South Africa is a country interconnected with Africa and also more connected with the world.South African national television news evidently is also more global or 'glocalised' (Robertson, 1996) today in comparison to the period during apartheid. This research incorporates an analytic-empirical, social constructivist approach, and interprets news as a specific construction of reality, a "social artifact" (Hjarvard, 2002: 91) of the context in which it is produced (Venter, 2001: 197). This definition allows for the analysis of existing aspects in news items to determine exactly what makes news reality global, 'glocal' or cosmopolitan.The methodology uses a comparative content analysis of three non-sequential weeks selected during September, October, and November 2006, of SABC 3 and e-TV national television news, focusing only on the first fifteen minutes of bulletins, and examining only foreign news. Foreign news includes foreign news locally and news with a South African connection abroad (Sreberny-Mohammadi etal, 1985). The current research analyses the influence of globalisation on each broadcaster - economically, politically, culturally, and technologically - and examines the mediation of global, 'glocal', and moderate cosmopolitan perspectives in news items. Findings reveal that globalisation does influence SABC 3 and e-TV in similar ways with slight differences, and while national or international perspectives are more prominent, global, 'glocal', and moderate cosmopolitan outlooks are still present, and e-TV represents these slightly more than SABC 3. Conclusively, SABC 3 and e-TV construct its news audience as citizens of the nation and citizens of the world, by representing a 'sliding scale' (Wallis and Baran, 1990) from national to international and global perspectives. This present study demonstrates how SABC 3 and e-TV mediate "allegiances to the outer circle" (Bowden, 2003: 242-243) - regional, international, and global - by examining the relevance of extending beyond a South African perspective in news broadcasts. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

This thesis articulates theoretical views on science fiction in relation to our world as viewed from a postmodern perspective. Inherent herein, is the exploration of the ambivalent nature of the theme of the apocalyptic and its pervasive influence in contemporary science fiction texts, in particular the selected canonical works of Arthur C. Clarke and contemporary film. The pertinent idea inherent in these texts is its concerns regarding the future of humanity. The social anxieties of our postmodern age are foregrounded thereby bridging the intersection of apocalyptic narrative with the concept of the postmodern. Of particular significance is the presentation of social degeneration, the collapse of civilized society through advanced technologies as well as the ending and transcendence of human time. This study sheds important light on the need and search for meaning in a world plunged by chaos and incoherence. This is imbued in the way science fiction texts mirror and develop such concerns in our postmodern period. In an attempt to construct meaning it thereby renders an exploratory examination of our postmodern world in relation to its dreams, visions and anxieties. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

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Indigenous communities, like the Bushmen of the Southern Kalahari, always attract visitors who 'go there' to experience the 'life out there'. Travelling in their 4x4s, these visitors also bring cameras and take pictures of their interactions with subject communities as evidence of 'having been there'. For academics and journalists, these pictures are meant to illustrate their presentations of 'what is actually there'. Both types of photographs are known as ethnographic photography. This study. asks and attempts to answer the question: how do we study ethnographic photography? As much as photographers attempt to portray their subjects realistically, their representations are often contested and criticised as entrenching subjugation, displacement and dehumanisation of indigenous peoples through 'visual metaphors' and other significatory regimes. This discussion reconsiders the concept of imaging others, by offering an analytical semiotic comparison between Paul Weinberg's anchored and published photographic texts of the Bushmen, on the one hand, and Sian Dunn's unpublished, inactive texts of the #tKhomani Bushmen, on the other. The discussion is an attempt to understand documentary photographers, processes of producing of images, the contexts in which they are produced and how the communities that are represented make sense of them. Concerns with the objectivity of representation go beyond the taking and consuming pictures of other cultures. This study is, therefore, grounded in cultural, social and ideological factors that shape the production and consumption ofphotographic representations of and from other cultures. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The Kingdom of Lesotho undertook a number of liberalisation initiatives in broadcasting in the late 1990s. These include several attempts to formulate the media policy document as well as the opening of the airwaves for private broadcasting in 1998. However, Lesotho has not yet succeeded to remove the government control of the broadcasting sector. This thesis examines the process of liberalisation in Lesotho's broadcasting. It assesses the media policy as reflected in several policy documents. It further evaluates the introduction of independent regulation in broadcasting sector in 2001. The thesis argues that the government has not been fully committed to liberalisation of broadcasting sector and, as a result, it continues to control the sector. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

