This thesis seeks to investigate the role that blogs play in contemporary South African journalism through examining six blogs in the South African blogosphere and their content choices. This thesis draws on four key theoretical frameworks around which the research questions have been formulated: New Media and Journalism, Journalistic Blogging, Audiences and the Public Sphere. There are three key research questions: 1. What is the role played by blogging in contemporary South African journalism? 2. To what extent has the blogosphere become a Public Sphere? 3. How have blogs influenced/changed/impacted on the style and content of South African journalism? The qualitative data collected through blog observation, interviews with blog owner/ editors and concluded focus group discussions with blog readers, is designed to help reveal the role blogs and bloggers play in contemporary South African journalism, and through discussions with the audience and monitoring conversations online, help explore the possibilities of a public sphere. The conclusion of this thesis is that blogs do play a role in contemporary South African journalism and can serve as an effective public sphere. Defining what it means to be a journalist and recognising the differences between blogger and journalist is an issue that needs to be effectively understood before a conclusive agreement is to be reached in the blogger/journalist debate. However, for now the relationship between South African news agents and South African bloggers is promising. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This thesis critically examines the nature and purpose of a series of four town-hall-like meetings, the Community Dialogues, held in the townships and suburbs of East London, South Africa, in 2009. They were undertaken by a mainstream, commercial newspaper, the Daily Dispatch, under the banner of the worldwide public journalism movement. Following Christians et al (2009), the thesis sets out a normative framework of media performance in a democracy, including a detailed and critical normative theory of the ‘facilitative role’ proposed and developed by Haas (2007), one of the public journalism movement’s key advocate-theorists. It also draws on a variety of theoretical frameworks and perspectives in the fields of Political Studies and Media Studies to provide an analytical overview of the complex matrix of political and media contexts – at the macro (global), meso (national) and micro (local) levels – that have helped give impetus to the Community Dialogues and also shaped their ongoing operation as a public journalism strategy in the South African context. Following a critical realist case study design, the thesis goes on to provide a narrative account of the Dialogues based on in-depth interviews exploring the motivations, self-understandings and perceptions of those journalists who originated, directed and participated in this project, as well as observation of a Community Dialogue, and an examination of some of the journalistic texts related to the Dialogues. This primary data is then critically evaluated against normative theories of press performance, especially Haas’s ‘public philosophy’ of public journalism. The thesis found that apart from their undoubted success in generating a more comprehensive and representative news agenda for the newspaper, the Dialogues often fell short of Habermas’s (1989) proceduralist-discursive notion of the ‘deliberating public’, which sees citizens share a commitment to engage in common deliberation and public problem solving. This can be attributed to a number of problems, including some important theoretical/conceptual weaknesses in the Community Dialogues’ project design, the relative immaturity of the project, the domination of civil society by political society in the South African political context, and a number of organisational constraints at the Daily Dispatch. On the other hand, the newspaper’s editorial leadership has shown clear commitment to the idea of expanding the project in the future, establishing a more a more structured programme of community engagement, and nurturing a more sustainable public sphere, including the building of a more dialectical relationship between the Dialogues and civil society.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of the University of Witwatersrand’s Masters by Coursework and Research Report in Journalism studies, Johannesburg, February 2017 / Journalists are often presented with leaked information from whistleblowers. Having the information and writing the story, as well as handling a source that may or may not want to be anonymous, gives rise to ethical dilemmas on the part of the journalist. This was certainly true for journalists reporting on the political violence in South Africa during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Journalists operate under codes of practice that are set by various media organisations and must ensure that in using whistleblower information to write their stories, “they must avoid breaches of ethics, fairness, factual accuracy and contextual accuracy” (Houston, B. et al., 2002: 538). And most importantly, journalists are ethically bound to protect their sources. This research looks at the interaction between journalists and their sources of information in two major stories that involved the use of whistleblowers. It discusses and compares the issue of “source handling”, in the following two South African stories which used information leaked by whistleblowers: a. the 1991 “Inkathagate” story, which was broken by the Weekly Mail newspaper; b. “Vlakplaas” hit squad story, initially involving the Weekly Mail (20 October 1989) and then Vrye Weekblad (November 1989). This study also brings into focus the issue of strengthening journalistic ethics in the South African context. It contends that the “Inkathagate” and “Vlakplaas” stories were dependent on the verification of the information, as well as the ethical handling of the whistleblowers. This study raises questions about the motivations of the whistleblowers, their relationships with the journalists, as well as the critical role of the public’s “right to know”, or “public interest”. / XL2018

