Doctoral Degrees (Journalism)
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- ItemAre “untouched citizens” creating their deliberative democracy online? A critical analysis of women’s activist media in Zimbabwe(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Mpofu, Sibongile; Rabe, Lizette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines women’s political participation in Zimbabwe by investigating whether online media platforms, specifically blogs, provide Zimbabwean women with spaces for critical communicative interaction where they can challenge the dominant discourse and participate in politics. Anchored in the broader conceptualisation of political participation, the epistemological premise of this study explores how everyday conversations by women in blogs on the five selected websites (WCoZ.org, Kubatana.net, Herzimbabwe.co.zw, Herald.co.zw and Chronicle.co.zw) morph into political conversations. Given that the use of the internet, specifically digital communication platforms, is an important pathway to the enhancement of deliberative democracy in society, particularly the engagement in the public sphere by those who are otherwise marginalised from mainstream politics, this study contributes to these debates by determining how and under what circumstances everyday conversations permeate into political conversations. By focusing on women in Zimbabwe, who are without alternative communication platforms to articulate their agendas following state control of the media, this study investigates how political expression and democratic engagement manifest on different types of new media platforms. Womanism, feminist critical and critical political economy theories were used as the most appropriate theoretical points of departure. These paradigms offer a holistic analysis of women’s lived experiences in Zimbabwe and of how political, economic, cultural and social institutions influence women activists’ activities in new media. A qualitative research approach employing the collective case study as a research design was adopted. Data for analysis were collected from the five purposively selected websites and from online semi-structured interviews conducted with selected bloggers from these websites. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis, employing the qualitative analysis software package ATLAS.ti Version 7. The findings reveal that blogs, as alternative and securer spaces, offer possibilities for social transformation by enabling Zimbabwean women to reclaim their space in the political, socio-economic and cultural spheres. This is in contrast to the view that digital media are driven by existing hierarchies and power structures. By introducing their views on issues that affect them and developing a voice of their own, Zimbabwean women are not only challenging the dominant discourse and social norms that oppress them, but also illuminating various other significant personal impacts that women derive from blogging that are relevant for political participation, offering a nuanced understanding of possibilities for political participation and democracy from the premise of everyday conversations whereby previously “untouched citizens” can create a deliberative democracy online.
- ItemChallenges for journalism education and training in a transforming society : a case study of three selected institutions in post-1994 South Africa(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Dube, Bevelyn; Rabe, Lizette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the challenges for journalism education and training (JE&T) in a post-1994 transforming South Africa. Prior to 1994, South Africa had three distinct university systems with different ideological orientations, namely historically Afrikaans-language universities, historically English-language universities, and historically “black” universities. The consequence of these orientations in the university system caused a paradigmatic schism in the field of JE&T. The advent of democracy in 1994 necessitated the questioning of this division in higher education. One could assume that there was need to transform the JE&T curricula so that it could address the challenges of a society in transformation. This study, therefore, aimed to establish whether JE&T curricula in three selected tertiary institutions in post-1994 South Africa have transformed in line with the transformation process in the country. The post-colonial theory, developmental journalism model and Ubuntu philosophy were deemed the most appropriate theoretical points of departure from which to analyse the curricula. A collective case study was used as a research design. To collect data, a mixedmethod approach, which utilised both qualitative and quantitative approaches, was used. Qualitative data were collected through use of programme documents from the selected journalism tertiary institutions and a semi-structured questionnaire, which was distributed to programme coordinators. Quantitative data were obtained through the structured questionnaire which was completed by students in the selected programmes. The qualitative data obtained were analysed using qualitative content analysis, while quantitative data were analysed using the statistical package SPSS version 18. The data were then analysed and discussed in terms of the selected theories. The analysis revealed that the three programmes are highly dependent on Western epistemologies. The programmes have a close relationship with the media industry, a relationship which at times can be a double-edged sword. The findings also show that the programme coordinators of these programmes are not averse to the transformation of curricula provided the process takes into cognisance Western epistemologies. The results also showed that in terms of gender and race, transformation has either been insignificant or non-existent. Lastly, all three programmes do not teach their students to report in indigenous languages. The final conclusion of the study is that JE&T in the selected programmes are not yet addressing the challenges of a transforming post-1994 South Africa.
