The SABC has embraced a mandate that advocates the promotion of cultural diversity within the broader ambit of national identity. Although SABC3 consitutes the commercial wing of the station, it too is required to produce programmes in accordance with the spirit of this mandate. With tight budgets, pressure for audience ratings and an assortment of individual producers with individual production agendas, it may be naIve to presume that the SABC could consistently give priority to this mandate. Nonetheless, this is what it has undertaken. Considering this unifying and optimistic mandate, how then are frightening, troubling or disillusioning social phenomena depicted? The representation of one such phenomenon, crime, has been selected here for examination as it appears in Special Assignment and Expressions programmes. The way in which the SABC tackles essentially negative material and puts it in documentary form for national consumption sends out a message to South African viewers. The nature of this message - and its relation to the broadcaster's mandate - forms the basis for this dissertation. Each of nine selected documentaries is analysed using a mixture of semiotic, discursive and contextual principles. The programmes are examined in terms of four sections. The first is global trends and theories. Criminological, documentary and other theories that are global in scope have been adapted to powerfully, but subtly, underscore all of the documentaries, with implications for the representation of national identity. Secondly, a sociological examination of the way in which the local has been depicted (and whether it is given much attention at all) has implications for the fulfilment of the part of the mandate relating to cultural diversity. Thirdly and fourthly, the overall portrait of national identity in the documentaries is largely dependent on the combined representation of national culture - including values, symbols, rituals and beliefs - and the nation-state. Both of these should be construed in an optimistic light, taking into account, nonetheless, the critical watchdog function of the media. The evaluation remains strictly textual and preferred meaning is determined through theoretically supported analysis rather than via audience research. Issues such as global neoliberalism and its impact on the SABC and newsroom values are touched on and acknowledged, but ultimately, their effect on the fulfilment of the mandate is not examined in this dissertation. The central thrust of the dissertation in thus, strictly, the way in which the levels of the global, national and local, as they are represented in the documentaries, constitute interlocking factors, which impinge on the manner in which the SABC complies with its mandate. The findings of the dissertation were unsurprising in many respects. Overall, there appeared to be no consistent pattern to which documentaries were produced. The immediacies of production pressures and deadlines appear to outdo the broadcaster's mandate in terms of priority. Having said this, however, certain features do recur, such as the prevalence of sensationalism or, on the positive side, the humanising of criminals in a way that offers hope. Consequently, the study isolates approaches that foster national identity and those that do not, noting the frequency with which they occur and thereby implicitly offering a roadmap for future productions. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The idea the South African Indian community as a homogenous has derived from the apartheid ideology of separate development. From the time of their arrival in 1980, indentured labourer has endured a series of processes that have shaped the deve1opment of this ethnic minority. With the determination to belong and endure at any cost, the South A frican Indian celebrated 134 years in South Africa on the 16th of November 1994. In 1987, the introduction of a two-hour ethnic broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, to cater for the Indian community in South Africa seen as a means to 'satisfy a need' of the community. As a member of the Indian community and having some knowledge of the complexities of Indian culture, curiosity was awakened to the fact that can a programme of two-hours in duration accommodate not only the complex nature of Indian culture, but how is such a broadcast constructed to cope with the diversities that exist within the community? This study will examine the way in which Indian culture is imaged in the electronic media. It will proceed with the assumption that no matter what the material or technological, position of ethnic minorities, or where they are geographically located, or what historical time they live in, their objectives and actions derive from a specific cultural reference that is different to other ethnic minorities. / Thesis (M.A. (Cultural and Media Studies))-University of Natal, 1994.

