Abstract
ABSTRACT The Shell seismic survey on the South African Wild Coast was scheduled to begin on 1 December 2021. After multiple court proceedings, a failed interdict, countrywide protest action and then a successful interdict, the seismic survey was stopped. Although activism around the survey was available on blogs, social media, and activist sites, only a few media organisations in South Africa picked up the story before December 2021. This study aims to interrogate the state of climate journalism in South Africa by analysing the reportage of the Shell seismic survey in November 2021. The paper uses Macnamara’s seven canons of organisational listening to answer two central questions: what was said (on public platforms) by climate activists in 2021 about the Shell seismic survey? And did mainstream media organisations listen to the activists? The sample of the study includes news articles written by mainstream news organisations and activist communication, freely available in the public domain. An in-depth media content analysis is conducted to determine whether organisational listening is taking place and understand who mainstream media organisations in South African are listening to with regards matters of the climate emergency. This is done by grounding the theoretical emphasis in organisational listening (following Macnamara), which emphasises recognition, acknowledgement, attention, interpretation, understanding, consideration, and response to stakeholders.
Published Version
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