- ItemCitizen journalism and alternative media in Zimbabwe: An ethnographic study of citizen participation, newsmaking practices and discourses at AMH Voices(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Tshabangu, Thulani; Botma, Gabriel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Technologies such as the internet and mobile smartphones allow citizens to play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news, thereby challenging the dominance of conventional media and professionalised ways of journalistic practices. This production-based ethnographic study investigates the operations of citizen journalism and alternative media in a repressive environment in Zimbabwe. It focuses on citizen participation, newsmaking practices and discourses at the citizen journalism and alternative media outlet of AMH Voices. The study is located within a specific context and timeframe, which isfrom 2014 to 2018, during which Zimbabwe’s multidimensional crisis elongated. Central to this study was an endeavour to demonstrate how the crisis supported the emergence of citizen journalism as well as how citizen journalists constructed and circulated alternative political narratives and counterhegemonic discourses of the crisis at AMH Voices. The theoretical point of departure in this study refers to the public sphere and critical political economy theories. The argument is that a counterpublic sphere emerged, in which AMH Voices was viewed as an oppositional public sphere that afforded marginalised citizens the opportunity to participate in journalistic processes. Participation in journalistic processes enabled ordinary citizens to express themselves and contest the hegemonic position by establishing counterhegemonic news frames, reframing news stories and setting new topics for discursive conflict and negotiation. The critical political economy theory (CPE) was applied to understand how ownership and control at AMH Voices impacted on editorial direction and output. The CPE theory was also applied to understand structural factors that constrained citizen journalism and alternative media in Zimbabwe. Data was collected through triangulated ethnographic methods of participant observation, interviews and critical discourse analysis. AMH Voices was under constant flux as citizen participation, newsmaking practices and discourses changed from the time of its inception in 2014 due to a change of context and organisational factors. The findings revealed that citizen participation occurred at three, namely levels of content production, decision making and public sphere deliberations. Content related participation enabled citizen journalists to contribute to news production processes in different ways and at different stages. Participation in decision making was through a reader representative who sat in the public editorial board to convey reader feedback and interests. Participation in public sphere deliberations was the most common form of citizen participation that occurred through user comments, where citizens engaged in peer to peer review of thoughts and ideas. The newsmaking practices at AMH Voices were structured, unstructured, hybrid and digital. The citizen news discourses were mostly framed in non-dominant perspectives using interpretive news writing styles to express alternative political narratives, challenge the status quo and advocate for radical political change. However, the study showed that citizen journalism and alternative media at AMH Voices were also influenced by contextual and structural pressures and influences, including conservative views on gender, which made it difficult to categorise it as an automatic or consistent counterpublic sphere.
- ItemDispatches from the front : war reporting as news genre, with special reference to news flow(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2007-12) Botha, Nicolene; Rabe, Lizette; Scholtz, Leopold; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During Gulf War II, the American government implemented new media policies which, due to their potentially manipulative impact, became a subject of concern to academics, social commentators and the media alike. Key to these policies was the Department of Defense's Embedded Media Program which allowed hundreds of selected reporters to accompany US forces to the war front. The US openly tried to win international support for the war, and critics felt that this policy was designed to saturate the media with reports supporting the American point of view. This study examines these policies, the history of war reporting as a separate news genre, as well as the fluctuating relations between the US military and the media. Because of the US media policies, the fact that only one South African newspaper reporter was in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom phase of the war and South African newspapers' consequent reliance on foreign news sources, there was a real possibility that the American position would be propagated in the local press. To test whether this was the case, the way the war was reported on in four leading South African newspapers is examined in terms of gatekeeping, agendasetting and framing. Using an adapted version op Propp's fairytale analysis as a standard, it compares the slant and content of the South African coverage to the way four senior US government officials presented the war. Also, the coverage of the newspapers is compared to one another. The analyses indicate that while most of the information published by the newspapers came from American sources, the news reports generally did not mirror the US standpoint, but instead criticised President Bush and the war on Iraq. Neither the frequency of the newspapers, nor its cultural background showed any correlation with the way the war was depicted by the different newspapers. It is therefore concluded that while the US might have been successful in their attempt to "occupy the media territory" in terms of sources cited, they were not able to sway the opinion of the South African press in their favour. However, the US is aware of these failures and plans to rectify the mistakes made in Gulf War II by means of proactive global operations started in times of peace.
