Abstract:
The relationship between mainstream media and social media for news reporting is a complex one. Mainstream media
news is relied on as a source of information on key social issues, carrying and reproducing the social representations of
a society. South African townships have been reported as a hotbed of anti-migrant unrest, with the growing reliance
on the communities’ lens through their social media representations shared online often considered by mainstream
media as authentic sources of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Townships are spaces of contestation for belonging
and despite the diversity of those communities, there remains stigmatizing social representation between migrants
and citizens, with communities attributing social ills to migrants. This study analyses how social media has influenced
the reproduction of social representations in mainstream media of anti-migrant township unrest. Through a qualitative
exploratory approach, mainstream news articles were analyzed for how social representations from social media are
reproduced in mainstream media reporting. Social media representations reproduced in mainstream media reporting
may risk perpetuating communication risks of othering, affect social cohesion in those communities, and fuelling mistrust
among citizens and migrants living in South African township communities.
