The thesis “When birthing makes the news: the depiction of women as a newsworthy item in Die Burger (Oos-Kaap)” analyses a common, yet complex news topic in the South African print media due to the sensitive, often sensationalised, nature of the topic. The private experience of birthing is featured more and more in the public domain of newspapers because of widespread service delivery problems within the South African health department. Focussing on the Eastern Cape, I examine the representation of birthing in Die Burger (Oos-Kaap) in texts printed between 2005 and 2007, and scrutinise the media’s monitorial role of a self-appointed public hero acting on behalf of the women, to expose the poor conditions at government hospitals, specifically in the Nelson Mandela Bay region. How the women and their bodies are reported on, creates a discursive tension between the negative portrayals of the birthing women and the monitorial role of the media. The news values of sensationalism and profit are achieved with visceral representations of the reproductive functions of the birthing women. A poststructuralist feminist theoretical framework reveals discourses that perpetuate race, class and gender inequalities in the apparently socially-concerned sample of texts. A Critical discourse analysis (CDA) provides an approach and method to inform a close textual analysis of both the lexical and visual elements of the texts. The discourses in the sample differed from text to text. Despite these differences, the monitorial role of the media is still achieved. My research argues that acting in the public interest with sensationalist copy is still acting in the public interest. I conclude that it is not easy for newspapers to separate sensationalism from accountability. Media practitioners should be aware of their role in constructing women’s identities and be particularly thoughtful when reporting on birthing. In doing so, this research aims to improve the manner in which women and their bodies are reported on within the news industry.

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For the last half-century, American politics has been ravaged by a war for control of the courts. While conflict between the courts of law and the elected branches of government has been a recurrent theme in American history, this conflict has taken on a heightened importance beginning with the rights revolution ushered in by the Warren Court. Judicial originalism was born as part of a backlash against Warren and Burger Court expansions of constitutional rights in areas as disparate as First Amendment protections for individual speech and the expansion of substantive due process to cover contraception and abortion. By the end of the Trump Administration, the judicial backlash against this expansion of constitutionalized rights appears to have gained the upper hand as the Supreme Court and lower courts of appeals, especially the Fifth Circuit, have begun a substantial counteroffensive. Roe v. Wade has been overturned, a longstanding goal of legal conservatives, and the groundwork has been set for a rollback of the federal administrative state, which has often seen by legal conservatives as a political foe. This dissertation discusses the theoretical underpinnings of contemporary conservative jurisprudence, with a particular focus on the formalistic interpretive methodologies of originalism and textualism. It argues that textualism, at least as advanced by Justices Scalia and Gorsuch, is philosophically confused, and it argues that originalism is insufficient to its purported task of weakening the judiciary through a limitation of judicial discretion. Because legal conservatives often defend their views as a natural outgrowth of a commonsense picture of political morality, grounded in the concepts of the rule of law, democracy, and the separation of powers, I also discuss the interplay between those concepts within legal conservative discourse. Contemporary legal conservative conceptions of these ideological constructs are compared to historical predecessors in the works of John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Hans Kelsen, and others. I argue that the legal conservative versions of these constructs are defective and seriously imperiled by the threat of legal indeterminacy. I conclude that they should be reconfigured to meet this challenge.

Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Scientists predict that the Western Cape region of South Africa is likely to be one of the regions most affected by climate change. Though the effects on the Cape Floral Kingdom are a huge concern in terms of biodiversity, the effects of climate change are predicted to be far broader than the natural environment. Agriculture, industry, the health sector, politics and the socio-economic sectors among others are all likely to be significantly impacted by climate change in the coming years. The underlying theoretical assumption of the study is that understanding how the climate question has been understood and framed is of vital importance for how the general public will be able to respond to lifestyle changes in aid of climate protection.This study examines the media coverage of climate change over the period of one year in the Western Cape media context, specifically the Cape Times, the Cape Argus and Die Burger. Using a quantitative framing analysis as the central methodology, the study focused on six core frames in analysing all articles relating to climate change. In addition, journalists at the respective newspapers were interviewed to complement the textual analysis. Finally, climate change scientists were interviewed in order to gain their perspectives of the reporting. The study found that the environmental frame was the dominant frame chosen. The political and scientific frames were the next two most prominent frames. It is argued that the dominance of these frames and the comparative lack of reports featuring the human impact frame is problematic as the environment, science and politics are all fairly abstract to the general public.

