Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: After a decade long multi-faceted political crisis, political parties in Zimbabwe signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of 2008 following the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) mediated talks culminating in the formation of an inclusive government. This study sought to investigate the political role, if any, played by the diasporic media in mediating the Zimbabwean crisis. This research focused on diasporic media using as a case study The Zimbabwean newspaper considering that during the research period it was circulating both in the country and diaspora communities in Western Europe, the USA and SADC countries. Diasporic media in Zimbabwe is a phenomenon associated with the rise of robust political opposition to the former ruling ZANU PF regime. Accordingly, such media operated outside the purview of the contemporary legislative and legal regime although the newspaper circulated in Zimbabwe. A number of anti establishment news media sprouted to challenge and offer resistance in the cyberspace and on shortwave and in print media. The Social Responsibility Theory was employed with the aim of establishing whether or not The Zimbabwean observed the journalistic ethics of reporting with truthfulness, accuracy, balance and objectivity. The Social Responsibility Theory’s thrust is on de-sensationalising reportage, promotion of media ethics and self regulation. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research established that The Zimbabwean newspaper played, to a larger extent, an active role in challenging the ZANU PF-led government and gave a platform to the oppositional Movement for Democratic Change. The conclusion arrived at in this study was that just like the state media, which promoted the government’s propaganda, The Zimbabwean did the same for the opposition parties in Zimbabwe. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Politieke partye in Zimbabwe het ná ’n lang politieke krisis met vele fasette die Global Political Agreement (GPA) van 2008 geteken. Dit het gevolg op die Suid-Afrikaanse Ontwikkelingsgemeenskap (SAOG) se mediëring wat gelei het tot die vorm van ’n inklusiewe regering. Hierdie studie het probeer om die politieke rol, indien enigsins, van die diaspora-media in die mediëring van die Zimbabwiese krisis te ondersoek. Die navorsing het op diaspora-media gefokus deur ’n gevallestudie van die koerant The Zimbabwean te doen. Dié blad is gedurende die navorsingstyd in die land sowel as onder die Zimbabwiese diaspora in Europa, die VSA en SAOG-lande versprei. Diaspora-media in Zimbabwe is ’n fenomeen wat geassosieer word met die opkoms van ’n robuuste politieke opposisie teen die ZANU (PF)-regime. Dié media opereer dus buite die grense van die juridiese en wetgewende gesag van die land. ’n Verskeidenheid antiestablishment media het in die kuberruim, kortgolfradio en drukmedia ontwikkel wat beide uitgedaag en weerstand gebied het. Die Sosiale Verantwoordelikheidsteorie is gebruik om vas te stel of The Zimbabwean joernalistieke etiek nagekom het deur waarheidsgetrou en akkuraat, sowel as met balans en objektiwiteit, te rapporteer. Die teorie fokus om reportage te desensasionaliseer en om media-etiek en selfregulering te bevorder. Die studie het kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe navorsingsmetodes gebruik. Die navorsing het vasgestel dat The Zimbabwean tot ’n groot mate ’n aktiewe rol gespeel het om die ZANU (PF)-regering uit te daag en ’n platform te bied aan die Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)-groepering. Die slotsom is dat, net soos die staatsmedia regering-propaganda bevorder het, The Zimbabwean dit vir die opposisiepartye in Zimbabwe gedoen het.

This study describes how information spread on the internet by examining diffusion, framing and source use surrounding coverage of the 2010 best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The book presented a rare opportunity to view how a story about science, discovery and race became a best-seller within weeks after its publication. Through a mixed-methods and case study approach, the author examines patterns of coverage using Google Alerts that traced the book's online coverage in the first six months of its release. The author found that online information clustered around several themes with the most prominent describing aspects of science and scientific discovery, followed by the book's characterization as a "best seller" or "good read." Another recurring theme centered on issues surrounding exploitation in human research. In addition, the study reveals that sources who "set the frame" for coverage were most likely to be media figures, including Oprah Winfrey, Alan Ball and HBO films, in addition to newspapers and individual journalists and science writers. By examining the relationship of online frames with sources, the author found that a diversity of frames is paired with key sources: that is, multiple themes co-occur with source mentions, although the themes may not have been generated by the sources themselves. Rather, sources are linked to narrative frames by others who generate online coverage. The author concludes that, while key sources initially set a message's frame, once diffused, the message may take on other qualities.