- ItemFrom lab to fork? Press coverage and public (mis)perception of crop biotechnology in Uganda(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Lukanda, Nathanael Ivan; Claassen, George; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the structure of the controversy surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Uganda. It focuses on how two local newspapers, the New Vision and the Daily Monitor, cover the subject, and on the public perception regarding a contested science (biotechnology), promoted and de-campaigned in the same pages simultaneously. The aim was to establish the different ways in which media coverage of biotechnology influences public perception of its products, especially crop (food) GMOs, in Uganda. It draws on the sciencein- society model, the public sphere and the media logic theoretical framework as a lens for understanding Uganda’s case in this global debate. The study used content analysis, a face-toface survey and in-depth interviews to obtain data and analyse Uganda’s intricate situation in terms of having GMOs on the market in the absence of an enabling law to commercialise what is in the country’s laboratories (labs). The key findings indicate that the coverage and perception of GMOs are shaped by the contours of capitalism, mistrust in government institutions and outright misinformation, all tied to personal and societal beliefs. The controversy is laced with discrimination, noticeable in the sharp-tongued accusations and counter-accusations. The debate has been described as a “distortion”, “deception”, “complexity”, “confrontation”, “murky” and an “opportunistic interaction”. In the two newspapers analysed for the purposes of this study, biotechnology was largely covered by freelancers, who were caught between evidence-based science reporting and providing a voice to all stakeholders on a subject newspaper editors consider peripheral in the light of audience and advertiser flight. Biotechnology is politicised to make it sellable. Legislation dominates the fault-finding elitist debate, driven mostly by events in other countries. Men are six times more likely to be used as sources in stories on biotechnology, but women’s chances of being quoted more than triple when they are quoted in the same story with men. Experts have limited impact as both scientists, and non-(pseudo) scientists are major sources of information on biotechnology, a mark of weakened cultural authority of science in the post-expert age. Biotechnology is a controversial subject in the newsroom and in society. Newspapers are part of the chain link for creating awareness, educating, sustaining debate and generating an ‘issues culture’. The scientist-journalists’ relationship determines how biotechnology is covered. Ethics, health, patents, contamination, sustainability and bioterrorism are risk concerns. Biotechnology remains a fulcrum for scientific, cultural, political and economic arguments. The debate on GMOs is also a clash of traditions between conservationists and their pro-GMO opponents. The youth are more likely to oppose GMOs in a debate from which farmers are hardly represented. There is stigmatisation of information sources, and yet a change in source of information and increase in knowledge are more likely to have a negative impact on individuals’ perceptions of the risks of GMOs. Public desire for face-to-face engagements with scientists is increasing, even though scientists’ technical opinions seem to be an inconveniencing luxury in the polarised debate. This study births an economic-media bicycle-chain model to tentatively explain the key issues in the debate. The study recommends the use of training in science communication to jump-start public engagement with biotechnology and other science subjects by inspiring academic involvement, increasing scientists’ branding, promoting scientific culture and stimulating public participation. The use of edutainment images/visuals in science communication could enhance discussions and weave science into the fabric of citizens’ day-to-day life as a form of accountability to the taxpayers who fund research. In addition, communicators should use traditional and digital media to harvest ideas to organise content, report about and engage with experts and their audience on new styles of storytelling that can be adopted to pave the way for dialogue on biotechnology and other science-related topics. Further, the study recommends the integration of a BrainLab in science institutions’ curriculum to equip future researchers with the creative communication skills to engage the media, policymakers and the public, as researchers get credit for mentoring their students in such outreaches; researchers can also get input in such forums through crowdsourcing and feedback for feedforward in future research. Such an approach is expected to promote team science communication and prevent science from getting lost through translation.
- ItemJournalism, revolutionary technologies and preventing future harm: Proposing the flaming torch media ethics theory and the ten tenets field guide for responsible and ethical communication on science and technology’s cutting edge(2022-12) van Rooyen, Renier Stephanus; Geffen, Nathan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Revolutionary emerging technologies and new scientific discoveries can radically enhance human lives and capabilities, but can also disrupt and harm society – especially if they challenge prevailing world views, established ways of doing things or core human beliefs. And yet, no simple, practical field guide exists for how people, especially science journalists and communicators, ought to talk about technologies and discoveries responsibly so as to limit fear, misinformation and harmful disruption. This study proposes the novel Flaming Torch Media Ethics Theory and its underlying Ten Tenets as the basis for a useful field guide for more responsible, ethical communication of revolutionary technologies and discoveries in the public sphere. A literature review, on key lessons taken from three historical case studies of mass communication efforts relating to the theory of evolution, climate change and nuclear energy, informed the draft version of the theory and its tenets. The theory was then presented, in a set of in-depth interviews, to nine experts from three current emerging technologies – Bitcoin/blockchain, artificial intelligence and human gene editing – to refine the theory and to assess its usefulness. The resulting theory, and the simplified field guide, are presented here. A chief aim was to create a field guide simple enough to be fit for the era of social media, where there is very little control over who communicates what new science or technology to which audience.
