I.

The documentary White Slums of South Africa- DW Documentary consistently

demonstrates partiality throughout the video including bias through word choice,
bias through imagery and audio, and bias through selection and omission.
II. In White Slums of South Africa bias through word choice can be found all
through the video.
A. In the beginning when documentarian Reggie Yates goes to visit coronation
park, where many homeless white people dwell, he expresses his feelings of
apprehension derived from the worry of how the white folk there will receive him
and judge him being that he is a “privileged young black man.” By choosing to say
this he builds the belief in viewers that the white homeless people are going to be
racist or dislike him because of his skin color.
B. Nearing the end of the documentary Reggie is on his way to see his
acquaintance, a young white man, who is going to have a job interview. Reggie
says that he’s surprised to hear about his acquaintance landing the interview and
explains that he finds it hard to be positive about the potential good news. This
choice of words encourages viewers to believe that the chances of a white man
being hired are exceptionally low.
C. Additionally, in the last five minutes of the documentary Reggie Yates says,
“but if there is a price to pay for decades of oppression perhaps this is the least
worst option.” These words convey his personal opinion that the difficult lives the
white South Africans are living is justifiable because of the wrongdoings of their
forefathers.
III. Furthermore, this documentary contains a lot of imagery and audio intended to
emotionally sway viewers.
A. Towards the beginning of the film when images of the homeless settlement in
Coronation Park are being displayed saddening music is played in the background
inciting feelings of pity.
B. A little more than midway through the film a child is recorded playing with a
balloon alone in an unclean and unlit bathroom while gloomy piano music is
played in the background. The combination of the somber imagery and music
invokes feelings of sorrow or misery.
IV. Lastly, the documentary exemplifies bias through selection and omission.
 A. The documentary only presents select images and videos of white South
Africans living in poor conditions while omitting almost any images or videos of
poverty ridden black South Africans even though Documentarian Reggie Yates
clarified that there is approximately 16 million black South Africans living in
poverty.
B. In addition, the documentarian omitted the information that
approximately 1 percent of the white South African population is in poverty in
contrast to the approximate 64.2 percent of the black South African population in
poverty, according to Stats SA's Poverty Trends in South Africa (2015).
V. These cases of bias through word choice, bias through imagery and audio, and
bias through selection and omission serve as evidence that the documentary White
Slums of South Africa is a prejudiced documentary.