Partial, falsified and adverse print media reporting: studying 2015 xenophobic violence

South Africa in the 21st century has experienced a limping economy characterised by poor governance, corruption, massive unemploy?ment, high cost of living and unhealthy competition to access limited economic resources for both locals and the millions of foreign nationals. During the period between 2008 and 2015, the country has experienced xenophobic attacks and perpetual fac?tional fights between the locals and the foreign nationals. The country’s government linked the events to criminality and a ‘third force’ when dealing and disseminating information to the media. The xenophobic attacks have in most cases occurred before or during election periods with politicians and print media reporters opting for the populist and rhetoric route of characterising foreign?ers as a scapegoat to challenges facing the local population which is central to social ills and economic hardships. In the last decade, the country’s print media have been filled with stories that were anti?immigration and xenophobic which have resulted in the exacerba?tion of attacks by Black South Africans against immigrants of African origin. This paper draws viewpoints from government agencies and media reporters on how the print media narrated the xenophobic attacks of 2015 in South Africa.