- ItemMaking sense of the message: An analysis of the editor’s letter in three archetypal South African women’s magazines at the start of the 21st century(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Rossouw, Elna; Rabe, Lizette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The notion of a magazine as “social barometer” in a particular era is widely acknowledged. Moreover, it is argued that women’s magazines especially provide essential information about society and cultures, including in the “messages” conveyed in the editors’ letters to their respective audiences. Since South Africa’s democratisation, the political and socio-economic contexts in the country have changed noticeably, and the euphoria associated with the naissance of democracy has dissipated. This study sets out to determine the “message” in the editors’ letter of three archetypal South African women’s magazines during the first 17 years of the 21st century. It is situated within Production-Based Research on women’s magazines, while Critical Political Economy (CPE), advancing to Contemporary Political Economy, and Feminism were utilised as the theoretical points of departure. These paradigms offer an all-inclusive analysis of the “message” in the editors’ letters in the three “alpha” women’s magazines studied. As such, the study attempts to “make sense of the message” in SARIE, FAIRLADY and TRUELOVE – the selected magazines. Historiography as research method is applied to give context to South African magazine studies. This is followed by Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) – employing ATLAS.ti® as a software package – to determine how the editors’ letters reflect on the political and socio-economic contexts in South Africa. Historiography confirmed the powerful relationship between magazines and societies, and the concept of the magazine as “social barometer”. It corroborated that magazines mirror society, and vice versa. The QCA deduced that the origin and development of the three magazines were set against their specific ideological views and market-driven ideals in response to political and socio-economic contexts. Thus, in “making sense of the message” in these magazines, I infer that these magazines reflect the political and socio-economic issues of a young, democratic society and thereby are “social barometers” of their time. The study confirms the statement by Jane Raphaely, doyenne of South African women’s magazines, that women’s magazines gave “women in South Africa a significant soapbox with a huge sound system that allowed even the softest voice to reverberate as a very loud shout”. It can be concluded that this study proves the importance of media content, and specifically the editor’s letter of a women’s magazine, as a powerful instrument to persuade, inspire and inform the audience, proving that a magazine, through the voice or “message” of the editor, acts as “social barometer” of its time.
- ItemThe manipulation of public opinion by state censorship of the media in South Africa (1974-1994)(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1997-12) Breytenbach, Malene M.; Claassen, G. N.; Du Plessis, L. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tussen die tydperk 1974 en 1994, terwyl blanke heerskappy in suidelike Afrika stelselmatig beeindig is en die blanke regering van Suid-Afrika die laaste domino in die reeks was wat geval het, het die regering die media en alle publikasies doelbewus gemanipuleer en sensuur toegepas om te voorkom dat die bevolking hul veggees verloor en om die indruk te wek dat die regering staande sou bly. Die regering het andersdenkendes, gebalanseerde verslaggewing en kritiek as 'n bedreiging ervaar, aangesien dit wel deeglik daarvan bewus was dat dit nie die steun van die meerderheid van die bevolking gehad het nie. Die Afrikaanse pers en die Suid-Afrikaanse Uitsaaikorporasie, wat onder regeringsbeheer was, het horn oorwegend gesteun, maar die Engelstalige, swart, buitelandse en altematiewe pers was almal teenstanders of vyandig. Uiteindelik het sommige van die Afrikaanse media ook krities geraak. Vryheid van spraak word as die lewensbloed van die demokrasie beskou, aangesien dit verseker dat regerings verantwoording aan die samelewing doen. Suid Afrika het daarop aanspraak gemaak dat dit die "vryste pers in Afrika" gehad het. In werklikheid was dit slegs 'n gedeeltelike demokrasie wat staande gehou is deur verskeie selfverdedigingsmeganismes soos die beleid van apartheid en die skepping van "tuislande" waar die stemlose swart burgers by hul plekke van oorsprong gestem het en nie in die blank-gedomineerde Parlement nie. In werklikheid het die Suid-Afrikaanse regering die uitwerking van die media op 'n verdeelde samelewing gevrees. Die rasse moes 'n vreedsame naasbestaan voer. Daar is erken dat dit die grondslag van wet en orde gevorm het. As dit nie verwesenlik kon word nie, sou 'n uitdelgingsoorlog of 'n gewelddadige rewolusie gelei deur vryheidsbewegings soos die ANC, kon uitbreek. Die blankes het die mag gehad maar was in die minderheid. Alhoewel die regering heelwat bestee het om stabiliteit en mag te behou, het sekere elemente en gebeurtenisse die mag verweer. Gebeurtenisse soos die lnligtingskandaal, die Angolese oorlog, militere diensplig en die hoe koste verbonde aan die behoud van die ou bedeling, het ontnugtering in die hand gewerk. Ook was daar die alomteenwoordige bedreiging van die vryheidsbewegings wat gewag het om mag oor te neem en in die proses daarin geslaag het om Suid-Afrika kultureel, ekonomies en polities te isoleer. Dit het die regering verswak totdat dit genoop is om