Research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Art (Journalism and Media Studies), Johannesburg, 2016 / Rape is a predominant crime and a social issue in South Africa today. South Africa’s incidence of rape is among the highest in the world. Identifying and understanding the dominant rape narratives in news media is useful in pinpointing how the media represents the crime of rape. It is understood through agenda-setting theory that news media plays an important role in how topics come onto the national agenda, giving news media a particular influence in society. Further, through discourse analysis and narrative theories, research has shown how what people read and hear can influence their understanding of those matters, and can drive social change or maintain the stability of social structures. Some theorists take this further, arguing that narrative fundamentally informs how humans make sense of the world, that reality is discursively constructed. The research below attempts to access, reveal and unpack these dominant narratives as they pertain to rape, using a combination of corpusbased analysis and critical discourse analysis techniques on two corpora of South African newspaper text from the first quarter of 2013, and tied to a specific case study, the rape and murder of Anene Booysen. The resultant findings also provide a snapshot of the dominant ideology and social practices in South Africa over the time period studied, as discourse and narrative are implicitly tied to power in society / GR2017

Tesis (MPhil) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When rumours started circulating in 1998 that former president Nelson Mandela and Mrs Graca Machel were about to get married, Mandela's spokesman at the time, Parks Mankahlana, vehemently denied them. Mankahlana was the gatekeeper who decided what information about Mandela' s impending marriage would be made available to the rest of the world. The entire incident became somewhat of an embarrassment for Mandela's office, resulting in the former president trying hard to cover for Mankahlana at subsequent media conferences. In the end it became a case of trying to unravel who had lied to whom, who had given whom instructions to say what, and who had been in the know and at what stage, etc. A similar incident ensued following an assassination attempt on former American president Ronald Reagan in 1981. Initially his media office kept the gates firmly shut by alleging he had been only slightly injured. Later it emerged he'd been much more seriously injured than the White House had initially intimated. Between 1996 and 1998 South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated human rights violations since 1960. The South African and foreign media were faced with the challenge of presenting witness accounts of the numerous attrocities in a palatable form. Despite these attempts media managers at Cape Town's two English-language dailies in particular detected a measure of reader resistance to "bad news" which made readers feel" powerless", and they consequently had to adopt a careful approach. The TRC could not be ignored, but the often gruesome details which came to light could not willy nilly be stuffed down readers' throats. Gatekeeping had to be exercised with the greatest circumspection and the news filters prudently regulated. This study attempts to illustrate the concept of gatekeeping by analysing the coverage the three Cape Town dailies, the Cape Argus, Cape Times and Die Burger, gave the most sensational sessions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In June and July 1998 about 10 men, each of them doctors or generals, gave evidence about their involvement in the stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons for South Africa's arsenal. Reporters were confronted with a major challenge to comply with the journalistic rigours set by this session. This study concentrates on reports of the different version of events given by four prominent witnesses, Dr Wouter Basson, former project leader of South Africa's chemical and biological weapons programme, his commanding officer and former surgeon general Lieutenant General Niel Knobel, General Lothar Neethling, former head of the police's forensic laboratory, and Dr Jan Lourens, biomedical engineer and the first witness to take the stand. To illustrate the phenomenon of gatekeeping interviews were held with nine journalists at the three newspapers to determine their views and perceptions, and the effect of these on the phenomenon of gatekeeping. Aspiring media managers, media managers, reporters and anyone performing a gatekeeping role may find the findings of this study useful. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Toe gerugte in 1998 die rondte begin doen het dat oudpres. Nelson Mandela en mev. Graca Machel trouplanne het, het Mandela se woordvoerder, Parks Mankahlana, dit heftig ontken. Mankahlana was die hekwagter wat besluit het watter inligting oor Mandela se trouplanne aan die wereld deurgelaat word. Die hele episode het op 'n halwe verleentheid vir die president se kantoor uitgeloop met Mandela wat op daaropvolgende mediakonferensies verwoed probeer skerm het vir Mankahlana en dit 'n geval geword het van wie het gelieg en wie het vir wie opdrag gegee om sus of so te se en wie het wat in watter stadium geweet, ens. 