SECTOR 2 space. This then impacts on the impartiality of the broadcasters who become beholden to these local municipalities and are thus unable or unwilling to report critically on local government activities. Government bailing out the ailing SABC was not seen as helping to create a diverse media landscape, as ‘government bails out just about every state-owned enterprise’. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ 2.3 (2013: 2.6; 2010: 2.2; 2008: n/a; 2006: n/a) 2.7 All media fairly represent the voices of both women and men Research conducted by MMA found that media sources in South Africa give voices to women only 18-23% of the time in terms of news stories, while male voices remain dominant.5 A panellist noted that often confidential sources in the media are women who do not want to be identified, and thus their voices are not counted in MMA research. ‘As such, on the surface, most male voices are privileged and women tend to refuse to comment more often than men.’ ‘In a way, we as the media reflect society and the fact that those in power are men. The sources for “big ticket” stories are usually men, and in such instances, we can’t pick and choose our sources. Where are the spaces for us to exploit new sources? This is a blind spot, especially for male journalists. Some newspapers, like the Mail & Guardian, look at areas for a space where we are not dictated to.’ Another panellist agreed that the media is partly a mirror of society, and although it is not possible to decide who the spokesperson is for a particular organisation, ‘we can make an effort to go in the back door and get a broader gender perspective on issues’. 5 27 This has been found across multiple research reports, including our elections monitoring (https://www. mediamonitoringafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/15-years-of-reporting-South-African-elections_-Same-samebut-different-.pdf). Figures also in line with Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) reports (http://www.waccglobal. org/articles/global-media-monitoring-project-2015-takes-place). AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018