Student Number: 0216613T Master of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences / This research examined the notion of liberal journalism in South Africa during apartheid as practiced at the RDM. It considered whether the paper, facing government scrutiny and restrictive laws, adhered to the principals of liberal journalism and how successfully it did so. The 1976 Soweto Uprising was used to assess the newspaper’s performance and the merits of arguments for and against the notion of it being a successful example of a liberal newspaper. Content analysis and interviews with RDM staff members, was used to assess the paper’s conduct. These primary sources were examined in conjunction with available literature and criticisms against the English press and RDM presented in testimonies at the TRCMH to assess the paper’s reportage and how valid criticisms against it were. The researcher concluded that, due to serious shortcomings, which included its reporting of the uprising, the RDM was not a successful liberal newspaper.

This study In an attempt to promote equal access to education, we in South Africa, have adopted an instrumentalist approach to the debate of the right to education. In other words, we have provided an enabling legal framework and we simply assume that access to education has been granted to every one. We continue to pretend that we understand what exactly the concept of “access to education” means. We also assume that we all have a common understanding of what the Constitution means by the right to education. On 26 June 1955 the historic Freedom Charter of the African National Congress (ANC) was adopted. This charter declared “the doors of learning and culture shall be opened.” Over the next four decades, the demand for open and equal access to education became central platform in the anti-apartheid struggles that brought an ANC-led government to power in 1994. Yet, ten years later (2004) the problem of access continues to preoccupy education planners and activists against the backdrop of some of the most progressive policy positions including a Constitution that recognizes education as a basic right. The intellectual puzzle that motivates this study is to explain, therefore, why despite its prominence, it continues to be regarded as an intractable problem. The research strategy adopted in pursuit of this puzzle is to trace the changing meanings of the concept of “access to education” under and after apartheid, and its expression in the practices of two case study schools (comparative case studies). Data was collected from different sources to trace the concept of access to education in education from the apartheid era to the policies and practices that affirm access to education as a basic human right today. This study hopes to contribute significantly to the dialogue of “access” as a realisation of the basic right to education. For the conceptual framework Morrow’s distinction between epistemological access and physical access was used. Formal access to education refers to enrolment or registration at an education institution, in this case, a school, whereas epistemological access refers to access to knowledge and information that these education institutions hold. I expanded the conceptual framework to include dimensions of epistemological access such as how the topic is taught, who selected the topic, the value and political basis. I undertook documentary analysis and a series of interviews with individuals who were involved in the struggle either through intellectual contributions in the NEC and NEPI processes or in the National Education Co-ordinating Committee. I also conducted two case studies of schools located in vastly different social and political contexts. At these schools, I collected data through classroom and school observations, semi-structured interviews with principals, history teachers and learners. Findings: The first finding of this study is that the ways in which students experience access to knowledge (epistemological access) is strongly dependent on the history and politics of the school context and the institutional culture, rather than the formal prescriptions laid down in the school curriculum The second finding of this study is that even when students enjoy physical access to schools, they have highly uneven, even unequal, access to knowledge within those schools. The third finding is that despite the awareness and understanding of what good education entails, without physical access, it is difficult for individuals to entertain discussions about epistemological access. The fourth finding is that despite claims that the policy promotes increased access to education, it was not possible to find reports that refer to any significant degree of quality outcomes as a result of the implementation of the principle of “equality of access” to education. Increased access to education has not resulted in quality output. This dissertation contributes to knowledge by its nuanced exploration of the complexities of access to education as a human right. Most importantly it pushes the boundaries of knowledge pertaining to both physical and epistemological access at the time when each of these are crucial points in the education development agenda. / Thesis (PhD (Education Management and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / There are certain images of war that are horrific, frightening and at the same time, due to an outstanding compositional structure, they are fascinating and do not allow its observers to keep their distance. This thesis examines three images of war that have often been described as icons of war photography. The images “children fleeing a napalm strike” by Nick Ut, “the falling soldier” by Robert Capa and Sam Nzima’s photograph of Hector Pieterson are historical reference images that came to represent the wars and conflicts in which they were taken. It has been examined that a number of different factors have an impact on a war photograph’s awareness level and its potential to commit itself to what is referred to as collective consciousness. Such factors are the aesthetical composition and outstanding formal elements in connection with the exact moment the photograph was taken, ethical implications or the forcefulness of the event itself. As it has been examined in this thesis, the three photographs have achieved iconic status due to different circumstances and criteria and they can be described as historical reference images representing the specific wars or conflicts. In this thesis an empirical study was conducted, questioning 660 students from Spain, South Africa and Vietnam about their awareness level regarding the three selected photographs. While the awareness level of the Spanish and the South African image was rather high in the countries of origin, they did not achieve such a high international awareness level as the Vietnamese photograph by Nick Ut, which turned out to be exceptionally well-known by all students questioned. Overall, findings suggest that the three selected icons of war photography have been anchored in collective memory. Ut, Robert Capa, Sam Nzima, semiotics, Spanish Civil War, the falling soldier, Vietnam War