'n Soortgelyke episode het hom afgespeel met 'n sluipmoordaanval op pres. Ronald Reagan van Amerika in 1981. Aanvanklik het sy mediakantoor ook die hekke redelik styftoe gehou deur te beweer hy is net lig beseer. Later het dit geblyk hy was veel ern stiger beseer as wat die Wit Huis aanvanklik bereid was om te erken. Suid-Afrika se Waarheids-en-versoeningskommissie het tussen 1996 en 1998 kragtens wet menseregteskendings sedert 1960 ondersoek. Die Suid-Afrikaanse en buitelandse media het 'n stewige uitdaging op hande gehad om talle gruwels uit die monde van getuies in verteerbare dosisse die wereld in te stuur. 'n Mate van lesersweerstand vir "slegte nuus" wat lesers "magteloos" laat voel het, is nietemin deur mediabestuurders by veral Kaapstad se twee Engelstalige dagblaaie bespeur en 'n versigtige aanslag moes gevolg word. Die WVK kon nie geignoreer word nie, maar die dikwels bloederige besonderhede wat daar aan die lig gekom het, kon nie blindelings in lesers se keel gate afgedruk word nie. Hekwagterskap moes met groot omsigtigheid gepleeg word. Die nuusfilters moes delikaat reguleer word. In hierdie studie word gepoog om hekwagterskap te illustreer by wyse van 'n ontleding van die dekking wat die drie dagblaaie in Kaapstad, die Cape Argus, Cape Times en Die Burger, verleen het aan een van die Waarheids-enversoeningskommissie se opspraakwekkendste sittings. In Junie en Julie 1998 het sowat tien mans, op een na almal dokters, doktore of generaals, getuig oor hul betrokkenheid by die opbou van Suid-Afrika se chemiese en biologiese wapenarsenaal. Verslaggewers het voor 'n groot uitdaging te staan gekom om by te bly met die joernalistieke eise wat tydens hierdie sitting gestel is. In hierdie studie word gekonsentreer op beriggewing oor vier prominente getuies se weergawes, naamlik dr. Wouter Basson, gewese projekleier van Suid-Afrika se chemiese en biologiese wapenprogram, sy bevelvoerder, It.-genl. Niel Knobel, voormalige geneesheer-generaal, genl. Lothar Neethling, oud-hoofvan die polisie se forensiese laboratorium, en dr. Jan Lourens, biomediese ingenieur en die eerste een wat sy plek in die getuiestoel ingeneem het. Gesprekke is gevoer met nege joernaliste by die drie koerante ten einde hul beskouings en persepsies te peil ter illustrasie van hekwagterskap en hoe dit hekwagterskap beinvloed het. Aspirant-mediabestuurders, sowel as mediabestuurders, verslaggewers - almal wat hekwagtersrolle vertolk - sal hierdie studie straks leersaam vind ter verfyning van hul kundigheid.

This study sought to investigate the practices of citizen journalists in the Iindaba Ziyafika project. The objectives of the research were to explore the evolving practices of citizen journalism in Grahamstown and to extrapolate how citizen journalists are securing a discursive space in relationship to conventional journalism. The study investigated whether the citizen journalists based at Grocotts Mail and Radio Grahamstown are developing practices and patterns that can be distinguished from the practices of conventional journalism. It also evaluated whether the content that is produced by citizen journalists differs from the content that is produced by professional journalists, so that it can be understood as "alternative" and as promoting engaged citizenship. A sub goal was also to explore whether citizen journalism does enable the practice of citizenship through expanding the public sphere. The findings of the research are that in the Iindaba Ziyafika project, citizen journalists see news as a process and not as a series of news events. This is clear departure from event-based news conceptualisation associated with mainstream journalism. They view news as unfolding social processes, allowing citizen journalists to question the factors which would have precipitated the event and investigate the causal factors of particular phenomena. The research also reveals that citizen journalists in the project are engaging in pro-am journalism. Part of the practice of citizen journalists involves a very significant amount of collaboration between professional journalists and citizen journalists. The collaboration is in the production of content and in the presentation of radio broadcasts. Part of the findings of the study are that journalists in the Iindaba Ziyafika project work in different mediums and this calls for them to acquire the competencies of the different mediums. The same citizen journalists produce content for print, radio and for online media. The diction used in the stories published by citizen journalists is couched in struggle and revolutionary language which seems to pit the community against the authorities. The citizen journalists also make use of every daily language in their radio broadcasts and borrow from their cultural expression. This they do through populist methods. The citizen journalists have also integrated communication brokering as part and parcel of their practice. This is because the citizen journalists have also made it their mandate to enable the flow of information between the residents and the local authority. In terms of sourcing there is a deliberate stance to include those who are not ordinarily given a voice in the mainstream media. Women and the poor appear frequently in stories as sources and this is a different scenario from that prevalent in mainstream journalism which frequently covers the rich and the powerful. The citizen journalists in the Iindaba Ziyafika project have also borrowed practices from professional journalism and this has been integrated into their daily practice. This includes following strategic rituals of journalism objectivity and balance.

