast Herald newspaper as a case study to establish its reception in rural, township and rural areas. Furthermore, the inquiry sought to determine the approach of the newspaper to news coverage or reportage to cater for its diverse readership. The almost century old regional newspaper is located on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Areas which were the focal point of the inquiry were the rural village of Murchison, the township of Gamalakhe and the suburb of Margate. All study participants are regular readers of the newspaper. Initially, the technique for collection of data was through focus groups, with respondents selected purposively. However, due to the devastating Covid-19 pandemic and strict concomitant lockdown, the researcher had to resort to dispatching the mainly open-ended two questionnaires to both readers and editor of the South Coast Herald via e-mail. Similarly, the responses from respondents/participants were received by e-mail. The original research design envisaged that a total of 30 participants would be drawn from these three identified communities in an equitable manner of 10 from each selected place. In the end, however, the inquiry received 25 out of 30 responses. In other words, a response rate of 83.3%. There was a 100% (10/10) response rate from Gamalakhe while Margate stood at 90% (9/10) and six out of 10 (60%) of Murchison’s participants returned responses. One of the main findings shows that the overwhelming majority (67.78%) of participants feel that the South Coast Herald is blatantly biased in favour of the white readers, and to an extent, towards the Indian readership as well. Furthermore, while the newspaper insists its approach to news is premised on the concept of hyper-local news, another finding reveals that respondents aver that the South Coast Herald lacks diverse content. The majority of the participants feel that the newspaper is systematically focusing on suburban news while neglecting stories or content from rural and township areas. The inquiry proffers reflections which hopefully might serve as a catalyst to address the newspaper’s identified challenges. Furthermore, these proposals could be useful in eliminating factors which could be construed as being currently inimical to ensuring the South Coast Herald becomes a truly transformed newspaper.