Browsing by Author "Muller, Wayne"

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    Die joernalis as openbare skakelbeampte : 'n ondersoek na die teoriee en praktyk van openbare skakelwese en die interaksie daarvan met die joernalisitek
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-03) Muller, Wayne; Retief, G. J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Journalism.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Except for employing their journalistic skills in traditional positions at newspapers and magazines, journalists today also have a choice of a variety of interesting communication careers. A journalist may choose to be, among others, a copywriter at an advertising agency, a translator, a presenter on television or radio, a publisher, as well as a public relations officer (PRO). Public Relations, especially, has become an increasingly popular career choice for journalists, mostly at a later stage of their careers. Public relations is a professional career, and practitioners have long been trained as specialist in their field. Also, career-orientated courses in public relations are offered at tertiary institutions countrywide. Despite this, experienced journalists are still top candidates for positions as PROs at a variety of organisations. However, because public relations has become considerably specialised and professional over the past 20 years, journalists should acquire extra, "specialised" skills to practise public relations. Their journalistic skills do, however, form a basis for a career in public relations. But the skills and techniques of public relations should still be acquired and applied. The purpose of this mini-thesis is to discuss these skills, and ultimately prepare journalists for a career in public relations. Many definitions of public relations exist, but essentially it is a continuous, systematic and cyclical process that aims to create and maintain a positive image of an organisation. This process consists of four phases. Research is the continuous gathering and interpretation of information to determine who the organisation's publics are (demographic information) and what their attitudes towards and perspectives of the organisation and its products and/or services are. Planning is in itself a process. Through planning the PRO determines the objectives and strategy of a communication programme, which should influence the attitudes and perspectives of the publics. Communication is the execution of the planning through the techniques of, among others, writing and public addresses. Evaluation determines whether the objectives of a communication programme have been met. In addition to these techniques, it should further be noted that public relations is applied differently within different organisations because the objectives and publics of organisations differ. A career change from journalism to public relations demands adjustment. This is discussed in the second part of the mini-thesis. For a journalist to become a successful PRO, he should acquire and apply the skills discussed, as well as be prepare to experience the adjustments that distinguish public relations from journalism.
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    A reception history of opera in Cape Town : tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985-2015)
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Muller, Wayne; Muller, Stephanus
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation an historical narrative is constructed of the reception of opera performances in Cape Town between 1985 and 2015 as reported on in the Cape Times and Die Burger. The study is theoretically situated in reception theory, specifically as articulated in Musicology by Carl Dahlhaus in Foundations of Music History. Reception histories are built on the social responses to art, and in the case of this study, opinions and views on opera were gathered from journalistic articles published specifically in the Western Cape daily newspapers, the Cape Times and Die Burger. In Chapter 1, the current literature on opera history in South Africa is reviewed, and the theoretical framework is discussed. Also in this chapter, is an overview of the South African media landscape, which serves as a contextual framework and perspective from which the primary sources (journalistic articles) were written. The research methodology is also explained in terms of the research design, data collection and the analysis of that data by using content analysis as methodology. An historical context and framework for this reception history is given in Chapter 2. The researcher revisits the historiography of opera on the basis of three identified historical patterns (addressed in the three parts of this chapter): the political enablers of opera, the professionalization of opera, and the introduction and dominance of nineteenth-century operas in the repertoire performed in Cape Town over a period of about two hundred years. In Chapter 3, the results of the study is presented as a reception history of opera in Cape Town. Four historical patterns were identified by the researcher, and this chapter is accordingly structured in four parts: the reigning aesthetics of Western European operas, the transformation of the opera industry, strategies towards contemporary relevance and Africanisation, as well as the performance of indigenous South African operas. The reception of opera in Cape Town shows that there had been a move over a period of thirty years towards the creation of a distinctly South African operatic expression and aesthetic, which aimed to preserve the musical and theatrical elements of Western European opera while fusing it with music, stories and settings that have indigenous South African roots.