krisisbestuur toe te pas terwyl 'n lae-intensiteit, senutergende oorlog voortdurend gevoer moes word, wat senutergend was. Uiteindelik het te veel landsburgers begin besef die apartheidsbeleid het misluk en dat voortbestaan afgehang het van 'n onderhandelde oorgang wat aan demokratiese eise sou voldoen. Na die vasberade stelling wat deur leiers soos BJ Vorster en PW Botha ingeneem is, het die laaste blanke president van Suid-Afrika, FW de Klerk, die bevrydingsproses aan die gang gesit, wat die ontbanning van die ANC, die vrystelling van politieke gevangenes en die beeindiging van die noodtoestand meegebring het. In 1993 het 'n nuwe Grondwet die van 1983 vervang. Dit het beteken dat die pers vryer geword het en daar weer 'n reg op inligting sou wees soos die Menseregtehandves sou verorden. Totdat die FW de Klerk-era aangebreek het, was die media onder toenemende druk om gebeurtenisse weer te gee soos dit die regering gepas het. Beperkende wetgewing is opgele met die doel om staatsveiligheid te handhaaf en 'n gunstiger beeld na buite te projekteer, asook om sogenaamde rewolusionere anti-Suid-Afrikaanse verslaggewing en propaganda te keer. Die Weermag en Polisie en regeringsinstansies soos die Buro vir lnligting en die hele Nasionale Veiligheidstelsel het dit toegepas. Die vernaamste meganisme waardeur die pers gemuilband is, veral die ondersoekende buitelandse pers, was die aankondiging van opeenvolgende noodtoestande toe die aanslag teen die ou bedeling op sy felste was. Ten spyte van die moedeloosheid van sommige mediapraktisyns en die verbete pogings tot geheimhouding van regeringskant, is nuus oor Suid-Afrika steeds die wereld ingestuur. In 'n era van hoetegnologie-kommunikasie en satelliete kan feite nie meer verberg word nie. Mense met die waagmoed om ondersoek in te stel na, en die waarheid bloot te le oor die interne en eksterne reperkussies vir Suid-Afrika terwyl die blanke regering ten gronde gegaan en 'n nuwe bedeling vorm aangeneem het, kon eenvoudig nie die swye opgele word nie.
- ItemManufacturing cultural capital : arts journalism at Die Burger (1990-1999)(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12) Botma, Gabriel Johannes; Wasserman, Herman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the discursive role and positioning of arts journalism at Die Burger during a period of radical transformation in South African society. The study is conducted within a critical-cultural paradigm. Arts journalists are considered to be manufacturers of cultural capital, a term devised by Pierre Bourdieu as part of his comprehensive field theory framework. While Bourdieu uses cultural capital in the main to describe the role of education and culture in the maintenance of elite power hierarchies, this study investigates how the nature of cultural capital at Die Burger was affected by power shifts when competing elites jostled for dominance in a post-apartheid dispensation. By drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of discourse, the focus of research further incorporates the discursive positioning of arts journalists in their coverage of arts and cultural events in the 1990s in relation to shifting configurations of power. The argument is that arts journalism at Die Burger can be situated within networks of power and thus contributed to the structuring of post-apartheid society. In the words of Antonio Gramsci, arts journalists became involved in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggles. Flowing from these theoretical departure points, the study identifies critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an appropriate research method for textual analysis and adapts a five-phase model suggested by Teun van Dijk as part of his contextual CDA approach. The analysis thus focuses in turn on the context of discourse, discursive struggles between arts journalists and political journalists, strategies of classification used by arts journalists, emerging themes of discourse in arts journalism, and how the selection and presentation of arts journalism on news and arts pages were influenced by various factors, including the personal background and experiences of arts journalists (The concept of Bourdieu’s “habitus”). To affect triangulation and enhance the textual analysis, the study also employs semi-structured indepth interviews with arts journalists who were prominent at Die Burger in the 1990s. The study found that arts journalists were at the intersection of different and often diverging and contradictory power-points in post-apartheid discourses at the newspaper. On the one hand, some arts journalists embraced a legacy of editorial independence at the arts desk and sometimes created oppositional discourses to the official political view of the newspaper: for instance on the issue of alleged “collective guilt” for Afrikaners and whether Naspers should appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to explain its role in supporting the National Party (NP) during apartheid. On the other hand, many arts journalists shared the editor’s apparent aversion to the international cultural boycott supported by the ANC and harboured some of the same skepticism about the so-called Africanisation of society and resultant attacks on Eurocentrism in the arts. This study -- the first on this level to focus on Afrikaans arts journalism since 1994 -- represents a significant contribution to knowledge in the under-researched field of arts journalism in South Africa. Its purpose and process has furthermore developed theoretical and methodological innovations which can enrich the field of journalism studies.
