ABSTRACT
The chapter interrogates xenophobia and newspaper headlines in South African media. Xenophobia is the deep dislike of non-nationals by nationals of a recipient state. It is important to note that xenophobic attitudes and behaviours have been present in South Africa for a considerable period but only became a point of national and, indeed, international focus after the violent xenophobic attacks across the country in 2008 and again in 2015. During the xenophobia attacks in 2008 and 2015, South African locals attacked migrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Mozambique, accusing them of all the ills bedevilling the country, leading to the death of about 62 migrants. Pictures of a Mozambican Ernesto, Alfabeto Nhamuave, burning to death after being set on fire by a mob on 18 May 2008 in Reiger Park, South Africa, shook the whole world. Like racism, xenophobia operates on the same basis of profiling people and making negative assumptions about them. There are considerable studies that have focused on the role of media in xenophobia, but this chapter primarily focuses on newspaper headlines. Using the Daily Sun tabloid newspaper as a case study, the chapter explores the influence of headlines on public opinion. Given that most people do not read newspapers but just glance at headlines, the article concludes that headlines are particularly revealing of the social and cultural representations circulating in a society at a given time. A discourse analysis of purposively selected Daily Sun newspaper headlines in 2008 and 2015 shows that headlines are an emotion-inducing strategy in the hands of the editor, and they were used to initiate, sustain discourse and shape the readers’ views on migrants in South Africa.
