Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / 131 p. / This thesis explores how six commercial local newspapers based in the towns of Swellendam, Bredasdorp, Caledon and Gansbaai are reporting on gender and HIV/AIDS in ways that may help to shift specific attitudes as well as to generate appropriate community responses. The overall aim of the study is to advance theories around the location of commercial news media in the development context. It also aims to inform and empower development workers and activists on the opportunities or pitfalls in engaging with rural local media to advance their development goals. In most prior studies into the nature of gender or HIV/AIDS reporting in the media in South Africa, the focus has been exclusively on mainstream corporate and/or urbanbased media titles and very little investigation has been done into the performance of small ruralbased media. The study employs two methods of data collection namely, a quantitative content analysis of newspapers and structured interviews with the editors of the papers, and a sample group of government employees and community activists in the respective towns. The structured interviews provide a qualitative dimension to the content analysis, bearing in mind the dangers of quantifying media content and making isolated judgements on the actual context of journalistic practice. Through the interviews, the researcher has been able to explore the extent to which the perceptions of the media editors visavis a public interest role with respect to gender and HIV/AIDS actually differs from the quantitative evidence of their performance and the perceptions of key informants in their communities. The findings of the study suggest that local rural media hold out great hope with respect to the advancement of development communication goals through commercial media platforms. The editors in the four towns have established organic connections with their community, albeit tenuous, but which extend into the ranks of development workers in their towns. The data from the content analysis suggests that women enjoy high visibility in the pages of their local papers, and they are most likely to be portrayed as positive achievers than as women encountering violence. The tenuous nature of the connections between editor and community are most starkly evident around the issue of HIV/AIDS, with coverage of this being very low despite much work being undertaken in the community to deal with the pandemic. With respect to the issue of gender, there was demonstrable evidence from actual examples of content, that showed on the one hand the capacity to motivate for change in women's lives, but also on the other hand a danger of reinforcing attitudes that compound women's oppression. The study offers recommendations to a range of roleplayers to ensure, firstly, the continued survival of local rural newspapers, and also support in building capacity to see these papers mature into journalism products that are integrative and transformative. / Ford Foundation and the Media Development and Diversity Agency

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The print media, especially newspapers, play an important role in providing information in any society. In the rural communities of South Africa, information available to the people is scanty. Growth of a newspaper is necessary if a newspaper is to fulfil its duties. The Zoutpansberger and Mirror are two of the few local newspapers that circulate in the Far North Region of the Northern Province. The Zoutpansberger, which started in 1985, has experienced negative growth in the various departments of the newspaper, while the Mirror, which started in September 1990, has experienced slow growth. Several factors have been responsible for this. Therefore, there was a need to examine and compare the factors that have affected the growth/development of the newspapers over ten years. The aims and objectives of the study are to examine and compare the factors that affect the growth and development of the Zoutpansberger and Mirror, give suggestions to facilitate future growth and the best ways of utilising the available resources. A literature survey was carried out to get the perspectives of other researchers. Data was collected after conducting personal interviews, using the interview schedule. It was analysed and interpreted with the use of graphs and charts. The findings reveal that economic, social, cultural and geographical factors affect the growth of the newspaper. A few recommendations have been given to highlight ways in which the paper can make full use of the available resources. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die drukmedia, in die besonder koerante, speel 'n belangrike rol in die oordrag van inligting in enige samelewing. In die plattelandse gemeenskappe van Suid-Afrika is die beskikbare inligting karig. Vir 'n koerant om sy pligte na te kom, is dit nodig dat die koerant groei. Die Zoutpansberger en Mirror is twee van die plaaslike koerante in die Verre Noorde-streek van die Noordelike Provinsie. Die Zoutpansberger, gestig in 1985, het negatiewe groei In verskeie afdelings ondervind, terwyl die Mirror, gestig in September 1990, stadige groei ondervind het. Verskeie faktore is hiervoor verantwoordelik. Daar was daarom 'n behoefte om die faktore te ondersoek wat die groei van die koerante oor 'n tydperk van tien jaar beïnvloed het. Die doel van die studie is om die faktore wat die groei en ontwikkeling van die Zoutpansberger en die Mirror geraak het, te ondersoek en te vergelyk en om voorstelle te gee wat toekomstige groei en optimale benutting van beskikbare bronne kan bewerkstellig. 'n Literatuurstudie is gedoen om die perspektiewe van ander navorsers te betrek. Data is ingesamel nadat persoonlike onderhoude gedoen is met behulp van die onderhoudskedule. Dit is geanaliseer en geïnterpreteer met behulp van grafika en kaarte. Die bevindinge bring aan die lig dat ekonomiese, maatskaplike, kulturele en geografiese faktore die groei van die koerant beïnvloed. Enkele voorstelle is gemaak om moontlike maniere te belig waarop die koerant die beskikbare bronne ten volle kan benut.