The Daily Dispatch, a newspaper based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, has a long history of political reporting. Arguably, it reached the zenith of its prominence during the era of political activism of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), under the leadership of Bantu Steve Biko, who was martyred by the apartheid government in 1977. Biko was at the time based in King William’s Town, in the Eastern Cape. The newspaper, at the time edited by Donald Woods, held the view that Biko was preaching a doctrine of hatred against White people, and Woods took it upon himself to challenge Biko. This saw Woods gaining a better understanding of the BCM and Biko, and hiring into the Daily Dispatch’s newsroom a number of pro-Black Consciousness journalists. The newspaper then proceeded to cover not only the BCM, but also other pro-democracy movements until the demise of apartheid and the emergence of the African National Congress-led government under the presidency of Nelson Mandela. With the emergence of the ANC-led government, there was an expectation that newspapers and journalists that had opposed apartheid and supported the liberation struggle would continue supporting the freedom fighters-turned-career-politicians. This was especially so because some pro-ANC politicians-turned-businessmen acquired a stake in media ownership. It is against this background that this study investigated the political coverage by the Daily Dispatch of the Eastern Cape Provincial Government during the period 1 January – 30 December 2013. Taking into cognisance the changing hands of the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the Political Economy theory, which focuses on the link between ownership of the media and its role in society, was employed as a theoretical framework. The study utilised the qualitative research methodology, specifically interviews and content analysis, as research techniques (methods). The research found that despite the changes in the ownership of the Daily Dispatch, the newspaper provided independent political coverage of the ANC-led government in the Eastern Cape during the research period.

M.A. (Communication Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Drum and YOU are two general interest magazines which share the same publisher, language (English), format, and are compiled by many of the same journalists and editors. The greatest distinction between the two publications is that Drum is aimed at a specifically black readership while YOU caters for a general, cosmopolitan South African readership. With various commonalities in the production of Drum and YOU, what do the differing commodities, discourses and cultural repertoires presented in Drum in comparison to YOU communicate about the conceived black audience/s by the magazines'producers? In contrast to the dominant body of research on Drum magazine, which has been dedicated to pre-1994 editions, the investigation undertaken in this research focuses on post-apartheid editions of Drum under the commercial ownership of Media24. This also provides a unique opportunity to compare and contrast Drum and YOU which has not been extensively explored in the past. A theoretical study on some of the credible, plausible discourses circulating in Drum drew from Laden's (1997; 2003) research on black South African middle-class magazines and Steyn's (2001) studies on narratives of whiteness including colonial and apartheid policy discourses. Other theory considered to identify types of discourses included those on self-stylisation, excorporation and the historic, cultural influence of Drum in black South African identity formation. Critical discourse analysis is employed to discern the distinction and boundaries between the conceived black middle-class readerships of Drum and YOU. A multifarious content is present in Drum magazine for the diverse post-apartheid black middle-class of South Africa. Discourses of the African traditional and conservative feature side-by-side with contemporary, liberal and Western discourses; while the cultural repertoires of the bourgeois middle-class are presented beside the more modest commodities of the lower-income working class. This communicates an increasingly integrated South African consumer culture and a willing bourgeois solidarity amongst middle-class groups, creating a larger consumer class for advertisers and marketers in South Africa. In comparison to YOU, the discourses of the conservative-African-traditional provide a distinctive feature of Drum. However, this discourse is limited to realms which do not threaten the prevailing magazine culture of consumerism and the dominant global culture of Western science and reason. The other great distinction from YOU is Drum’s prominent educating and didactic function, offering an aspirant lifestyle by marketing a range of Western technologies and commodities. This is in addition to suggesting options for desirable social conduct and socially-responsible behavior.

The purpose of this study was to provide professionals practising sports public relations in South Africa with insight into the use of social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. The secondary data from this study was drawn from the fields of communications, public relations, new media, social media, sport and marketing. South African Paralympic swimmers Kevin Paul and Shireen Sapiro were selected as the case studies and their Facebook and Twitter sites were analysed. The data was analysed leading up to, during and after the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. Content analysis using quantitative and qualitative data was utilized to conduct this study. During the period 27 July to 30 September 2012, the study was able to evaluate data by identifying the reach, frequency, interaction of the stakeholders and the positive or negative impact social media had on these athletes. The study established that there were correlations between the secondary and primary research that was undertaken. The findings revealed that social media platforms Facebook and Twitter can be useful tools to communicate with stakeholders. Social media can also create support for the athletes, create two-way interaction, create unity and enhance reputation. It was identified that social media could only be effective if it enticed stakeholders to engage with the brand and create two-way communication. Immediate feedback by responding to comments as soon as possible to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders is essential. This can be done through comprehensive planning, monitoring and proactively seeking ways to satisfy stakeholder needs.