The overwhelming consensus of the world's climate scientists is that we must rapidly reduce our greenhouse emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic and irreversible climate change. Yet the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil that emits three to four times the carbon emissions of conventional gasoline across the U.S., is supported by a solid majority of Americans. This level of support for a project a proposal that would dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions, pollute sensitive lands and water sources, and threaten the health and safety of communities along the way begs the question: what kind of information have Americans received about the pipeline? Relying on theoretical perspectives developed by scholars who examine power structures, ideology, and the political economy of the mass media, I analyze 177 national network and cable news broadcasts in order to determine what kind of information leading media sources provide to the public about the Keystone XL pipeline proposal and the context in which this information is presented. Content analysis of broadcast transcripts reveals that television news stations exhibit biased coverage that encourages viewers to support pipeline construction. Furthermore, television news stations marginalize environmental and social concerns and disproportionately rely on business and government sources for information. Finally, the dominant frame employed by the news media is informed by neoliberal ideology and offers no challenge to the preferences of corporate and government elites--including the continued dominance of the fossil fuel industry. This type of coverage affords viewers a very limited basis for understanding the environmental and ultimately social threats posed by Keystone XL.

Background. A number of commentators (Holloway 1996 Muijen 1996a; 1996b) have suggested that two events in the form of homicides carried out by mental health service users came to exert a disproportionate influence on English mental health policy over the period 1985-2000. In particular it has been suggested that the events formed the focus for a ‘moral panic’ caused by ‘irresponsible’ and ‘sensationalist’ reporting in UK newspapers (Neal 1998; Prins and Swan 1998). Aims. In the light of such claims this study critically explores the role played by the deaths of Jonathan Zito and Isabel Schwarz play in establishing violent assaults perpetrated by people experiencing mental illness as a ‘social problem’. It examines whether a shift in the discourse on mental illness took place in UK newspapers and explores how the deaths of Isabel Schwarz were and Jonathan Zito were framed in terms of causal responsibility. Finally it evaluates what influence, if any, the deaths in question had on the social policy agenda. Design. Case study / mixed design integrating quantitative and qualitative methods. Method. Content analysis consisting of a longitudinal analysis of the nature of the representation of mental illness changed over the period in two UK newspaper. Framing a sub-type of discourse analysis examined changes in the discourse of mental illness and the effects of the emergence of the community care tragedy as a ‘new’ narrative. It was also used to examine the potential influence on social policy on mental illness of changes in societal level frames particularly the emergence of the risk society. Results. The content analysis found that mental illness appeared increasingly in the context of a threat to public safety in newspapers over the period but that the overall representation was more balanced. The framing analysis identified and evidenced a competitive process in framing the issue of homicides committed by service users with mental health problems and demonstrated the potential influence of macro level social frames on the policy making proces

This research explores the development of community-based media for HIV/AIDS education and prevention. The theoretical framework for the research was based in semiotic, cultural studies and participatory action research perspectives and is critical of conventional approaches to communication and media production. Conceptual ideas for the media products emerged through interaction with small groups of participants utilising participatory action research and focus group methodology. A series of posters were produced and distributed within the communities studied. The research demonstrates a practicable and replicable methodology for deriving community perspectives around a range of issues and articulating these via small media products. The methodology is relevant to health education, but may also be applicable to a range of community-based initiatives that seek to facilitate social change. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1994.

Tam Pui Ching, Maria. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-73). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Literature Review --- p.5 / Cultivation Theory --- p.5 / Stereotypes and Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.8 / Factors Affecting Stereotypes --- p.9 / Media Influence on Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.12 / Cultural Values of Family and Ageing --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- Rationale and Hypotheses --- p.20 / Rationale --- p.20 / Hypotheses --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- Methodology --- p.29 / Sample --- p.29 / Measurement of Chinese Cultural Values --- p.30 / Measurement of Attitudes toward the Elderly --- p.33 / Measurement of Stereotypes about the Elderly --- p.37 / Media Exposure --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Findings --- p.41 / Testing Hypothesis H1 --- p.46 / Testing Hypothesis H2 --- p.47 / Testing Hypothesis H3 --- p.47 / Testing Hypothesis H4 --- p.48 / Testing Hypothesis H5 --- p.48 / Testing Hypothesis H6 --- p.49 / Testing Hypothesis H7 --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter Six: --- Discussion and Conclusion --- p.52 / Appendix1 --- p.62 / References --- p.67