Op 23 Junie 1900 het die Britse troepe Heidelberg beset. Die rustige bestaan het vir spanning onder die burgerlikes en agterdog teenoor die Britse militêre owerheid plek gemaak. Inwoners soos ds. A.J. Louw, wat geweier het om die Eed van Neutraliteit te teken, is onverwyld uit die dorp verban. Vroue soos Issie Kriegler en Cassie O’Reilly, wat met hulle uitgesprokenheid die gramskap van die Britte ontketen het, is saam met hulle gesinne na die konsentrasiekamp by Merebank in Natal gestuur. Aangesien die beëindiging van die oorlog vir die Britse owerheid belangrik was, het distrikskommissaris J.M. Vallentin Heidelbergse wapenneerlêers gebruik om die burgers tot oorgawe te oorreed en voorstelle vir die bereiking van vrede aan die hand te doen. As deel van die verskroeide aarde-beleid is Boerevroue en kinders wat sonder heenkome was, na die blanke konsentrasiekamp op Heidelberg geneem, waar hulle getalle mettertyd tot ongeveer 2 000 aangegroei het. Die Heidelbergse kampowerhede het die aankomelinge van tente voorsien terwyl higiëniese maatreëls en mediese dienste vir liggaamlike welsyn ingestel is. Siektes het uitgebreek. Die pogings van die Britse medici om die sterftesyfer met Westerse medikasie en voorskrifte vir beter voeding aan kinders te verlaag, het allesbehalwe seepglad verloop onder meer vanweë die Boerevroue se wantroue in hulle. Voor die Anglo-Boereoorlog was die gemeentelike lewe besonder aktief. Met die Britse oorname het eredienste, bediening van die doop en katkisasie in die susterskerke op Heidelberg op 'n gereelde grondslag voortgegaan. Godsdiensoefening in die konsentrasiekamp is ook nie agterweë gelaat nie. Fasiliteite is vir die gemeentelike aktiwiteite van die drie susterskerke beskikbaar gestel. Ook het die Britse kerke op Heidelberg, die St. Ninian’s Anglican Church en die Wesleyan Methodist Church, ‘n bloeitydperk beleef, terwyl die Berlynse Sendinggenootskap sy werksaamhede gestaak het. Teen 1902 is die kampinwoners toegelaat om dienste in hulle gemeentes op die dorp by te woon. Onderwys het met die Britse besetting ‘n nuwe tydvak betree. Die kampskool het saam met die skoolgeldheffende skole en die “free schools” op die dorp daartoe bygedra om die grondslag vir ‘n Britse onderwysstelsel in Transvaal te lê. Ingevoerde Britse onderwysers het nuwe wêrelde vir die kampkinders ontsluit, wat hulle tot verdere intellektuele ontwikkeling sou aanspoor. Die kampskole, waarby ook volwassenes gebaat het, was ‘n ligpunt in die bestaan van die konsentrasiekampe. Tot onlangs was min oor die swart konsentrasiekampe in die Heidelbergdistrik bekend. Toestande in hierdie kampe het na hulle oorname deur die Departement van Naturellevlugtelinge in Junie 1901 verbeter. Swartes is deur die leër en privaat huishoudings in diens geneem. Sommige was selfversorgend deurdat hulle mielies en ander gewasse produseer het. Die swart kamp op Heidelberg se sterftesyfer was laag. Dit is waarskynlik aan die goeie werk van die mediese offisier, ene Stewart, te danke. Hervestiging van blanke en swart kampinwoners het na afloop van die oorlog in Mei 1902 gevolg. Met Britse hulp en danksy rantsoene wat aan hulle uitgereik is, kon hulle huiswaarts keer. Dit blyk dat Heidelberg se blanke konsentrasiekamp relatief goed bestuur is en vanweë sy lae sterftesyfer onder die beter kampe tel. / Thesis (DPhil (History))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