The research will investigate the East Coast Radio Corporate Advertising Campaign which ran from early 1996 through until the end of March 1998. The 'catch phrase' or title of the campaign was "Hot Days, Cool Waves". The research will also focus on the station's constructs of its' audience. The thesis will follow through the agency's pitch to the client the end of the campaign. The campaign incorporates print, billboards, cinema and electronic media. The corporate advertising campaign preceded a large increase in East Coast Radio listenership. East Coast Radio began life as Radio Port Natal, part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Under the management of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Port Natal developed a particular image and specific audience profiles The new private station needed to establish an identity autonomous from the South African Broadcasting Company, in terms of both inherited and new listeners. The thesis will investigate the extent to which East Coast Radio retained the original audience after the transfer of ownership and the modality through which it was able to construct an extended audience for the station. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Radio broadcasting is usually classified as either a public broadcasting service or as being commercially driven. In the South African context, the concept of community radio has further complicated the definition of a public broadcasting service. While profit motivation and niche marketing characterize a radio driven by commercial means, community radio is predominantly non-profit oriented, directed towards a particular community. A public broadcasting service is, amongst other elements, typified as being geographically accessible to all and of paying particular attention to minority groups. Lotus FM, a radio station that came into existence on 16 January 1983, for the South African Indian community, describes itself as a "national public service-cum-commercial broadcaster with community responsibility". The South African Indian community, a minority group within the broader South African population, comprises of five language groups (Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Tamil and Telegu) and three religious groupings (Hinduism, Islam and Christianity). This research aims to explore the feasibility with which Lotus FM is accommodating the conflicting interests of being a melange of all three forms of broadcasting and reflecting it via its programmes. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Following the global 'capitalisation' of public institutions, academic institutions have embarked continuously on a drive towards 'marketisation' and commodification of their services. Tertiary institutions are utilising aggressive marketing strategies and media campaigns to attract students. This study examines the advertising campaign embarked on by the University of Natal in 1998/ 1999. This is a first stage of a two-tier marketing strategy, and it involves brand-building the University. This research assesses the University of Natal's advertising campaign both on radio and in print, it analyses the campaign from creative conceptualisation to media exposure, while giving a brief background to advertising and commodification trends among tertiary institutions in South Africa. Eric Michaels' (1990) proposal of a circular message transmission model called 'hermeneutic circle' (12-28) of a teleported text serves as the theoretical backdrop for the assessment of lhe conceptualisation process to the media exposure of the campaign. A semiotic analysis of the University of Natal's advertising campaign is also given and located within a particular context in the 'henneneutic circle'. Various focus group discussions were conducted : one comprising mainly white students from Pinetown Girls High School in Standard Nine; the second, mainly Indian students in their matric year at Queensburgh High School. The others comprised of black students from Ferndale Secondary School, Phoenix, but who reside in KwaMashu, and also black students from Amangwane High School in Bergeville, near Ladysmith. One on one interviews were also conducted with high school students. Most of these students were in Standard Nine with some completing their matric year. These discussions were conducted separately to avoid any kind of intimidation and domination of the discussions by students from the private schools who are more fluent in the command of the English language. The other group comprised of an alumnus, a parent, four students - two local and two international, and two staff members of the University. Their comments provide information in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign as well as the evaluation of the campaign concepts and contents in correlation with the cultural contexts of the target groups. The group discussions also provide insight into the reception and perception of the campaign. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

This study synthesises three conceptual areas-identity, fictional television programmes and memory to examine what young people remember about their fictional television viewing and how it impacts their identity. Memory is used as a window through which long-lasting identity influencers can be analysed; this takes the analysis beyond the level of 'effects' to a more contextualised view. Focus group research and a quantitative overview work to uncover which fictional programmes stand out in young people's memory and why. Research further interrogates what events, characters or story lines young people recall and why these elements are important. The answers to these two research questions crystallises the ways in which South African youths' memories of fictional programmes impact their identity formation. The hypothesis that young South Africans remember that which directly affirms or contradicts their lived experience, is found to be partially true. Similarly, the second hypothesis that fictional memories of South African 15- to 20-year-olds impact youth identity through a direct link between memory selection, interaction and application is found to be fractionally substantiated. The final conclusion of the study is that while memories of fictional programmes do impact the identity of young people, it must be viewed within the larger context of lived experience. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

This treatise employs comparative analysis to examine the content of television main news bulletins as broadcast on SABC 1 in the Nguni group of languages and on SABC 3 in English. Specific emphasis is placed on the extent of uniformity in news construction and presentation techniques applied across news bulletins in the two channels. This research was conceived in the light of endeavours which began in 1994 to transform the corporation into public service broadcasting; given its history of manipulation of its activities more especially in the news departments, by previous governments. From racial divides to language groupings as core requisites for channel divisions; this treatise saw the policy shift as providing a unique window in a moment of transition in public broadcasting in relation to rapid social and political change. Empirical data in the form of recorded news bulletins was collected between 13 July and 13 August 1998. The findings did not reveal any substantial differences in the news construction techniques that are applied on both SABC 1 and SABC 3 news bulletins. The project is organised into five sections. Section one is a brief historical overview of the SABC 's channel division structure from 1992 to 1998. This section also outlines the changes that have taken place during the past year at Television News due to the impact of the SABC 's public mandate to transform from state to public broadcaster. Section two carries a definition of television news. In this section a body of media theories and models are reviewed and their relevance to the present treatise is highlighted. Section three talks about the methodology and research employed. These included daily recordings of news bulletins on SABC 1 and SABC over a period of one month , as well as both telephonic and personal interviews with role players at the SABC. Section four contains an analysis of the recorded data. This data is tallied with the SABC' s policy documentation. Section five concludes the study. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.