This thesis argues that there is a clear imbalance in the representation of crime in the newspaper, Grocott’s Mail, in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The thesis concludes that the system of marginalisation and segregation which was established during the apartheid era is the foundation for the continued segregation and marginalisation of certain groups of people in Grahamstown as depicted in crime journalism. Previous research shows that not only people, but spaces are marginalised through media representations of crime. As people are represented as dangerous, so too the spaces they occupy become dangerous spaces. Importantly, the research shows that discourses of marginalisation are present in newspaper reports reproducing the discourses prominent in society, and in turn, the newspaper itself perpetuates these marginalising discourses. This extends into the coverage that different crimes receive in newspapers. For instance, the reports show that a middle-class audience will be more concerned with property crime in middle-class neighbourhoods, than other crimes in lower-class neighbourhoods. I argue that not only the type of crime, but the severity, the effect, and the necessity for justice represented by the newspaper, are all largely determined by the region of the crime. Further, I show that the criminal is not only demonised and represented as individually deviant in the reports in the newspaper, but that these representations are made by this newspaper because they are deeply imbedded as a discourse in society. This is partly because this newspaper has taken on a monitorial role, requiring neutral reporting from journalists, and a dedication to surveying the processes of state institutions, like the police and courts. As a result, the ways in which crime is reported on in the newspaper is fairly well fixed, making it difficult for journalists to conceive of different ways of reporting crime. The representations of the criminal justice system that the monitorial media, this newspaper included present, are a careful balance between the interest of the public, and the need to preserve relationships with sources. The monitorial media in general, and this newspaper in particular, represent the criminal justice system. The relationship between the police and the newspaper, and the courts and the media, therefore strongly influences the way in which crime news is reported. In particular, crime news is represented from the perspective of the criminal justice system. This research was carried out using Critical Discourse Analysis, qualitative interviews, and focus group interviews.

This research explores to what extent the community newspaper, Fourways Review, which is distributed to a geographically demarcated area in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, is fulfilling the community’s expectations; how community members use the newspaper and how Fourways Review’s community journalists define their roles. The research uses a qualitative approach to collect data through face-to-face, in-depth interviews with a sample of 30 community members and eight news team members; and one week of participant observation in the newsroom. Data is analysed through a constant comparative technique. The research finds Fourways Review is accepted in the community but is not as community-minded as a community newspaper should be, which affects how the community members use the publication. Community member respondents attribute the criticism to the influence of a market-driven approach to reporting. This is echoed by the news team respondents who say news production is influenced by community, advertising and inter-departmental pressures. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Studies)

本研究は、冷戦期と黒人公民権運動期という二重の文脈が交差するなかで、中国系アメリカ人の運動に作用した多様なダイナミズムを歴史的に解明することであった。これにより、従来のような「同化」と「モデル・マイノリティ」の視点から語られがちであった中国系アメリカ人という歴史観とは異なる視座から、当時の中国系アメリカ人の歴史を捉えることを試みた。さらに、チャイナタウン内で発行されていた中国語新聞と中国共産党の資料の分析により、中国共産主義が中国系の左派活動家を通して、いかにアメリカ合衆国の黒人公民権運動に影響を与えたかとのことも検証した。 / This dissertation provides an overview of Chinese American activism during the Cold War-Civil Rights Movement period. At the same time, it re-examines the history of Chinese Americans from the perspective of Chinese American activism. By employing a transnational approach to Chinese American activism and carefully analyzing various primary resources, this project attempts to clarify the dynamic process through which Chinese American activist movements changed from engaging in spheres of transnational Chinese struggles to fighting for justice and the interests of their own community in the United States, and finally to becoming an integral part of the Asian American Movement. / 博士(アメリカ研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University