This longitudinal study of the narratives of South African democratic elections focuses on the discourses within television news representation of South Africa and the political process therein. The global and local broadcasts of five election years (1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014) are subjected to semiotic, discourse, and contextualised political economy theory in order to locate shifting or congruent narratives. The aims of this research are three-fold: to develop a methodology for analysing television news, to discover and add to existing literature about the representation, both locally and globally, of changing South African democracy, and finally to discover how news networks perceive, explain, and judge South African democracy. Each election is contextualised through a discussion of campaign rhetoric, leadership, and political agenda. This study adds to the literature on South African democracy and offers a methodology in studying television news or convergence journalism in the digital environment.