Life Orientation: DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

As a responsible citizen you:

Are aware of, respect, and promote human
rights.
Are concerned about welfare of others.
Obey the law.
Pay your taxes.
Take part in campaigns, projects and events that
fight against the violation of human rights.
Participate in civil and political activities
Vote in elections.

Campaigns:

a planned series of actions intended to achieve a particular aim.

Events:

planned occasions for activities.

Violation:

interfering with a person's rights; doing something that is against the law.

Projects:

planned activity that have a specific purpose to improve something; usually take place over a long time.

Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human
dignity, equality and freedom.

Discrimination

If you discriminate against others, you treat them unjustly, unfairly, and unequally because they are, or you think
they are, different from you.

Human rights violations

Human rights violations mean hurting, disrespecting or acting against someone's rights.

Discussions

Discussions are dialogues, talks and conversations in which people share information, ideas, experiences and
opinions. They can be formal or informal.

Examples of discussions

Online discussions and forums: people write
their opinions on a website and others respond
and comment.
Social media: Twitter and Facebook.
Talks and workshops.
Radio programmes: may have a discussion with
an expert and then people phone in to give their
ideas or ask questions.
Organisations: such as the Human Rights
Commission have discussions with government.

citizenship

accepting the responsibilities of being a citizen; being a responsible member of a community.

To evaluate the outcomes of a campaign or event, you need to apply evaluation criteria. These include:

Identify the aims of the campaign or event.
Find out if these aims were achieved. This you can do by observing, asking questions, doing research and by
comparing the problem before the campaign or events, to how the problem was solved or improved, after
the campaign or event.

Role of the media in a democracy

The role of the media is to inform society about daily events that are newsworthy and to entertain.
Newspapers give us daily news, covering local and international events.
Telephones keep people in touch with each other and allow them to send and receive messages
immediately.
Social media are websites and software programmes that allow you to interact instantly with a website or
with other users.

Electronic media:

ICT, computers, radios, TVs, cell phones, DVDs

Print media:

newspapers, books, magazines, brochures, letters, adverts, billboards.

Freedom of expression:

you can say what you think and feel freely; give information and viewpoints.

Limitations:

boundaries, restrictions, limits.

paparazzi

photojournalists who follow or chase after celebrities and politicians in both their public and private lives, looking for scandal.

The media's role is important in a democracy to:

Expose violations of human rights.
Report on unlawful activities, the courts and court cases.
Expose corruption and mismanagement.
Communicate, inform and educate.
Entertain.
Give political information that can inform voters.
Identify problems in our country and communities.
Promote debate discussion.
Promote nation-building by giving access to diverse viewpoints and world views as well as sports coverage.
Give publicity to successes and people who are inspiring.
Shape public opinion.

"The media should be fair, honest and reliable. Freedom of expression comes with the responsibility to use this
freedom with care, and to take note of the limitations of this freedom." comment on this statement

The media should: Should explain what is happening, and give enough information to explain why it is happening.
Must explain issues without being sensational or trying to shock.
Should focus not only on scandals or use untrue headlines just to sell papers or get their viewership and
listenership numbers up so that they can charge more for advertisements.
Should promote free and fair elections and give political parties equal exposure.
Need to differentiate between facts and opinions, and reporting versus analysis.
Could be leaders in debates on what can be and should be done about the challenges that affect our
democracy and our country's wellbeing.
Must train reporters to check sources carefully before reporting.
Should publish corrections if they make mistakes, in the same size and the same position on the page where
the error occurred.

"The media do not always fulfil their role in a democratic society. They sometimes harm, misinform, and publish
inaccurate versions of events and half-truths." comment and give Examples of when the media do not fulfil their roles responsibly

Most media make money from advertisements and sponsors. The media therefore aim to satisfy the
interests of their advertisers. These may not be the same as the interests of the public. The media may
withhold information or give biased reports, to satisfy their sponsors.
News entertains rather than informs. Some media are filled with gossip, scandals, sex and violence rather
than facts.
Political news is often more about personalities than about politicians' work and contributions. The media
publicise the scandalous private lives of politicians and their families, which have nothing to do with their
work.
The lives of famous stars are made difficult by the paparazzi who invade their privacy. The media are like
vultures when celebrities are in trouble; they persecute rather than protect them.
The media sometimes exaggerate dangers and make people afraid for no reason.
News and interpretations of events may be biased, incomplete or incorrect.
The information in the printed press, radio and TV has been selected from a large pool of information.
Somebody, somewhere, made a decision on what was necessary to tell the public and what was not
necessary. What is not told may be just as important as to what is told.

Whistle-blower:

a person who reports illegal or immoral activities.

Investigative journalists:

news reporters who try to find information that is of interest to the public, but that someone or an institution may try to hide

Elaborate on freedom of expression

Freedom of expression means that you can express your ideas and opinions freely through speech, writing, and
other forms of communication. This freedom has limitations - people may not express viewpoints that violate the
rights of others. The lack of freedom of expression in an undemocratic country makes us realise how privileged we
are to live in a democratic country.

The Constitution states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes:

Freedom of the press and other media.
Freedom to receive or impart information or ideas.
Freedom of artistic creativity.
Academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.

The right to freedom of expression does not include:

Propaganda for war.
Incitement of imminent violence.
Advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion.
Incitement to cause harm.

