The censored media post-1994

The passing of Queen Elizabeth was on the news on the 8th of September 2022 after the royal family confirmed the sad news. The death of Queen Elizabeth received so much eye from the media across the globe, the coverage was not only on the news headlines but in all media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and people were extending their condolences to the royal family.

The South African media companies broke the news to the South African community right after powerful media houses such as BBC broke the news. South African media houses followed the trends around the passing of her majesty and they never missed an inch. We must not forget that South African media deeply relied on mostly British media, the powerful media houses decide on topics to be covered and what information must be shared with the public, this happens only because those who own powerful media houses are politically connected and they have political interests.

Powerful media houses are characterized by authoritarianism because they reject what is called views of plurality. It is for that reason Queen Elizabeth’s death received too much coverage because South African media is rooted in the lines of foreign media such as the United Kingdom.

This historical path of Queen Elizabeth is one of the reasons her death received so much eye from the media. Queen Elizabeth was a leader of the commonwealth group which focuses on addressing key issues affecting the countries in the commonwealth group, and South Africa is among those countries, so the media wanted to know the position of those countries.

It is known to the public that Queen Elizabeth was initially not supposed to lead the royal family but because of abdication, so the media was interested in finding out who will take charge of the entire process, obviously if there was any form of commotions within the royal family. Queen Elizabeth was known to many for colonizing African countries and of course, there were mixed reactions around her legacy, because many people in African countries believe that she was at the center of their colonization and a lot of underground wealth was donated to her.

The South African media cannot be separated from the censorship of the British colony because the policies and style of reporting are more or less the same. There were a lot of inhuman acts in the royal family which included sexual scandals and mistreatment of those around the Queen but a little had been said. This literally tells us that those who are in power have control of what the media reports and filter crucial information, so the South African media believed that some information around the Queen might leak.

Some politicians and civil groups in the United Kingdom were beginning to question the financial status of the royal family and they wanted to know how much they receive from the government and how is that money used. This is evident enough that the gatekeeping theory is at play because a certain hand is controlling access to information. The media does not have total access to information relating to the royal family. These are some of the reasons why the South African media gave too much coverage of the queen’s death.

Queen Elizabeth is also known for her contribution to surviving world war two, which led to many countries to praise or idolize her. Although she was not a darling to many in Africa but countries in the west favored her administration because they shared a common interest in African countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, and many others. The contradictions around her leadership have drawn so much attention from around the globe and she is regarded as the longest-serving monarch in the world, so obviously, her death would receive global coverage.

It is true that media plays a huge role in how we see things around us and how we approach the world, around the death of Queen Elizabeth there are a lot of untold stories. The media might have deliberately or was denied access to information that concerns the health of Queen Elizabeth, and we were not told how long she has been sick because she was very scarce in the public eye and already some of her duties were executed by her son.

It might also happen that the United Kingdom government is planning to infiltrate the royal family and challenge its financial operations. We have seen the current prime minister criticizing Queen Elizabeth and resisting meeting with her which she finally did, which is an indication that her administration will closely look into the finances of the royal family.