This thesis examines the meanings that residents of the township of Hooggenoeg (in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa) made of the election coverage in the Grocott’s Mail newspaper during 2011 municipal elections in South Africa. In addition, this study also sought to understand the particular set of ‘normative roles’ played by the paper, both with reference to the well-established body of theory about the normative roles of journalism in a democracy, and in terms of the paper’s own conceptualisation of its role in the functioning of local democracy. Grocott’s Mail, the oldest independent newspaper in South Africa, provided extensive pre-election coverage, which included producing and distributing an unprecedented free edition of the paper. The paper also facilitated a town hall debate in order to encourage residents to vote, and empower them to make a more informed choice about their vote. Three qualitative research methods, namely qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews, and individual interviews were used to examine the relationship between the content provided by the paper and the audience’s process of ‘making sense’ and deriving meaning from the content provided. The study concludes that Grocott’s attempt to encourage democratic culture in Grahamstown, in keeping with the more ‘facilitative’ normative roles that the local media can play, was only partially successful. Much of the election reporting subordinated the voices of the ordinary people, and privileged reporting that focussed narrowly on the voting process, and which foregrounded the views of political parties. Overall this coverage largely failed to resonate with the Grocott’s readers who live in Hooggenoeg (a largely ‘coloured’ area of Grahamstown), whose key concerns in terms of their daily life – such as poverty, unemployment, crime, lack of services – seemed, to them, unaddressed by this election coverage and, consequently, was not as engaging or convincing as the publishers/editors had hoped it would be. It can be also argued that Grocott’s narrow conceptualisation of democracy as entailing only public participation in electoral processes failed to cater for how audiences can be made aware of how they can participate in governance beyond the election period.

The purpose of this case study was to compare the news coverage of The Umatilla chemical weapons by examining newspapers from different communities: The Oregonian and The Hermiston Herald. The author examines solution frames, pluralistic frames, episodic frames, and thematic frames and compares them across two newspapers. The study found the difference was not significant when comparing the use of solution frames between The Hermiston Herald and The Oregonian. In addition, there was not a significant difference in use of pluralistic framing by The Hermiston Herald and The Oregonian. However, there was a significant difference in the sources presented in the newspaper articles. There was also a significant presence of episodic frames compared to thematic frames in both the newspapers under examination.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This treatise is a study of media-related articles in the South African press February 1996 to April 1999. Through a discourse analysis approach, the treatise identifies two main discourses relating to normative press models: the watchdog discourse and the nation-building discourse. It is argued that the watchdog discourse largely resembles classical libertarian press ideals, while the nation-building discourse resembles social responsibility ideals. The analysis contains numerous examples of the tensions between the government and the newspaper industry in terms of normative press models. Finally, the treatise challenges the assumed tensions that exist between nation-building and watchdog discourses, and suggests communitarianism as an ideology which upholds the crucial interests of both the press and the government. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Govemment and the media are in the process of establishing South Africa's first Presidential Press Corps (PPC) based on the White House Press Corps in the United States of America. The need for a body like the Presidential Press Corps (PPC) has become increasingly evident as the recent relationship between the South African president and this country's press can only be characterised as poor. The establishment of the PPC potentially presents an ethical dilemma though due to various factors. A joumalist can only serve the public with the most comprehensive and accurate news when his or her finger is on the pulse of events that take place within the decision-making bodies. However, being so close to those in power may seriously threaten journalistic independence. This dilemma would be discussed in detail in this assignment. In May 200 I, the troubled relationship between Mbeki and the media was tackled at an Indaba between the South African National Editor's Forum (SANEF) and cabinet at Sun City. The crux and outcome of these discussions are set forth in The lf/oy Fo/wOld, a report prepared by those attending the Indaba. The establishment of the PPC is one of eight joint government and media initiatives outlined in this report. Although there is overwhelming support for the Pl'C, there is concern that the Pl'C members would be censored, manipulated and controlled by government as a result of their proximity. The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) believes the implications are far reaching and pose a serious threat to a free press. This first group of Pl'C journalists is going where no other has gone before in this country's history. They are however facing a daunting task, as the arena they are entering is fraught with novelties, challenges, obstacles and temptations. This assignment will examine the media's role in a democracy, the challenges of far closer cooperation between the media and government, the ethical dilemma potentially presented by the Pl'C as well as ways to ensure as far as possible, an ethical and professional relationship between government and the corps's members. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die regenng en die media is in die proses om Suid-Afrika se eerste Presidensiele Perskorps (PPK) te stig. Die konsep is geskoei op die van die Wit Huis Perskorps in die Verenigde State van Amerika. 'n Dringende behoefte bestaan in Suid-Afrika aan 'n liggaam soos die PPK aangesien dit duidelik geword het dat die verhouding tussen die president en die media nie na wense is nie. Die stigting van die PPK kan egter weens verskeie faktore eties-problematies wees. Joernaliste kan die publiek slegs voorsien van akkurate nuus indien hulle vingers op die polsslag van gebeure binne die land se besluitnemende liggame is. Joernalistieke onafhanklikheid kan egter in gedrang kom indien die verhouding tussen die "waghond" en die regering te intiem raak. Die PPK-Iede sal na verwagting weens gereelde kontak 'n veel hegter verhouding met die president he as wat die geval is met ander joemaliste. Die vertroebelde verhouding tussen die media en president Thabo Mbeki is in Mei 200 1 bespreek tydens 'n lndaba by Sun City. Een van die inisiatiewe waarop daar ooreengekom is in 'n poging om die probleme aan te pak, is die stigting van die PPK. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Redakteursforum en die regering hoop dat die korps sal bydra tot 'n vryer vloei van inligting asook tot 'n beter verstandbouding tussen die regering en die media. Hoewel daar oorweldigende steun is vir die PPK, is daar ook vrese dat die korps se lede gemanupileer en beheer sal word deur die kabinet.Die eerste groep PPK-lede gaan baanbrekerswerk verrig, maar die pad voor hulle is onbekend en vol potensiele gevare. Die uitdagings, slaggate sowel as maniere hoe etiese probleme oorkom kan word, word in hierdie werkstuk bespreek.

