With local government elections approaching, it is worth considering where voters are getting their political information. The days when newspapers, radio and television were the principal sources of news are long gone. We now have a multitude of digital platforms, each competing for our attention, and some are becoming more influential than others.
I read an interesting article in The Citizen about podcasts, arguing that competition among podcasters is encouraging sensationalism and potentially irresponsible reporting. It raises a broader question about the quality of information reaching the public, particularly when political parties are trying to persuade voters to support them.
Podcasts are increasingly part of the mix. They allow people to explore issues at length, hear different opinions and listen to commentators who might not have a platform in traditional broadcasting. But the same freedom allows people to make claims without necessarily subjecting them to the scrutiny expected of professional journalists.
Then there is social media, which has become an important source of news and political commentary. Facebook remains a significant player, while TikTok reaches audiences through short videos and increasingly sophisticated political messaging. X is a forum for political argument, although some of the contributions are little more than people shouting at one another.
WhatsApp is particularly interesting. Political parties can communicate directly with supporters through messages and groups, but ordinary community groups are also important. Residents discuss water shortages, potholes, refuse collection, electricity failures and crime. These might not begin as political conversations, but they soon become political when people start asking who is responsible and what their elected representatives are doing about it.
This is where local government elections differ from national politics. Residents can argue about political ideologies and party manifestos, but they also have to live with the consequences of municipal decisions. Johannesburg’s water crisis is a grim example of what happens when basic services fail. When people are worried about contaminated water and becoming ill, the issue is no longer an abstract political debate.
The question is how much influence the various information channels have on the way people vote. A party’s carefully crafted campaign message may be less persuasive than a neighbour’s account of an unresolved problem. Equally, a WhatsApp message containing inaccurate information can circulate through a community before anyone has checked whether it is true.
Where do blogs fit into this changing landscape?
I have a particular interest in this question because I run my own blog. I don’t spend much time commenting directly on political parties or their campaigns, but I do write about business, the economy, social issues and matters affecting our everyday lives. These subjects frequently have a political dimension, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Blogs are unlikely to rival the reach of Facebook, TikTok or WhatsApp. Nor do they have the resources of established news organisations. But they offer something that can be missing from the relentless flow of online content: an individual perspective, considered commentary and the opportunity to develop an argument beyond the immediate headline.
Independent bloggers do not need to compete with professional journalists in reporting every development. We can select the issues that interest us, examine their implications and offer readers a different way of looking at them. A blog can also provide a platform for subjects that receive relatively little attention elsewhere.
There is a qualification, of course. Publishing a blog does not automatically give its author influence. Readers have to find it, decide that it is worth their time and, ideally, share it with others. Social media is often the means by which an independent writer reaches a wider audience.
That makes the relationship between blogs and social media an interesting one. A blog provides the space for an argument; social media can help distribute it. One does not necessarily replace the other.
The same applies to political information generally. A newspaper report might prompt a podcast discussion, which is then shared in a WhatsApp group and debated on Facebook. By the time the conversation reaches an individual voter, the original reporting may have been supplemented by opinion, speculation and claims of varying reliability.
The difficulty for voters is deciding what to believe. The difficulty for political parties is reaching people across an increasingly fragmented media landscape. And the opportunity for independent writers is to provide something more useful than another contribution to the noise.
Ultimately, the medium matters less than the quality of the information it carries. Voters need to know what their prospective councillors intend to do, whether their promises are credible and how their municipalities are performing.
A podcast, a newspaper, a Facebook discussion or a blog can all contribute to that understanding. But when the water supply fails, the rubbish piles up or the roads deteriorate, residents have evidence of their own.
No political campaign can entirely talk its way around that.
JSE companies: results to watch this week
Five listed companies are scheduled to release results during the week beginning Monday, 26 October 2026.
• Monday, 26 October — Pick n Pay Stores: Interim financial results for the 26 weeks ended 30 August 2026.
• Tuesday, 27 October — Santova: Interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2026.
• Thursday, 29 October — Datatec: Interim results.
• Friday, 30 October — Dis-Chem Pharmacies: Interim results.
• Friday, 30 October — Adcorp Holdings: Interim results.
The week’s announcements cover food retail, logistics, technology, pharmaceuticals and staffing services, offering a small cross-section of the South African corporate economy.
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