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.

This thesis, titled “Normative Media Theory and the Rethinking of the Role of the Kenyan Media in a Changing Social Economic Context,” is a theoretical study that discusses the role of normative media theory in shaping and guiding debate on the role of the media and attendant policy making processes in a changing Kenyan social economic context. This is done against the background of acknowledgment of the general state of flux that characterizes normative media theory in a postmodern, globalized and new media landscape. The study thus extensively describes the Kenyan media landscape, with a view to demonstrating how it has and is continuing to be transformed by a variety of developments in the social economic set up of the Kenyan society. In order to provide a theoretical basis for explaining these developments, the study then indulges in an extensive theoretical discussion that presents a synthesis of current arguments in the area of normative media theory. This discussion fundamentally brings to the fore the challenges which characterizes normative media theory in a changing social economic context and therefore the inability of traditional normative theory to account for new developments in the media and society in general. In an attempt to integrate normative media theory and practice, the study then discusses (against the backdrop of theory) the views and opinions of key role players in the Kenyan media landscape, in regard to how they perceive the role of the media. Particular attention is given, inter alia, to matters such as media ownership, media accountability processes, changing media and communication technologies, a changing constitutional landscape, the role of the government in the Kenyan media landscape, the place of African moral philosophy in explaining the role of the media in Kenya, and the growth of local language radio. Finally, on the bases of theory, experiences from other parts of the world and the views of key role players in the Kenyan media landscape, the study presents several normative guidelines on how normative theory and media policy making in Kenya could meet each other, taking into account the changes occasioned by globalization and the new media landscape. These proposals are essentially made to enrich general debate on the role of the media in Kenya, as well as attendant media policy making efforts. / Communication / D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The present dissertation has as object of study the relationship between the journalistic competence2, the relationship networks and the insertion of journalists in the Aracaju´s politic press office. In the attempt of understanding how this professional is inserted and rises professionaly in this space of social communication, we start from the principle that personal and interpersonal ties may constitute a prime resource for entry into the politic press office and the occupation of headship position in comunication office in governmental and legislative institutions. In order to do this objective, it was adopted as data collection the biographical research with journalists working in press offices in the political sphere. The empirical universe considered is formed by 10 journalists, wich 04 of them direct sectors in governmental and legislative organizations and the other 06 ones advise politician and parliamentarians. The analysis reveals that the entry of the journalist in the field of politic press in Aracaju, is through nominations made by a friend, a relative, or a professional colleague, a known political, or through personal invitations. It also indicates that the links created through political activism, may result in invitations to occupy positions in state agencies. / A presente dissertação tem como objeto de estudo a relação entre a competência1 jornalística, as redes de relações e a inserção de jornalistas na assessoria de imprensa política de Aracaju. Na tentativa de compreender como esse profissional se insere e ascende profissionalmente nesse espaço da comunicação social, parte-se do principio de que os vínculos pessoais e interpessoais podem se constituir em um recurso primordial para a entrada na assessoria de imprensa política e para a ocupação de posições de chefia em assessorias de comunicação em instituições governamentais e legislativas. Para que se dê conta desse objetivo, adotou-se como coleta de dados a pesquisa biográfica com jornalistas que atuam em assessorias de imprensa na esfera política. O universo empírico considerado é formado por 10 jornalistas, dos quais 04 dirigem pastas em órgãos governamentais e legislativos e os outros 06 assessoram partidos políticos e parlamentares. A análise revela que a entrada do jornalista na área da assessoria de imprensa política em Aracaju, se dá através de indicações feita por um amigo, um parente, ou um colega de profissão, a um político conhecido, ou através de convites pessoais. Indica também que os vínculos criados através da militância política, podem resultar em convites para a ocupação de cargos em órgãos estatais.

[Preface] The broad outlines of Cape frontier historiography have so far been sketched from a study of official despatches and, to a lesser extent, of contemporary newspapers. There are many lacunae to be filled and many questions to be answered; here, it is evident that private papers have an indispensable role to play. Yet, despite isolated attempts to collect or index such papers, (such as that of Miss Una Long, in her Index to Unofficial, Privately-Owned Manuscripts relating to the history of South Africa), much untapped material still remains in private possession both in South Africa and overseas. In this study of a leading Eastern Province personality, prominence has been given to this type of material, and much of what has been used, has clearly not previoualy been examined by historians.

[Introduction] An investigation of relevant literature reveals numerous studies on the principles of effective advertising communications. These studies are based on work done overseas and may not apply to Blacks in South Africa. Pioneer advertising research into the Black market has been conducted in recent years by the University of South Africa's Bureau of Market Research (BM). The resultant data obtained indicated that communicating to the Black market should be treated separately from communicating to Whites in South Africa and further research is required on the effectiveness of advertising communications aimed at Blacks. This study was designed to supplement the research conducted by the Bureau of Market Research rather than to validate these findings.

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.

