There was a time when television didn’t just entertain us, it confronted us. It showed us the parts of
South African society that many people would rather not talk about , violence, gangsterism, drugs, teenage pregnancy, abuse, broken families and the realities facing young people. And few shows sparked that conversation quite like Yizo Yizo. But here’s the uncomfortable question did Yizo Yizo simply hold up a mirror to society, or did it help normalise and glamorise some of the very behaviours it was trying to expose? Because today, we are surrounded by content that turns our social problems into entertainment. Cheating, humiliation, family conflict, debt, violence and dysfunctional relationships are packaged, broadcast and consumed for our entertainment. So where is the line between telling difficult stories and exploiting them? Are we using television to challenge society, educate audiences and provoke meaningful conversations or are we slowly becoming desensitised to our own problems because everything has become content. And perhaps the bigger question is, what responsibility do producers, writers and broadcasters have when the stories they tell can influence how an entire generation understands what is normal. This morning we are asking whether South African television is holding up a mirror to society or whether, sometimes, the mirror is shaping what we see. Clementine Mabena is in conversation with social commentator Thlogi Mosuwe and actress Moliehi Makobane to unpack the influence of television, the legacy of Yizo Yizo, the rise of so-called “trash TV”,
and the responsibility that comes with telling stories about a society still trying to heal.