Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the discursive role and positioning of arts journalism at Die Burger
during a period of radical transformation in South African society. The study is conducted
within a critical-cultural paradigm. Arts journalists are considered to be manufacturers of
cultural capital, a term devised by Pierre Bourdieu as part of his comprehensive field theory
framework. While Bourdieu uses cultural capital in the main to describe the role of education
and culture in the maintenance of elite power hierarchies, this study investigates how the
nature of cultural capital at Die Burger was affected by power shifts when competing elites
jostled for dominance in a post-apartheid dispensation.
By drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of discourse, the focus of research further
incorporates the discursive positioning of arts journalists in their coverage of arts and cultural
events in the 1990s in relation to shifting configurations of power. The argument is that arts
journalism at Die Burger can be situated within networks of power and thus contributed to the
structuring of post-apartheid society. In the words of Antonio Gramsci, arts journalists
became involved in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggles.
Flowing from these theoretical departure points, the study identifies critical discourse analysis
(CDA) as an appropriate research method for textual analysis and adapts a five-phase model
suggested by Teun van Dijk as part of his contextual CDA approach. The analysis thus
focuses in turn on the context of discourse, discursive struggles between arts journalists and
political journalists, strategies of classification used by arts journalists, emerging themes of
discourse in arts journalism, and how the selection and presentation of arts journalism on
news and arts pages were influenced by various factors, including the personal background
and experiences of arts journalists (The concept of Bourdieu’s “habitus”). To affect
triangulation and enhance the textual analysis, the study also employs semi-structured indepth
interviews with arts journalists who were prominent at Die Burger in the 1990s.
The study found that arts journalists were at the intersection of different and often diverging
and contradictory power-points in post-apartheid discourses at the newspaper. On the one
hand, some arts journalists embraced a legacy of editorial independence at the arts desk and
sometimes created oppositional discourses to the official political view of the newspaper: for
instance on the issue of alleged “collective guilt” for Afrikaners and whether Naspers should appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to explain its role in
supporting the National Party (NP) during apartheid. On the other hand, many arts journalists
shared the editor’s apparent aversion to the international cultural boycott supported by the
ANC and harboured some of the same skepticism about the so-called Africanisation of society
and resultant attacks on Eurocentrism in the arts.
This study -- the first on this level to focus on Afrikaans arts journalism since 1994 --
represents a significant contribution to knowledge in the under-researched field of arts
journalism in South Africa. Its purpose and process has furthermore developed theoretical and
methodological innovations which can enrich the field of journalism studies. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie -- vanuit 'n kritiese kulturele paradigma -- ondersoek die diskursiewe posisionering
en rol van kunsjoernalistiek by Die Burger gedurende 'n periode van radikale transformasie in
die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing. Kunsjoernaliste word beskryf as vervaardigers van kulturele
kapitaal, soos gekonsepsualiseer deur Pierre Bourdieu in sy omvattende raamwerk van veldteorie.
Terwyl Bourdieu die term kulturele kapitaal hoofsaaklik gebruik om die rol van
opvoeding en kultuur in die behoud van hierargieë van elite-mag te beskryf, ondersoek hierdie
studie hoe die aard van kulturele kapitaal by Die Burger beïnvloed is deur magsverskuiwings
waarin mededingende post-apartheid elite-groepe mekaar die stryd aangesê het.
Deur gebruik te maak van Michel Foucault se teorie van diskoers, val die fokus van navorsing
dus op die diskursiewe posisionering van kunsjoernaliste in hul dekking van kuns-en-kultuurgebeure
in the 1990’s. Die argument is dat kunsjoernalistiek by Die Burger binne
magsnetwerke geplaas kan word en bygedra het tot die strukturering van die post-apartheid
samelewing. In Antonio Gramsci se terme het kunsjoernaliste dus betrokke geraak in die stryd
om hegemonie te skep en teen te werk.
Uitvloeiend uit hierdie teoretiese vertrekpunte word kritiese diskoersanalise (KDA) as
navorsingsmetode vir die ontleding van joernalistieke tekste geïdentifiseer. Daarvolgens word 'n model met vyf stappe, voorgestel deur Teun van Dijk as deel van sy KDA-benadering,
aangepas vir gebruik. Die analise fokus dus om die beurt op die konteks van diskoers, die
diskursiewe stryd tussen kunsjoernaliste en politieke joernaliste, strategieë van klassifikasie
wat kunsjoernaliste gebruik het, temas van diskoers wat aan die lig gekom het in
kunsjoernalistiek, en hoe die seleksie en aanbieding van kuns-en-kultuur-nuus deur
verskillende faktore beïnvloed is, insluitend deur die persoonlike agtergrond en ondervinding
van kunsjoernaliste (“habitus” in Bourdieu se teorie). Om triangulasie te bewerkstelling en die
teks-analise te ondersteun, is semi-gestruktureerde in-diepte onderhoude met prominente
kunsjoernaliste aangelê.
Die studie het vasgestel dat kunsjoernaliste in post-apartheid diskoerse in die koerant hulself
op 'n kruispunt van verskillende, soms uiteenlopende en selfs opponerende strominge van mag
bevind het. Aan die een kant het sommige kunsjoernaliste 'n tradisie van redaksionele
onafhanklikheid omarm en soms opposisionele politieke diskoerse in vergelyking met die amptelike beleid van die koerant geskep, byvoorbeeld oor die kwessie van beweerde
“kollektiewe skuld” vir Afrikaners en of Naspers voor die Waarheid-en-
Versoeniningskommissie (WVK) moes verskyn om sy rol as ondersteuner van die Nasionale
Party (NP) gedurende apartheid te verduidelik. Maar aan die ander kant het talle
kunsjoernaliste die redakteur se klaarblyklike afkeer gedeel aan die internasionale kultuurboikot
wat deur die ANC ondersteun is. Kunsjoernaliste was ook skepties oor die sogenaamde
Afrikanisering van die samelewing en gevolglike aanvalle op Eurosentriese kuns.
Ten slotte maak hierdie studie -- die eerste op hierdie vlak oor Afrikaanse kunsjoernalistiek
sedert 1994 -- 'n belangrike bydrae tot die yl kennisveld van kunsjoernalistiek in Suid-Afrika.
In die proses het die studie ook teoretiese en metodologiese innovasies aangebring wat die
veld van joernalistiek-studies kan verryk.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/18065 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Botma, Gabriel Johannes |
| Contributors | Wasserman, Herman, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 367 p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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