Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the lockdown restrictions would be eased from 1 May 2020, leading South African media share news and updates on the impact of the coronavirus on the nation. Both online and traditional news media outlets shed light on how the changes in lockdown restrictions, from level 5 to level 4, will impact South Africans from various industries to general movement.

Top print and news media outlets, IOL and Media24 take the lead focussing on various aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa. These media outlets largely focussed on the impact of the pandemic on the economy and sports with rugby featuring the most. Content syndication across various regions contributes to the spread of news in some of the leading media platforms.

Ornico’s sample media data for this latest edition includes 5825 media items collected from online, print and broadcast sources from 22 to 28 April 2020. Some of the conversations this week point to the easing of lockdown restrictions, with some uncertainty around how this will be rolled out. Online media is once again ahead of other platforms rising sharply this week to 75% of media items in comparison to 59% the week before.

This fifth edition of the Covid-19 series of infographics shows an eagerness by the nation to return to work, while media analysis also shows some reluctance and forethought. Between social media and news outlets, South Africans are engaging on various aspects of how they are affected and will continue to be, as government ministers share what is expected of citizens as the country slowly comes out of lockdown.

Brand Intelligence® firm Ornico has committed its resources to assist the communication industry and will be working closely with the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) and other industry role players to help understand reportage around the pandemic. This will help professional communicators to improve critical messaging and to direct it to relevant audiences.

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