by Chelsea Geach
Zapiro is both loved and hated as a notoriously sharp-witted satirical cartoonist. His puppet show, ZNews, has been in the creation phases for 11 years, and has just been refused air time on SABC. This refusal has prompted many debates over freedom of speech, as well as numerous comments from political figures who are satirized in the show. Mainstream media covered the events, but are expected to stick to factual content rather than passing judgement on the ethics of the show, which ridicules many prominent South African leaders.

The most interesting article I read on the topic can be found at http://www.hayibo.com/articles/view/1151/Zapiro_puppets_accused_of_being_puppets.htm.

Hayibo.com is a satirical news site, which sticks loosely to the facts but incorporates fabricated quotes for humorous effect. The value of this style of journalism is that while it may not provide readers with hard facts, it provokes questioning and challenging of both authority figures and mainstream media.

Instead of focusing on the development of the story, the Hayibo article ridicules the reaction of government. Fictional government spokespeople are quoted as saying “Zapiro [is] a ‘puppet-master’ hell-bent on spreading a subversive doctrine called ‘comedy’.” In a mainstream report, no quotations would be fabricated and emotive language would not be used to exaggerate the comments of sources for the sake of hilarity.

In addition, Hayibo coverage does not stay within the bounds of the story, but uses it as a tool to comment on other aspects of the South African political stage. For example, the article states that “the SABC already has a dedicated news satire show, in which parodies of government ministers behave outrageously without consequences. It is broadcast nightly at 7pm and is called The News.”

I believe that although such journalism cannot function without the complement of mainstream factual coverage, it is vital in order to fulfil the role of the media in a democratic society.