Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Although reputation management has historically been restricted to companies or
other organisational entities, countries are also increasingly concerned with their
reputation relative to other countries and have started to actively measure and
manage that reputation1.
Over the past years, the Republic of South Africa has begun to professionally
streamline its own reputation management activities, specifically by establishing the
International Marketing Committee (IMC) in August 2000. South African Tourism, the
media division of the South African diplomatic sector and even South African Airways
are other reputation management vehicles that have been working toward emanating
a comprehensive marketing and communication message from South Africa to other
countries.
The basis of good reputation management is to first measure such reputation2. It is
also important to know what aspects are the main drivers of such reputation. Using
the content of specific German newspapers as data body, this study determines the
drivers of South Africa’s media reputation in Germany.
In order to accurately set the scene for an analysis of South Africa’s reputation, a
thorough situation analysis on the country is conducted. This situation analysis forms
the backbone for the methodology used further on to investigate the drivers of South
Africa’s reputation in specific German media.
To this end, a large part of the situation analysis looks at South Africa in terms of
Germany and a study is conducted on the relationship between Germany and South
Africa as well as the potential stakeholders of South Africa’s media reputation in
Germany. It is also important to know what current efforts in terms of reputation
management are. After studying the history of South Africa’s reputation management activities,
members of today’s reputation management vehicles are interviewed and an
overview of South African reputation management efforts currently active in Germany
is provided. The reputation management activities of other countries are briefly
explored and specifically the lessons from other countries’ efforts are highlighted.
Subsequently, the reputational dimensions that positively or negatively drive South
Africa’s reputation in specific German media are determined. To this end, a content
analysis is conducted on the seven German national daily newspapers, Börsen-
Zeitung, Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Financial
Times Deutschland, Handelsblatt and Süddeutsche Zeitung3 over a period of 20
months. The findings made culminate in suggestions for South Africa’s future
reputation management activities in Germany.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2384 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Christelis, Desiree |
| Contributors | Rabe, Lizette, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 968412 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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