Making meaning of citizenship: How ‘born frees’ use media in South Africa's democratic evolution

Abstract

By examining young people's habits of using the media in relation to citizenship, this article responds to calls that the starting point for research into citizenship and democracy should be the perspectives of citizens themselves. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative research with young South Africans (the ‘born free’ generation), the study sought to gain insight into how young people use media to make sense of notions of citizenship and participatory democracy in ways that are relevant and reliable to their everyday lives. The findings suggest that young South Africans are distrustful of politicians and political institutions. Media consumption was high amongst participants, as well as media trust, but the lack of relevance of media content suggests that those wanting to engage with the youth through the media need to target content through more youth-orientated genres.

Keywords:

• ‘born frees’
• citizenship
• civic agency
• democracy
• media
• political engagement
• public sphere
• South Africa

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vanessa Malila

Dr Vanessa Malila is Mellon post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University ([email protected]),

Marietjie Oelofsen

where Marietjie Oelofsen is a PhD student ([email protected]),

Anthea Garman

Anthea Garman is associate professor ([email protected])

Herman Wasserman

Herman Wasserman is professor ([email protected]).