Shooting the Messenger: Mediating the Public and the Role of the Media in South Africa's Xenophobic Violence.

The article presents a study which examines the issues surrounding the state of public sphere and the role of the media during the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa in May 2008. It provides an overview of the incident which killed 60 people and displaced thousands and the criticism on the media's role in aggravating such conflict. It also looks into the media-state-society relations and the implications of the incident on the communication within the state and communities.