Transcriptions of television news reports on the murder of Brendin Horner broadcast on eTV and SABC in October 2020

This study considered news reports aired on two of South Africa’s most widely viewed free-to-air English news channels: SABC 3 and eTV. The reports considered were those pertaining to a specific case where a 21-year-old Farm manager, Brendin Horner, was murdered on 1 October 2020. The murder itself did not receive coverage and it was only from 6 October 2020, when two men accused of his murder appeared in court, that the media reporting began. For this study, the news reports aired during the month of October on SABC 3 and eTV’s prime-time news bulletins were considered. Between 6 October 2020, when the story broke, and 20 October 2020, when the last report was filed on related developments, twenty-eight news items were aired on the case and it was included in the headlines five times.