I’m working in new and traditional media in a tiny economy that seems to be contracting (though I’m informed it’s growing at 1%). We have a government and government structures that seem stuck in an analogue world.
We have a private sector made up of multinationals that take their cue from elsewhere and we have media breed that makes it difficult to manoeuvre in the country.
There is one national broadcasting service which owns two radio stations (one in English, one in Sesotho) and one tv station that airs solely on DStv.
I have seen a few players in the media who have latched on to the dynamics in America where Donald Trump is supposed to have used podcast services to his advantage better than anyone before him. I have seen some voices suggest that the same is happening in our neighbour’s yard too.
Social media has worked itself in to a tizz convincing itself and by extension us that traditional media is dead, and its obituary will be read on digital media.
The voices I spoke about early seem to be implying that Lesotho is right behind Mzansi in this trend.
As I said, I work in new media. I co-host a weekend show with three others on the country’s first online radio station. I also regularly host a Twitter space. I guarantee there is no evidence that folks are moving away from doing things the way they’ve been doing them!
The King, Queen and PM’s birthdays are constantly and consistently celebrated with quarter, half and full-page adverts in the newspapers. Government (and other jobs) continue to be placed in those same papers, while radio and TV get what’s left in terms of ad spend.
Podcasts and other new media are not in the conversation. I have done two paid spaces and while I have had some enquiries about “how does it work?” And “could we do a test space for free?”, there has been nothing to suggest the space will generate revenue on its own any time soon.
I write all of this to say, media is, or should be a dynamic creature. But in our locale it’s quite stagnant. We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking the dynamics of elsewhere are inherently ours. Lesotho is not an island but it’s ensconced in itself that things are just different…
