Browsing by Author "Gerbi, Giovanna Maria"

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    An analysis of racial stereotyping of the South African Police in the television programmes Carte Blanche and Special Assignment from August 2003 to September 2004
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2005-04) Gerbi, Giovanna Maria; Wasserman, Herman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this assignment is to examine two investigative journalism programmes in South Africa, namely Carte Blanche and SpecialAssignment in order to ascertain whether two South African policing organisations have been subjected to racist stereotyping on these two programmes. Both these programmes are held in high esteem within South African and international media circles. Carte Blanche has won many awards, such as the prestigious eNN African Journalist of the Year Award in 2002. Special Assignment won the equivalent award in 2001. The approaches and styles in revealing the truth by using investigative forms of journalism are however slightly different. Both Carte Blanche and Special Assignment have produced stories from August 2003 to September 2004 that have exposed corruption within the South African policing organisations. Many of the perpetrators within the police force were identified as people of colour. This assignment therefore aims to discover whether racist stereotyping exists in this niche of investigative journalism television programmes. This opens up the possibility for these portrayals to be seen as stereotypical, since the dominant press codes in South Africa stipulates that reference to 'race' in news reporting should only be done where it will contribute significantly to understanding the subject matter or if the reference to the race of the person is particularly applicable. This assignment aims to discover whether racist stereotyping exists in this niche of investigative journalism television programmes. The research method comprised analysing programmes on Carte Blanche and Special Assignment that dealt with the South African policing organisations from August 2003 to September 2004. The original transcripts of the programmes were retrieved from the relevant websites of Carte Blanche and Special Assignment and have also been studied. Sources on media ethics as well as newspaper and magazine articles dealing with the South African policing organisations, crime and corruption were scrutinized in order to provide background information for the study. The analyses of the programmes was complemented by interviews conducted with the investigative journalists at the helm of the two programmes, namely, Ruda Landman from Carte Blanche and Jessica Pitchford from Special Assignment.