The Protection of State Information Bill

This Bill is also known as the Secrecy Bill because it proposes long jail sentences for journalists or whistle-
blowers or anyone who makes state secrets public.
- State secrets usually include information that the general public and other countries don't need to know.
- This information is used to protect the public and the country.
- Although it is necessary to protect our country's state secrets, there are fears that this Bill may be abused to
protect some corrupt officials.
- The negative aspects are that this legislation may harm investigative journalists, because it may gag or
silence opinions

Extent to which media reporting reflects a democratic society: topics covered

Editors, managers and bosses choose the topics to cover in their social media; these topics don't necessarily have
neutral opinions. Many of them are guided by commercial interests. The topics covered are determined by how
newsworthy it is and what the entertainment value is.

Extent to which media reporting reflects a democratic society: positions taken by editors

Editors have a lot of power because of their ability to express their opinions in editorials. An editorial is usually a
short opinion piece that summarises the main news item and gives an opinion about it. It reflects the position of the
editor and how the editor feels about an issue or event. The editor's position can also be seen from the type of
content allowed, space allocated and slant or focus of the news reports.

Extent to which media reporting reflects a democratic society: space allocated

Space allocation refers to what page an article appears on in a newspaper or magazine, how much time is given to it
in a TV or radio broadcast, whether it appears at the beginning or end of a news report etc. Space allocation is not
always fair. Analysts spend a lot of time looking at which stories on the Internet get the most hits or visits, what is
tweeted about most etc. - this information is used to inform editors of future space allocation, as they try to
compete to make their products what readers, viewers and advertisers want.

Extent to which media reporting reflects a democratic society: geographical distribution

The accessibility of information for different groups in SA is not equal - especially in rural areas.

Critical analysis of the media

It is important to critically analyse the media to evaluate their balance and fairness in reporting. Pay attention to
their selection of content; sources used; types of stories; level of commercial content; sensationalism; interest;
exaggeration; accuracy.

Critical analysis of campaigns

Campaigns are movements, drives or crusades that push, fight or advocate for an issue. Some campaigns are not
helpful as they can humiliate politicians or celebrities for personal reasons.
Mandela Day campaign: this campaign aims to encourage people to make a difference by working for positive
change.

Coverage of sport, sports personalities and recreation activities

- The media tends to focus on men's soccer, rugby, cricket, golf and motor racing.
- Sports such as netball, women's soccer, hockey etc. are often under-reported.
- Sportsmen dominate the sports media over sportswomen, who struggle to get media coverage.
- Media do not report equally on famous sportsmen and sportswomen.
- Women are often referred to in sexist terms as 'girls', whereas men are referred to as 'men'.
- Women are described in terms of their attractiveness; not their ability.

Ideologies:

principles, philosophies, dogmas or ideas.

World views:

the general standpoint or side from which people see and interpret the world; collections of beliefs about life.

Culture

the beliefs, behaviours, items, and ideas that are common to the members of a particular group or society.

It includes, for example, language, dress, customs, values, norms, traditions and rituals.

Eastern and Western cultures

In some eastern countries, forms of martial arts or self-defence are practised by people because these
activities are part of their ideologies etc.
Chinese martial arts are traditional Chinese cultural sports, which have developed over a long time.
Sumo wrestling is believed to represent what is good in traditional Japanese culture; the wrestlers live for
their sport and are regarded as heroes.
Yoga is regarded as a spiritual activity but is seen as a health activity in the Western world.
Participation in recreation and physical activity promotes mental and physical health and well-being, and
helps to build communities and nations.
In Western culture, sport is a way of making money; with a large amount of money spent on developing
champions with very special skills

South African culture

In SA, certain sports were designated for specific cultural groups.
The belief was to 'make men' out of the players and they were encouraged to take part in rugby.
Rugby was offered by most white schools and made compulsory, to promote a certain cultural ideology and
nationalism.
Soccer was promoted in African schools

Traditional culture and indigenous games

Intonga or stick fighting is very popular in the Nguni culture.
Men were encouraged to practise stick fighting, a form of martial arts, to prepare them to become warriors.
Bare-knuckle first fights area common form of boxing, believed to promote manliness and cultural traditions.
If you are good at sport, it boosts your social status.
Sport teachers young people the values of their culture such as teamwork and self-discipline.
Sport is a way of bringing people in the community together

Ideologies, beliefs and world views on recreation and physical activity

During the Olympics, differences in ideologies, beliefs and world views become less important than the
opportunity to compete on the world stage.
Countries are increasingly able to send their sports starts to this event.
Sports people get the opportunity to learn about other cultures as they spread a unified image of
participation in sport.

Ideologies, beliefs and world views on recreation and physical activity: gender

Participation in sport and many recreational activities is still dominated by men.
People believe that men are more competitive and aggressive, and that these qualities are necessary to play
sport or be a winner.
Men who are not interested in sport are often ridiculed; women who are good at sport are often accused of
being too manly.
In some cultures, women are severely restricted when it comes to what they can wear to play sport; which
means that they are often marginalised.
In some African countries, women's participation in sport is limited due to gender discrimination.
The South African government is trying to promote equality in sports and recreation.
The media is guilty of being biased against women in sport.
Male sports are given front page headlines; advertisements use male sport personalities.