The thesis takes the form of an investigation into the various causes leading to the demise of the English language television single play in South Africa. It does not position the genre within any particular theoretical framework, but argues within the context of a liberal/critical discourse that the single play owes its development and significance to the contribution of its many writers, as well as to the creative input of the various producers, directors, from within and outside the SABC. Furthermore, it evaluates the genre within the bureaucracy of the SABC and the input of the various drama managers, among others, whose decisions have affected the position of the single play. The single play is seen as a development of drama having evolved from the stage play, though moving progressively towards the production values of film. Research will show that in the South African context, the creative practitioners of the single play and technology have intersected with style, reflecting the dominant form of naturalism, mainly evidenced during the early period when many single plays were produced in the studios of Auckland Park. Within a wider sociopolitical context, the single play has been evaluated as a negotiation among writers, censorship, technology, naturalism and bureaucracy. The investigation will show that the major cause for its demise was the SABC's increasing commercialisation of TV -1, with the result that programmes on this channel were evaluated in terms of their ability to deliver large audiences to the advertisers. This placed the single play in competition for transmission space with the more popular drama series and serials. Furthermore, the business principle of cost-effectiveness applied to the single play made it more expensive to produce than series and serials. The author's own practical involvement in the production of video and television programmes, including drama, together with primary source information gleaned from some forty interviews with practitioners and those whose decisions impacted on the genre, have been added to the body of the research. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

Yizo Yizo, a South African drama series aired in 1999, received extraordinary positive and negative attention for its gritty depictions of township school life. The dissertation explores the relationship between the context, programme/text, the viewers/audiences, the content and the form of Yizo Yizo. Representations of violence and gender relations in Yizo Yizo are the primary concern of the dissertation. Contextual analysis is followed by an outline of the narrative needed to engage viewers' responses. This outline forms the basis for a discussion on representations of violence and gender relations, utilising textual and audience analysis to interrogate the nature of images. Concluding chapters connect issues of representation and reality, completing the critical circle introduced in the opening chapters through an analysis of the programme's title. Yizo Yizo is examined using a cultural studies approach, assessing "the relationship between texts -- representations that produce meanings--- and their contexts" (Tomaselli, 1989:38). The methodology employed to deconstruct representations of violence, gender relations and realism, follows recent work on 'facticity' and essentialism in African-American cultural production (Smith, 1992; Lubiano, 1997). In reference to depictions of violence and gender relations, the dissertation follows the established monographs of the British Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC), the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) of the United Kingdom, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa (Gunter, 1986, 1987; Gunter & Wober, 1988; Cumberbatch & Howitt, 1989; Glanz 1994, respectively). Utilising textual and reception analysis, the study found Yizo Yizo's use of violence is substantiated through its dramatic intent. However, the drama fell short of exposing the 'myths' of township high schools. Thus, the viewer is left with dominant depictions of evil as responsible for the state of disequilibrium, leaving little room for an interrogation of the 'real' issues at Supatselo High. The series also side steps the historical context that impacts the present conditions of township learning. Moreover, the portrayal of female characters in the series perpetuates dominant patriarchal ideology by regurgitation myths and stereotypes. Research also highlighted the problem of viewing Yizo Yizo in an educational framework. The substantial drop in audience ratings for the final episode, which focused on a school that established or restored the 'culture of learning and teaching', indicates the series fell short of its educative potential. The series does not truly interrogate the socio-economic and political context of education in South Africa. Instead, the 'crisis' in education is paralleled with issues of delinquency rather than socio-economic inequalities of an educational system with a history tainted by the legacy of apartheid. A further finding indicates that due to violent content, language and other issues, the SABC should have scheduled the programme after 9pm, during the watershed period. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 2000.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes are important in the promotion of intellectual development and school readiness in children. Equally important is the opportunity to learn in one‟s mother tongue. This study aimed to determine the value of using the multilingual television series Takalani Sesame as a Life Skills educational resource in specific South African schools, amongst Grade One learners. The focus lay on researching a possible mechanism for allowing children who had not attended quality ECD programmes to „catch up‟ in terms of knowledge they may be lacking, as well as providing a form of mother tongue instruction to African learners in schools where the language of instruction is English. A field experiment and a reception study were carried out at a primary school in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Two groups of twelve Grade One learners (from two different Grade One classes at the same school) were included in this research, which spanned a period of 6 months. The children in the test group watched a television series of Takalani Sesame (with guided viewing) and completed related activities including post viewing and homework activities. The children in the control group were not shown the series at school. Both groups were administered the same questionnaire both pre- and post-test in order to determine changes in Life Skills related learnt data. Other research methods included participant observation, focus group discussions, interviews with parents/caregivers and interviews with educators. These used Social Cognitive Theory as their basis, taking constructs that impact on behaviour change, such as modelling, outcome expectancies and behavioural capabilities into account. The research included a large focus on interpersonal communication between researcher and learner, and caregiver and learner, plus a concentration on the children‟s knowledge of and attitudes surrounding HIV/AIDS. Results showed satisfactory levels of attention to the series, as well as high levels of engagement with and enjoyment of the series. Levels of identification with characters were also noted to be high, increasing the possibilities of learning and behaviour change taking place. Decoding