Thesis (DPhil (History))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLSIH ABSTRACT: This study is a political biography of D.F. Malan (1874–1959), the first of the apartheid-era Prime Ministers, and covers the years 1874 to 1954, when Malan retired from politics. It endeavours to provide a warts-and-all account of D.F. Malan which challenges prevalent myths and stereotypes surrounding his public persona and his political orientation. While the overwhelming focus is on Malan’s political career, special attention is paid to his personal life in order to paint a multi-faceted picture of his character. The biography is written in the form of a seamless narrative and employs a literary style of writing. It is based on archival research which utilised Malan’s private collection, as well as the private collections of his Nationalist contemporaries. Malan takes the centre stage at all times, as the biography focuses on his perceptions and experiences. Malan’s views regarding Afrikaner nationalism, which was his foremost political priority, are described, and are related to his views of British imperialism as well as other ideologies such as communism and totalitarianism. This study demonstrates that there is a notable link between Malan’s perceptions of race relations and his concerns about the poor white problem. It reveals that Malan’s racial policy was, to some extent, fluid, as were his views on South Africa’s constitutional position. Debates about South Africa’s links to Britain and the nature of the envisioned republic preoccupied Afrikaner nationalists throughout the first half of the twentieth century – and served as an outlet for regional and generational tensions within the movement. Malan’s clashes with nationalists such as Tielman Roos, J.B.M. Hertzog and J.G. Strijdom are highlighted as an indication of the internecine power struggles within the National Party (NP). By emphasising these complexities, this study seeks to contribute to a nuanced understanding of the South African past. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is politieke biografie van D.F. Malan (1874–1959), die eerste van die apartheid-era Eerste Ministers, en dek die jare 1874 tot 1954, toe Malan uit die politiek getree het. Dit poog om onversuikerde beeld van Malan te skets wat heersende mites en stereotipes aangaande sy openbare beeld en sy benadering tot die politiek uitdaag. Die fokus is hoofsaaklik op Malan se politieke loopbaan, maar besondere aandag word aan sy private lewe geskenk om sodoende veelsydige portret van sy karakter te skilder. Die biografie is in die vorm van naatlose narratief geskryf en maak van literêre skryfstyl gebruik. Dit is gebaseer op argivale navorsing, waartydens daar van D.F. Malan se privaat versameling gebruik gemaak is, sowel as die privaat versamelings van sy tydgenote. Malan is ten alle tye die sentrale figuur en die biografie fokus op sy persepsies en ervarings. Malan se denke oor Afrikaner nasionalisme, wat sy vernaamste prioriteit was, word beskryf en in verband gebring met sy opinie van Britse imperialisme, sowel as ander ideologieë soos kommunisme en totalitarisme. Die studie wys op die verband tussen Malan se denke oor rasseverhoudinge en sy besorgdheid oor die armblanke vraagstuk. Dit dui daarop dat Malan se rassebeleid tot sekere mate vloeibaar was. Dit was ook die geval met sy benadering tot Suid-Afrika se konstitusionele posisie. Afrikaner nasionaliste het tydens die eerste helfte van die twintigste eeu baie aandag geskenk aan debatte oor Suid-Afrika se verhouding tot Brittanje en die aard van die voorgenome republiek. Dit was tot mate weerligafleier vir reeds bestaande spanning tussen die onderskeie streke en generasies. Malan se botsings met nasionaliste soos Tielman Roos, J.B.M. Hertzog en J.G. Strijdom word belig as aanduiding van die diepgewortelde magstryd binne die Nasionale Party (NP). Deur op hierdie kompleksiteite klem te lê, poog die studie om bydrae te lewer tot meer genuanseerde begrip van die Suid-Afrikaanse verlede.