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Johannesburg - University protests topped the news across the country over the last week, followed by interest in former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Mandoza, and Heritage day, media monitoring organisation Roi Africa said on Sunday.
“The charts are flooded with beautiful tributes to the Kwaito star Mandoza, which is stark in comparison to the images of protests for FeesMustFall,” managing director Tonya Khoury said in a statement.
“A country polarised by two hashtags.”
Protests against university fee increases took just over a 16% share of local news interest.
Collectively, stories about former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the death of kwaito star Mandoza and the Heritage Day public holiday made up one third (33%) of all media reporting.
#DataMustFall – a hashtag denoting the controversy over internet costs in South Africa – got only a 1.7% slice of news media coverage.
Meanwhile, on social media, university protests filled nearly a third of all conversations. Besides commentary on Heritage Day and Mandoza, the next biggest topic was music talent show Idols.
International news continued to be dominated by American presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. However, the split of Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a significant impression across the globe.
