In his 1974 novella The lost Honor of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll argues for the constitutional guarantee of presumption of innocence. He states that this principle is violated when defamatory media headlines make unwarranted accusations against a private citizen destroying their reputation as part of a targeted smear campaign. The novella characterizes such intentional campaigns as both criminalizing and dehumanizing. Böll argues that the government should influence the press to conform to the limits implied in the institution of freedom of press. He shows the helplessness of a private citizen under attack from a smear campaign when the government takes a laissez-faire attitude toward sensationalized media. This thesis, "Neither citizen nor human: Prisoner of the media and the state: systematically linked dehumanization and radicalization: Two Interpretations of Heinrich Böll's: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum," evaluates the sympathetic role that media and government play in the radicalization of the private citizen. This thesis establishes a direct relation between smear campaigns and radical or extremist behavior. This thesis shows that the victim of the media acts out erratically in a state of panic and terror brought on by feelings of helplessness. This thesis supports Boell's position that this erratic behavior leads to suicide or violence against perceived oppressors or others. This thesis argues for the habitualization of violence as a precise definition of the radicalization of the individual to violence. This thesis utilizes Böll's fictionalized account of Katharina Blum. This thesis makes comparisons between targeted smear campaigns in the BRD in the period 1967-1974, roughly the period of the Brandt Administration, and the case of Katharina Blum. This thesis demonstrates the systematically linked oppression of oppositional voices by the West German government with media-driven smear campaigns. Böll's essays on topics including human rights and the potential benefits of political radicals help inform this study. Böll's novella demonstrates the vulnerability of all citizens to victimization of the press. Boell shows that violent radical behavior results from smear campaigns against private citizens. Boell argues that this radicalization is clearly rooted in a sales-driven media sympathetic to the state's abuses of power.

Rotular que este ou aquele meio é sensacionalista apenas porque se dedica à exploração da violência, com generosa medida de crimes, sexo e miséria humana e afirmar que essa prática atrai amplas audiências nas camadas populares impõe certa obviedade e uma constatação que se encerra em si mesma. Este trabalho é fruto dessa inquietação. Busca-se aqui ir além de observações reducionistas sobre o sensacionalismo, a partir de três movimentos intersecionados: a inserção desse formato na teoria do jornalismo, a partir dos estudos sobre enquadramento; a relação desse frame com as representações sociais sobre pobreza e violência; e a avaliação desse quadro sensacionalista à luz da ética jornalística. Seu objetivo central é discutir o sensacionalismo como prática jornalística corrente. Há um esforço em discutir jornalismo, acontecimento e cotidiano e de fazer uma revisão sobre o processo histórico do sensacionalismo na imprensa. Como objeto foi escolhido o Jornal Cinform, periódico semanal que circula em Aracaju/SE. Foi investigada a manchete principal desse jornal identificada como sensacionalista e a reportagem dela decorrente entre os anos de 2008 a 2012. Utilizando-se da análise de conteúdo e das entrevistas com repórteres e com o diretor de jornalismo do jornal, chegamos à conclusão de que o sensacionalismo pode se constitui um enquadramento, articulado entre repórteres e empresa e que é aplicado em determinados acontecimentos com carga dramática latente de violência, transformando-os em relatos de barbárie. Esse modo interpretativo e saliente da realidade, através da prática sensacionalista, acaba reafirmando representações sociais que criminalizam a pobreza. Nessas condições, sob a luz da ética jornalística, esse enquadramento se torna um flagrante desvio de conduta profissional, mas que diante da naturalização do quadro, alguns pressupostos éticos ficaram relativizados. Ao enfrentar a análise do sensacionalismo a partir de três claros movimentos: enquadramento, representação social e ética apresentamos contribuições de que o enquadramento sensacionalista é resultado de um processo articulados de categorias que se entrecruzam com as representações sociais. Além dessas constatações, salientamos que esse processo não é neutro e isento e à luz da ética jornalística impõe uma conduta ética reprovável. Ao final, esperamos ter sinalizado outras questões que ajudam a melhor compreender o cotidiano no jornalismo.

Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The advancement of news technology in the last few decades has lead to an information explosion of an unprecedented scope. Twenty-four hour a day news channels, electronic publications, the Internet, and a proliferation of print publications feed this media explosion. Coupled with this has been the growth of a celebrity culture, where the lives of the rich and famous have been placed under intense scrutiny. Commercial interests also have to be taken into account. It is conventional wisdom that sensational news sells newspapers. This news is not limited to celebrity news, but encompasses crime reporting as well as high profile scandals affecting ordinary people. As the news becomes more ubiquitous, the competition becomes tougher and the pressure to print what sells grows. The other commercial pressure is that of the marketers of the entertainment industry who have a vested interest in having the stars of their movies, music and television shows enjoy a high media profile. This study aims to determine whether the South Africa media has shown a trend towards reporting a more sensational and celebrity based form of news. It seeks to discover whether the South African news has become tabloidised. This will be done by analysing the content and presentation of the front page of The Cape Times, a Cape Town based broadsheet, over the period of several years. This will be used as a measure to determine whether or not the content and form of the South African media is following a trend to tabloidisation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vooruitgang in mediategnologie aan die einde van die twintigste eeu het tot 'n oorvloed van inligting gelei. Nuuskanale wat vier-en-twintig uur per dag uitsaai, elektroniese publikasies, asook die Internet en die groei van die drukmedia het hierdie verskynselondersteun. Tegelykertyd het die media in die jongste dekades meer begin fokus op die lewens van beroemdes. Kommersiële faktore moet ook in ag geneem word. Met die groei van die media is meer druk geplaas op individuele nuusorganisasies om winste te maak. Dit is alombekend dat sensasionele nuus verkoop. Hierdie soort nuus is nie net gefokus op beroemdes nie, maar ook op misdaad en skandale deur gewone mense. Bemarkingsamptenare van die vermaaklikheidsbedryf moedig nuus oor beroemdes aan, want dit help om hul produkte te verkoop as hul sterre dekking kry. Hierdie studie wil vasstelof die media in Suid Afrika wel meer fokus op sensasionele nuus, ten koste van meer ernstige nuus. Dit wil vasstelof die Suid- Afrikaanse media die kenmerke van poniekoerante begin toon. The Cape Times, 'n Kaapse koerant, se voorblad is ontleed oor 'n tydperk van enkele jare. Die nuusinhoud asook voorkoms van die koerant is bestudeer om vas te stelof die koerant in 'n poniekoerant ontwikkel. Hierdie koerant is gebruik as 'n voorbeeld van die Suid-Afrikaanse media.

The “tabloid TV” news genre is a relatively new phenomenon in Uganda and Africa. The genre has been criticised for depoliticising the public by causing cynicism, and lowering the standards of rational public discourse. Despite the criticisms, the genre has been recognised for bringing ‘the private’ into a public space and one of the major ‘private’ issues on the public agenda is women and gender equality. Given these critiques, this study set out to interrogate the meanings that young working class women in Kampala make of the tabloid television news programme Agataliiko Nfuufu and to ask how these meanings relate to the contested notions of femininity in this urban space. In undertaking this audience reception study I interviewed young women between the ages of 18-35 years by means of individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study establishes that Agataliiko Nfuufu is consumed in a complex environment where contesting notions of traditionalism and modernity are at play. The study also establishes that while mediating the problems, discomforts and contestations of these young women’s lives, Bukedde TV1 operates within a specific social context and gendered environment where Agataliiko Nfuufu is consumed. The study concludes that the bulletin mediates the young women’s negotiations and contestations, but it provides them with a window into other people’s lives and affords them opportunities to compare, judge and appreciate their own. Furthermore, the gendered roles and expectations in this context have become naturalised and have achieved a taken-for-grantedness. Therefore, patriarchy has been legitimised and naturalised to the extent that the respondents define themselves largely in relation to male relatives, and marriage. While the women lament the changes that have taken place in their social contexts which disrupt the natural gender order, they construct themselves as subjects of the prevailing discourses of gender relations that see men as powerful and women as weak and in need of protection.

This study examines the construction of crime reality by The Voice and The Midweek Sun newspapers by means of a content analysis and involved the exploration of violent crime news reporting, measured against police statistics. The two publications, The Midweek Sun, and The Voice newspapers, were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed to identify the types of violent crimes reported and to determine any differences they may have compared to the Botswana Police crime records, between themselves, and on how they framed or depicted violent crimes. The results were collected using a coding sheet, new story analysis form and analysed against official police records to determine any inconsistencies that may have existed between the crimes covered by two newspapers and police statistics. The qualitative analysis involved a coding sheet to identify lexical features and rhetorical devices in the headlines. The lexical units included compound words and fuzzy words. The rhetorical elements scrutinised included metaphors, alliteration, rhyme, puns, and idioms. The research analysed the news headlines. The study will assist in shedding light on the accuracy of crime news reporting, levels of sensationalism, overreporting or underreporting of violent crimes. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

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)