of messages was, for the most part, in line with the intentions of the producers, although oppositional readings, erroneous and creative decoding were also noted in some instances. The guided viewing component did well to increase levels of attention to the episode as well as allow for erroneously decoded messages to be corrected almost immediately. Positive changes in learnt data in the Life Skills areas of HIV/AIDS, Nutrition and Safety and Security were identified and these were noted to be impacted on by the homework activities which were included in the intervention to promote parent/caregiver-child communication. The research intervention was deemed to be a success in the selected school, and could possibly be recommended for use in similar South African primary schools where learners are taught in a language which is not their mother tongue. Possible areas for future related research were outlined. This research study contributes to the body of Entertainment Education (EE) research by identifying a new and valuable application for an EE intervention in the South African setting. This highlights the important aspects of localisation, in the South African context, promoting mother tongue learning and ECD. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Education is considered as an essential tool for the long-term development of most countries. The provision of education to only part of a community or part of the world reinforces relative deprivation. To counteract such an effect, South Africa, a geographically large country, in which the population is scattered, where economic disparities are aligned to race, where qualified teachers and specialists in certain subject areas are scarce, and where there is an illiteracy rate of 29 percent, hope has been expressed that television broadcast based distance education may be a viable alternative to expanding formal education provision extensively and quickly. This study investigates the role of television broadcast-based distance education in South Africa as a possibility for extending the provision of formal education to large numbers of learners and how the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the country 's Department of Education fulfils the promise of extending education. This objective was addressed by first giving a critique of conventional education systems and why distance education is an alternative option for provision of education. Further, the study traces a general picture of education in Africa and the educational situation in South Africa, highlighting the distance education scenario in South Africa , and investigates why distance education and particularly television broadcast-based distance education is crucial in the provision of education in developing countries in the face of the globalisation of mass communication and new information technologies. The study also investigates the complex issues involved in the production, distribution and consumption of Liberty Learning Channel Programme (a television programme which offers remedial support for matric (grade 12) and grade 10 to 11 students) by examining whether the producers and partners of the programme created a text which connects with the multi-cultural reality of teachers, learners and other viewers in South Africa; the role of the programme in the service of growth, reconstruction and development; why the programme is not popular among the youth; and what can be done to make it effective in enhancing teaching and learning; and the intertextuality, production and distribution of the programme. Information on the above aspects was gathered through the scannmg of relevant literature and by the use of ethnographic research procedures which included focus group interviews, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study established that conventional systems of education and current educational practices have fallen short ofpreparing citizens with a strong foundation of general education. The study therefore offers distance education not only as an alternative to conventional education delivery at secondary and higher levels of education, but also as a low-cost alternative to expanding education. Constructivism is suggested as an alternative set of values that may significantly influence learning and that can help develop the kind of citizens who can be able to function successfully in real-word contexts. With regard to effectiveness of television broadcast-based distance education in teaching and learning, the study established that television is an effective means of achieving traditional educational goals, and that television broadcast-based distance education remains important especially in the developing countries in light of the need to increase access to education, redress the disparities caused by globalisation of mass communication and by lack of information and communication technologies. With regard to distance education in South Africa, the study found that there is both significant policy commitment and actual use of broadcast-based distance education in solving many of the country's education problems, but that there is an urgent need to improve the quality of that provision, particularly in formal education. On the complex issues involved in the production, distribution and the consumption of Liberty Learning Channel programme, the study found that the programme (aired live since 1993), is a production of Liberty Learning Channel, an independent company based in Johannesburg, in partnership with the Liberty Life Foundation, and that the SABC is not involved in the production but provided the airwaves. Each subject presenter prepares his or her own lessons, and therefore no services of producers, scriptwriters, or editors are employed in the production of the programme. The programme is then distributed through television, newspapers (the Sowetan), videocassettes, the Internet and in future through CD-ROMs. Additionally, the study found that Liberty Learning Channel relies on audience feedback from audience rating and occasional feedback from comments down the streets or letters from viewers thanking the presenters. This study argues that this kind of monitoring is not sufficient as rating only tells advertisers how many viewers were exposed to a specific programme content on a particular television channel in a certain time slot. Regarding the consumption of the programme, the great majority of the focus group participants liked the programme and used it during revision and in dealing with large numbers of students with different abilities and difficulties. A great majority of the students liked the programme because of the way the presenters explained clearly. However, a great majority of the participants watched the programme sparingly partly because the time slot was ' inappropriate ' and due to a lack of awareness about the programme. Several suggestions for the improvement of the programme were put forward, amongst them: to change the time slot; to have multi-racial presenters ; to give detailed timetables to schools in advance, and to advertise the programme more directly to schools. However, a reluctance or unwillingness to consider some of the audiences ' suggestions for the improvement of the programme, was shown by the manager of Liberty Learning Channel, William Smith. The above results are reported and discussed in detail in chapters 2 to 3, and general conclusions and recommendations presented in chapter 4. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.