- ItemMass media, lifestyle and young adults’ (un)reflexive negotiation of social and individual identities in Windhoek(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03-12) Fox, Thomas Arthur; Wasserman, Herman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rapidly growing presence of old and new media in postcolonial Namibia, particularly from the decade after the turn of the Millennium, has significance for cultural and identity transformations in the country. Formerly entrenched social identities, shaped by restrictive colonialism and indigenous traditions, appear to be under pressure as shifts become apparent in the face of globalisation. This thesis examines the characteristics of change from the perspective of young adults’ mediated experiences in the city of Windhoek. The research constitutes a cultural study that addresses the current knowledge gap regarding how growing local and global media presences are increasingly situated in youth identity and cultural lifestyle spaces. Degrees of reflexive response to mediated information and entertainment are examined in an attempt to understand awareness of and reaction to local and global power narratives situated in actors’ relationships with media. It was found that participants responded positively to the novelty and opportunities that global media offered for identity and lifestyle negotiations, while also revealing ontological anxieties about erosion of ‘traditional’ culture, and concern about absence of recognition and representation of the ‘local’ in global media productions. This led to the research conceptually establishing three participant orientations to media: cultural expropriationist, cultural traditionalist and cultural representationalist. The study concluded that while media seemed to be instrumental in identity and cultural change, social tension over matters of culture appeared to be emerging.
- ItemMedia construction and representation of women in political leadership positions: A study of selected news media outlets in Nigeria(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Fafowora, Bimbo Lolade; Rabe, Lizette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Despite the growing acceptance of women’s political participation across the world, women in political leadership positions are still regarded as “others”. In Nigeria, just like in other parts of the world, women are still poorly represented in politics and political leadership positions. Globally, media portrayal of women has been identified as one of the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in politics and public leadership. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the construction and representation of women in political leadership positions by the media in Nigeria. Situated at the intersection of media, politics and gender studies, this study explores media contents for representations of women in politics which could contribute to the promotion and perpetuation of traditional gender stereotypes which legitimate marginalisation and subordination of women in Nigeria. Given that media has been identified as sites for hegemonic contestations through ideology building, this study, by examining the construction and representation of women political leaders in four national newspapers in Nigeria, namely The Punch, The Guardian, Vanguard, and This Day, contributes to media and feminist scholarship aimed at understanding the intersections in the marginalisation and subjugation of women in society. The study combines analysis of media contents with In-Depth Interviews to ascertain important stakeholders’ sensitivity to the role of the media in the promotion of disempowering narratives and stereotypes which have excluded women from public leadership positions by confining them to the private space. Utilising the interpretive research paradigm, the study is hinged on three theoretical frameworks, namely Framing Theory, Media Hegemony Theory, and Feminist Theory. Drawing on the principles of these theories, the study examines how media processes play out in the selection and publication of stories about women in political leadership positions in Nigeria, as well as how media publications promote and reinforce pre-existing socio-cultural gender norms. This study adopts the case study methodological approach, utilising Content Analysis and In-Depth Interviews(IDI).The data were thematically analysed using Atlas.ti 8, a computer software programme. The media articles and the respondents were selected using purposive and snowball sampling techniques respectively. The study reveals that while the media in Nigeria utilise both stereotypical and non-stereotypical frames in their portrayal of women in political leadership positions between 2007, 2011,and 2015, the quantity of publications focusing on them increased by 13% while usage of gender stereotypes in the publications reduced by 31%. Nevertheless, the publication of an average of six media articles per day across the four newspapers indicates that women in politics are still largely underrepresented in the Nigerian media sphere. Meanwhile, a cross-section of the respondents perceived media representations of women in politics as numerically marginalising, but not stereotypically tinged. Therefore, this study concludes that women in political leadership positions are still being framed out of the Nigerian media space, and that the media in Nigeria are sites for the reproduction of disempowering patriarchal discourses. Lastly, it also concludes that socio-cultural gender norms and economic challenges intersect with media representations in perpetuating the low participation of Nigerian women in politics.
