The Sunday Times has taken top honours as the most influential medium for the first quarter of 2014, Media Tenor reports. The agency’s latest research says while the Mail & Guardian achieved a considerable lead in breaking the Nkandla story, both Sunday Times and City Press (placed second) continued to provide new coverage angles in the build-up to the release of the public protector’s report.
“What is heartening is the increase in quotes for South African weekly newspapers as opposed to international print which suggests that local media have taken back the lead on local stories,” says says Theresa Lotter, managing director at Media Tenor SA.
News channel eNCA made the most influential media list, managing to trump the BBC during the first quarter of 2014. MediaTenor says this is due to the broadcaster’s coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial.
Beeld held on to its position as the most influential daily print medium, despite a more competitive positioning by The New Age.
“Beeld’s niche coverage on domestic crime and societal issues saw Beeld reach top-three status in 2012 and the paper has continued, since then, as a highly influential medium,” says Lotter.
These results are based on an analysis of 1 774 quotes from 47 opinion-leading media for the first quarter of 2014. They were:
Daily press: The Star, Beeld, Sowetan, Pretoria News, The Citizen, Cape Times, Cape Argus, Die Burger, Daily Dispatch, The Herald, The Times, Die Volkblad, The Witness, Isolezwe, The Post, The Mercury, Diamond Field Advertiser and Daily Sun.
Prime Time TV news programmes: SABC 1 Xhosa/Zulu News, SABC 2 Sotho News, SABC 2 Afrikaans News, SABC 3 News @ 18h30 (English News), eTV Prime Time News.
Weekly media: Mail & Guardian, Independent on Saturday, Saturday Star, Sunday Times, Rapport, Sunday World, Sunday Independent, City Press and Sunday Sun.
Business media: Business Day, Finweek, Financial Mail, Sake24, Sake Rapport, Business Report, Personal Finance and Business Times.
