This study examines the ideological inflection of the farm killings discourse in the Eastern Province Herald articles published in August 1998. Farm killings is a media frame which was applied to a spate of killings of people on the country s farms since 1994. Heightened and sustained media attention on the farm killings has lifted the phenomenon from the other run-of-the-mill murder crimes, and located it firmly as a matter of public concern and a subject of a broad political and economic debate. In this study I investigate the media coverage of the farm killings within the context of these debates.The cultural studies approach to the study of the media provides a fruitful theoretical framework within which this study is located. The ideological examination of the articles is done using the critical linguistics method - a brand of reflexive, interpretative style of analysis which enables a sustained examination of media texts within their social, cultural and historical context.This study s conclusions pose a challenge to the Fourth Estate role often claimed for the media.