- ItemNewswork in transition : An ethnography of Netwerk24(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Jordaan, Marenet; Botma, Gabriel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores how journalists at Netwerk24, as Afrikaans news website and national newsroom, experience and describe newswork during a time of disruption and transition. Situated within the field of journalism studies, this newsroom ethnography analyses how newsroom culture is structured by, and structures, the way journalists interact with each other and with non-human actors, such as digital media technologies. A thorough literature review indicates that digital media technologies can, on the one hand, change newswork on a structural level. On the other hand, such technologies can also, often simultaneously, become naturalised parts of existing newsroom practices and routines. What becomes clear, however, is that a technocentric view of changes to the newsroom is too limited, and that the role of culture and context should also be considered. As such, a novel theoretical framework is used in order to address the historical dispositions that influence journalists’ actions, while simultaneously addressing the current associations that develop amongst journalists and between journalists and the so-called material “stuff” they use during newswork. The study thus relies on a combination of the basic tenets of Bourdieu’s field theory, more specifically the professional journalistic habitus, and Latour’s actor-network theory. The argument pursued in this study is that journalists who were and are socialised in a specific professional manner into newsroom culture are actors within an unstable news-producing network; a network where digital media technologies also play an active role. By using an ethnographic research design, this exploration of Netwerk24 adds to existing studies from within the newsroom; an approach that allows the researcher to open the so-called “black box” of newswork. More than 250 hours’ worth of participant observation field notes from four different geographical newsroom offices, in combination with semi-structured interviews with purposively selected research participants contribute to a better understanding of what happens where news is produced for Netwerk24. More importantly, the analysis of findings – using ATLAS.ti version 7 – provides insight into why the cultures, practices and routines at Netwerk24 are structured the way they are. The research findings reveal that digital media technologies (such as Facebook and WhatsApp), while key to newswork, are not the main drivers of change and disruption within the Netwerk24 newsroom. These technologies enable, or force, the journalists to be multi-skilled and thus add to their workload. Yet the Netwerk24 journalists appear to have accepted and incorporated these non-human actors quite naturally into their newswork. What is of more concern for the journalists are the culture and communication in the newsroom. A lack of clarity about radical changes, the influence of specific newsroom personalities, an inability to share the vision for Netwerk24 due to a perceived lack of internal communication, and other challenges to newswork seem to cause more uneasiness amongst journalists than technological disruptions. The study thus concludes that while most journalists are willing to adapt to change and accept the uncertainty of a future in journalism, they often hold on to traditional conceptualisations of journalism and crave to know where they fit into the Netwerk24 newswork network.
- ItemThe political role of the media in the democratisation of Malawi : the case of the Weekend Nation from 2002 to 2012(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-12) Gunde, Anthony Mavuto; Sesanti, Simphiwe; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of JournalismENGLISH ABSTRACT : This study investigated the political role of the Weekend Nation newspaper in the democratisation of Malawi between 2002 and 2012 within the context of its foundational and ownership structures by a politician. Bearing in mind that the newspaper was founded by a politician belonging to the first democratically elected ruling party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), this research sought to examine the impact of media ownership on the political role of the Weekend Nation’s journalistic practices in Malawi’s democratisation. Between 2002 and 2012, Malawi was governed by three presidents – Bakili Muluzi of the UDF from 1994 to 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from 2004 to 2012, and Joyce Banda of the People’s Party (PP) from 2012 to 2014 – all of whom were hostile to the Weekend Nation. Taking into cognisance the ownership of the Weekend Nation by a politician, the critical political economy theory of the media was deemed to be the most appropriate theoretical framework for this study. In media research, the critical political economy theory asserts that owners are able to regulate the output of the media institution either by intervening in the day-to-day operations, or by establishing general goals and understandings and appointing managerial and editorial staff to implement them within the constraints set by the overall allocation of resources. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, in particular in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis. Research findings indicate that overall, the political ownership of the newspaper had no direct bearing on the journalists’ political role in the enhancement of democracy and good governance in Malawi. It established that despite the ownership of the Weekend Nation belonging to a prominent and influential politician, the editorial independence was not compromised. Contrary to general expectations, this study established that the Weekend Nation in Malawi, was critical to the political elite in an indiscriminate manner. Although it was not the focus of this study, the research also showed that market forces, in line with the stance taken by the critical political economy theory, had some impact on the Weekend Nation’s editorial independence. The quest for more advertising revenue, to an extent, undermined the struggle for complete editorial independence.