This thesis explores the origins, purposes, journalistic practices and outcomes of two award-winning projects namely Broken Homes and Slumlords done by Daily Dispatch's Gcina Ntsaluba in 2009. The projects were described by the paper as investigative journalism but interestingly the original idea came from grassroots driven strategies and they were done by adopting alternative news gathering strategies and immersion in the ordinary people, inspired by public journalism. This thesis follows Christians et al's (2009) normative theoretical framework of press roles summarised as the monitorial, facilitative, collaborative and radical roles. It provides normative prescriptions of public and investigative journalism, development and radical journalism. It then draws on sociological theoretical critiques in order to provide an analytical overview of the complex matrix of political, economic and media contexts which influenced the origins, purposes, journalistic practices and outcomes of the two projects. Drawing on a critical realist case study design, the thesis goes on to provide a narrative account of the two projects based on the in-depth interviews exploring the editorial staffs ideas on the origins, purposes, journalistic practices and outcomes of the projects and a qualitative content/thematic analysis of the journalistic texts related to the projects. This primary data is then critically evaluated against normative theories of press performance, especially Nip's (2008) key practices and Haas's (2007) 'public philosophy' of public journalism. It is also evaluated against a normative framework of what constitutes "good investigative journalism" based on Ettema and Glasser (1998), Waisbord (2000) among others. Protess et al 1991's classic mobilisation model is used to interrogate the projects' outcomes. The thesis established that there was a close connection of the monitorial (investigative journalism), facilitative (public journalism) and radical (tabloid journalism) roles at the paper which shows that the roles are not mutually exclusive. The two projects however fell short of the collaborative role (development journalism) which can, partly, be attributed to the adversarial nature of the relationship between the state and the media. The Daily Dispatch also failed to activate a platform for deliberation and public problem solving. There might thus be more scope in adopting a 'facilitative monitorial role' which would not only expose those who violate other people's human rights, corrupt people and institutions that are not performing well. Instead it will also activate civic life and facilitate 'collaboration' between government and the publics in problem solving.

This study investigates how journalists experience economic and political pressures on their ethical decisions at the Nation Media Group (NMG) conglomerate in Kenya. The study uses qualitative semi- structured interviews to examine how journalists experience these pressures on their professional ethics as they make their daily decisions. Grounded in the critical political economy of the media tradition, the findings of the study indicate that economic and political pressures from advertisers, shareholders’ interests, the profit motive and the highly ethnicised political environment in Kenya largely compromise the ethical decisions of journalists. The study draws on the work done by Herman and Chomsky in their ‘Propaganda Model’ in which they propose ‘filters’ as the analytical indicators of the forms that political and economic pressures that journalists experience may take. The study explores the ways in which journalists experience these pressures, how they respond to the pressures and the ways in which their responses may compromise their journalism ethics. The findings indicate that aside from the pressures from the primary five filters outlined in the Propaganda Model, ethnicity in Kenyan newsrooms is a key ‘filter’ that may compromise the ethical decisions of journalists at the NMG. The study therefore argues that there is a need to modify the explanatory power of the Propaganda Model when applying it to the Kenyan context to include ethnicity as a ‘sixth filter’ that should be understood in relation to the five primary filters. From the findings, it would seem that the government is no longer a major threat to journalists’ freedom and responsibility in Kenya. Market forces and ethnicity in newsrooms pose the greatest threat to journalists’ freedom and responsibility. The study therefore calls for a revision of the normative framework within which journalists’ and media performance in Kenya is assessed. As the study findings show, the prevailing liberal- democratic model ignores the commercial and economic threats the ‘free market’ poses to journalism ethics as well as ethnicity in newsrooms and only focuses on the media- government relations, treating the government as the major threat to media freedom.

