DDI ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

In the wake of the start of the “criminal trial of the century” on 3 March 2014 in the Pretoria High Court, one of Africa’s leading media monitoring companies will bring to you a daily summarised analysis of the Oscar Pistorius Trial.

As the only company in Africa to offer social media, online news, print, radio and TV in one service offering, DDI Africa offers a full monitoring service across all editorial mediums, including:

• 6.2 million social networks (Global)
• 60 000 online newspapers (Global)
• 2000 printed publications (South African)
• 33 radio stations (South African)
• 27 television stations (South African)

There has been widespread media interest in the covering of the case, with Multichoice (Carte Blanche) has set up a dedicated 24-hour channel for the trial and have, along with Eyewitness News, applied to broadcast the trial live.

Pistorius, who was labeled as the "Blade Runner" won three medals - two of them gold - at the London 2012 Paralympics and was the first Paralympian to compete in the Olympics. But since the death of Steenkamp on 14 February 2013, Pistorius’ athletic career took a backseat to the serious charges against him.

Besides charges of murdering Steenkamp (carrying a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison before parole) and violating the Firearms Control Act, he also faces two more gun charges. It is thus not surprising that Pistorius was revealed as the third most searched-for person on Google in 2013, beating the late former South African President Nelson Mandela into fourth place.

The interest is huge and the media coverage will be enormous. DDI will monitor media covering the event and provide an overview of issues that were reported on, like:

• Guns
• Cellular phones
• Pornography
• (Bathroom) Door
• Main role players in the case
• Publications reporting most coverage on the matter
• Overview on speculation in social media worldwide

DDI Africa will also monitor the amount of times the words ‘guilty’ and ‘innocent’ are mentioned in the media, thus providing a Guilt/Innocence Meter for the case. Follow @DDIAfrica or #DDIonOscar for insights or bookmark http://www.ddiafrica.com/ddi-oscar