- ItemSites of remembrance and forgetting : new media (re)constructions of distinct Ndebele collective memory and history in the context of hegemonic Zimbabwean Nationalism(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Ndlovu, Mphathisi; Botma, Gabriel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines new media reconstructions of Ndebele collective memory and history in the context of hegemonic Zimbabwean Nationalism. Situated within the overlapping fields of cultural studies, journalism and media studies, the research explores the possibilities of news websites as liberatory spaces for ethnic minorities, such as the Ndebele people, to recollect, mediate and circulate their historical narratives that have been marginalised and suppressed in the dominant nationalist spheres. Given that new media have been lauded as counter-hegemonic sites that promote political participation, civic engagement and social change, this study contributes to these scholarly engagements by examining how Ndebele people are appropriating three news websites (Newzimbabwe.com, Bulawayo24.com and Umthwakazireview.com) to resurrect, preserve and commemorate their repressed historical memories. In focusing on a Ndebele community that is haunted by traumatic memories of the state-orchestrated post-colonial violence, this study probes how new media are empowering the subjugated communities to recount, mediate and share their memories of past events that remain occluded, repressed and criminalised in official discourses. This research is premised on a social constructionist understanding that the media do not reflect a reality “out there”, but rather construct our knowledge of the social world. Drawing upon theoretical insights from cultural studies, this study examines how Ndebele communities employ new media artefacts to construct, in other words, their lived experiences, and to reconstruct their historical imaginations. This study is framed within a qualitative methodology, as the aim was to explore meaning-making practices in cyberspace. The Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), a strand of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), was selected as a method for analysing how language use serves to reproduce and challenge asymmetrical power relations amongst social groups. Data was selected purposively from three news websites, and genres such as editorials, opinion pieces, discussion forums, YouTube videos and readers’ comments were analysed to make sense of the reconstructions of Ndebele public memories. The research findings indicate that Ndebele people are employing new media to recollect, preserve and transmit their pre-colonial and post-colonial memories in ways that not only repudiate hegemonic Zimbabwean Nationalism, but also contribute to the resurgence of Ndebele secessionist imaginations. Thus, new media are sites of memory that are not only transforming and democratising the processes of narrating, preserving and disseminating historical memories, but also are reinvigorating and heightening Ndebele nationalism.
- ItemThe stars in our eyes: representations of the Square Kilometre Array telescope in the South African media(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03) Gastrow, Michael; Claassen, George; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Journalism.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die vierkantkilometer-radioteleskoop SKA (―Square Kilometre Array‖) sal na verwagting die grootste teleskoop op aarde en die grootste wetenskapprojek in Afrika wees. Hierdie verhandeling konsentreer op hoe die SKA vanaf September 2011 tot Augustus 2012 in die Suid-Afrikaanse media uitgebeeld is. Dit handel oor die leemtes in die literatuur oor wetenskapkommunikasie, veral wat betref wetenskapkommunikasie in Afrikaverband. Deur uit massa- en wetenskapkommunikasieteorie te put, modelleer die studie kommunikasieprosesse en -uitsette met behulp van ‘n konseptuele raamwerk wat op die gedagte van die openbare sfeer berus. Die navorsing word in die besonder onderstut deur onderhoude met sleutelinformante en die ontleding van nuus- en sosiale media. Die wetenskapkommunikasie oor die SKA gedurende hierdie tydperk was stelselmatig gekenmerk deur ‘n hoë vlak van koördinasie tussen die aansporings, strategieë en strukture van alle hoofrolspelers oor die kommunikasiestelsel heen. Al die hoofrolspelers buite die media het die SKA op so ‘n manier in die openbare sfeer probeer uitbeeld dat dit openbare steun sou werf. Primêre hekwagterfunksies is aan die voorste SKA-organisasie- en openbaresektor-rolspelers toegewys, maar was verder afgewentel binne universiteite. Hekwagterfunksies in die media is hoofsaaklik deur nuuswaarde sowel as institusionele kultuur en organisatoriese kenmerke bepaal. Verhoudings tussen wetenskaplikes en joernaliste was oënskynlik oor die algemeen positief en gegrond op vertroue. Die beduidendste bron van inligting vir joernaliste was die SKA self, gevolg deur rolspelers in die openbare sektor. Tog is ander rolspelers, bepaald plaaslike belanghebbendes, gemarginaliseer. Die Afrikaanstalige media het veral onder plaaslike gemeenskappe ‘n belangrike rol gespeel en het meer dikwels as ander oor die SKA berig. Die sosiale media het die SKA merendeels op ‘n soortgelyke wyse as die nuusmedia hanteer, maar die struktuur van kommunikasie-uitsette is beïnvloed deur die kenmerkende eienskappe van sosiale media self, waaronder die virale verspreiding van boodskappe en hoër vlakke van vryewilsoptrede (―agency‖) deur individuele rolspelers. Tog was daar aanduidings van beduidende media-integrasie, in die sin dat groot Suid-Afrikaanse mediahuise die bron was van die meeste boodskappe in sowel die nuus- as sosiale media.