Submitted by Biblioteca Central (biblioteca@unicap.br) on 2018-01-26T14:58:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Camil_Barros_Lins.pdf: 83199692 bytes, checksum: 335a8340c59a281d91244270c0bea3f3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-26T14:58:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camil_Barros_Lins.pdf: 83199692 bytes, checksum: 335a8340c59a281d91244270c0bea3f3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-01-02 / Sem resumo em língua estrangeira. / A presente pesquisa tem como foco de estudo o discurso da mídia e busca compreender como foi construído o discurso midiático na cobertura sobre os acontecimentos relacionados ao impeachment da Presidenta da República democraticamente eleita, Dilma Rousseff, e ao governo provisório, exercido pelo então vice-presidente, Michel Temer, nos jornais de Pernambuco, além de identificar padrões e indícios que apontem uma heterogeneidade ou homogeneidade discursiva da mídia, comparar a elaboração do discurso político entre os veículos analisados e refletir sobre o posicionamento da mídia diante da maior crise política da história recente do Brasil. As matérias analisadas foram publicadas nos cadernos de política dos três principais veículos impressos do Estado: Diario de Pernambuco, Folha de Pernambuco e Jornal do Commercio e referem-se à cobertura de fatos políticos relevantes que aconteceram no período de duração do governo provisório, entre 12 de maio e 31 de agosto de 2016. A primeira data corresponde ao afastamento de Rousseff, e a segunda ao término do processo de impeachment, que culminou na destituição definitiva da presidenta eleita. A base teórica-conceitual deste estudo articula conceitos da Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD) – a partir, sobretudo, de Fairclough (2008 [1992]; 1995) e Van Dijk (1998a; 1998b; 2009 [2008]), além de contribuições da corrente de linha francesa, a partir de Charaudeau (2005) – e da Teoria do Enquadramento – com base, por exemplo, em Entman (1993), Gitlin (1980) e o Porto (In: RUBIM (org.), 2004). As matérias foram analisadas de acordo com os critérios de identificação, interpretação, descrição e classificação dos enquadramentos presentes no discurso, conforme indicações de Hertog e McLeod (In: REESE; GANDY; GRANT (ed.)), Entman (1993), Porto (In: RUBIM (org.), 2004) e Pan e Kosicki (1993), a partir dos recursos da Análise Discursiva Crítica apontados por Fairclough (2001 [1992]). Observou-se, na maioria das matérias analisadas, a predominância de enquadramentos favoráveis ao discurso pró-impeachment e/ou pró-Temer, o que pode ser interpretado como reflexo do posicionamento principal adotado pelos três jornais pernambucanos durante o processo de impeachment.

MA (English) / Department of English / The study analysed the language used by The Herald and Daily News journalists to report on the marriage conflict between the former Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Ms Locardia Karimatsenga. The Herald is a state-owned newspaper and Daily News is a privately-owned newspaper. An analysis of the marriage conflict enabled readers, in a magnified way, to see how ideological differences between the public and private media in Zimbabwe are represented. The study examined the similarities and/or differences in the manner in which the marriage conflict was represented in both papers. The study also examined the language used in the headlines, established the sources used and evaluated the ideological stances of the two newspapers. The study utilised the case study design. The researcher only focused on articles which were published during the month when the former Prime Minister married Ms Elizabeth Macheka in September 2012. It was also the month when the media published many articles about the marriage saga. Seventeen articles were analysed, eleven from The Herald and six from the Daily News. Framing and Representation theories were deemed appropriate to analyse the articles. Critical Discourse Analysis and semiotic analysis were used to analyse the selected articles and visuals which accompanied them. The findings of the study revealed that The Herald reports tended to be biased against the Prime Minister, while the Daily News was more objective in its use of language.

This dissertation examines the agendas and frames used by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) and Reuters in their coverage of issues and actors of the May 2005 Ethiopian Elections, by employing agenda-setting and framing theories. The study applies quantitative and qualitative methods and examined fifty news stories from each news agency, and forwards five main findings: One, ENA and Reuters differed in setting agendas. While ENA focused on the legitimacy, Reuters emphasised on the killings and arrests of the electoral process. Second, ENA and Reuters differed in their motives to make some actors more salient than others. Third, ENA framed Elections processes as rightful, while Reuters framed them as disfigured. Fourth, ENA framed government parties as visionary and indomitable, and the oppositions as wrongdoers. Contrastingly, Reuters framed the oppositions as victims, and the government parties as brutal actors. And finally, by so doing, both agencies reflected their respective interests. / Communication Science / MA (International Communication)