Housing delivery has been in a state of crisis long before the realisation of democracy in South Africa and still remains a point of contention for the poor. Issues of service delivery, particularly housing delivery, have consistently made newspaper headlines in post-apartheid South Africa. Between 2004 and 2012, service delivery protests increased from 34% in 2005 to 173% in 2012. The City Press, a weekly newspaper, focused on the coverage of issues of development in South Africa, emerging as an important voice in reporting on citizen action related to service delivery in the country during this time. Therefore, the principal objective of this study was to investigate the City Press representation of citizen action on housing delivery in South Africa between 2005 and 2015. With a view to providing insight into the role of the media in development, this study employed qualitative research methodology. Qualitative content analysis was utilised in studying the City Press editorials and the City Press individual journalist’ opinion pieces and the newspaper news reports. In addition, past and present City Press journalists identified with reporting on developmental issues were interviewed. The development communication theory was explored as an appropriate theoretical framework for this study, The investigation of the City Press representation of citizen action on housing delivery found that there were several complex issues and processes that negatively impacted the process of housing delivery during the second decade of South African democracy, including a scourge of corruption driven by inefficiencies administration of the housing delivery process. In that respect the study revealed that housing delivery has been hindered by many aspects, resulting in tensions and a strained relationship between the government and the poor citizens of South Africa. Furthermore, the study established that the City Press individual journalists played a significant role in the representation of citizen action through portraying housing delivery protests at key moments when these happened. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The apartheid state was vulnerable to the opposition of the End Conscription Campaign (ECC) on two fronts. From 1967 universal white male conscription was introduced, and progressively increased until 1984. This indicated the growing threat to the apartheid state from regional decolonisation which offered bases for the armed liberation movement. From 1977 a policy of "reformed apartheid" attempted to contain internal black opposition through socio-economic upliftment, but the failure of this containment intensified the need for military coercion. Minority conscription created an ongoing manpower challenge, which the ECC exacerbated by making the costs of conscription explicit, thus encouraging non-compliance and emigration. Secondly, the National Party used a security discourse to promote unity among whites, offsetting both its conscription demands and its decreased capacity to win white political support through socio-economic patronage. After the formation of the Conservative Party in 1982, the state faced conflicting demands for stability from the right, and for reform from the left. The ECC's opposition intensified these political differences, and challenged conscription on moral grounds, particularly the internal deployment of the SADF after 1984. Through its single-issue focus the ECC was able to sidestep divisions which plagued existing anti-apartheid opposition, uniting a variety of groups in national campaigns between 1984 and 1988. Since it could not afford to accommodate the ECC's demands, and in view of growing white acceptance of aspects of the ECC's opposition, the state repressed the ECC to limit its public impact. By 1988 - in a climate of growing white discontent around the material and personal costs of conscription, economic decline, political instability and conscript deaths in Angola - the ECC's call for alternatives to military conscription encouraged a broader range of anti-conscription sentiment, prompting the state to ban it. / History / M.A. (History)

This thesis examines the 1998 complaint of racism against the Mail & Guardian, a leading exponent of South Africa's alternative press in the 1980s, and important contemporary producer of investigative journalism. The study is framed within a cultural studies approach, analysing the Mail & Guardian as constituted by a 'circuit of production': its social context, production, texts, and audiences. The thesis makes three main arguments. First, that the claim of racism cannot be understood outside of a consideration of both the changing political milieu, and subtle changes within the Mail & Guardian itself. Significant social changes relate to the reconfiguration of racial and class identities wrought by the 'Mbeki state'. Within the Mail & Guardian, the thesis argues for the importance of the power and subjectivity of the editor as a key 'factor' shaping the identity of the paper, evidenced in its production practices and textual outputs. In this regard, the thesis departs from a functionalist analysis of particular 'roles' within the newsroom, drawing instead on a post-structuralist approach to organisational studies. Based on this production and social context, the thesis examines key texts which deal with aspects of South Africa's social transformation, and which exemplify aspects of the Mail & Guardian's reporting which led to the complaint of racism by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Association of Black Accountants (ABASA). Their complaint was that the Mail & Guardian's reporting impugned the dignity of black people, and in so doing was a violation of their rights to dignity and equality which are constitutionally guaranteed. However, as freedom of the press is also guaranteed by the South African constitution, their complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) resulted in public debate about these contending rights. My second argument relates to the jurisprudential approach to racism, and the related issue of affirmative action, which informed the complaint against the paper. Contrary to the 'normative', liberal approach to these issues, this thesis highlights Critical Race Theory as the jurisprudential basis for both the claimants' accusation of racism against the Mail & Guardian, and aspects of its implicit use in South African human rights adjudication. The thesis argues that in failing to recognise these different philosophical and political bases of legal reasoning, the media, including the Mail & Guardian, in reporting on these matters failed in their purported role of serving the public interest. The thesis concludes by applying Fraser's critique of Habermas's notion of a single, bourgeois public sphere to journalism, thereby suggesting ways in which the critiques of some of the Mail & Guardian's own journalists could be employed to enlarge its approach to journalism - giving voice to constituencies seldom heard in mainstream media.

This study explored how social media are setting the agenda of the traditional media and re-defining the role of the journalists. Content analysis was done to analyse the coverage of Jacob Zuma stories in newspapers and on Facebook, from the 1st of February until the 30th of June 2018.The sample for the study was drawn from three local newspapers, the Citizen, the Sowetan, the NewAge (AfroVoice), as well as the Facebook page called #Zumamustfall. This was done to determine if newspapers which are traditional media were being influenced by social media in what stories to report on. Results from the study showed that social media are influential in building an agenda for the traditional media and in particular, with the Zuma story. In the same vein, it emerged that traditional and social media set the agenda for each other. Based on these findings the research recommends that other social media sites including Twitter be used in similar research to determine their effects on agenda setting of traditional media (newspapers). / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Science)