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Democracy denied : the Press in South Africa

Includes bibliographical references. / This work is an examination of the media in South Africa (SA). Here it shall be seen that SA was not a democratic state while under National Party (NP) rule. This statement is obvious as the vast majority of SA citizens were denied the franchise. But democracy eluded even those enjoying life within the narrow confines of white democratic rule, as they were denied the information necessary to make informed decisions. The control of information by political players will be a key area of focus. This topic was chosen because SA has entered a new phase of government, that being a liberal democracy. Fears have been expressed in SA that democracy may slide into a dictatorship, or at least a tyranny of the majority in which the will of the masses (in this case a racial group, the blacks) will be imposed upon the minority at the expense of their current liberties. If democratic consolidation is to take place in SA, the media and other members of civil society must play a role in that consolidation. One way in which to prepare for the future is to examine the past: the media is no exception.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/12502
Date January 1999
CreatorsFreeman, Glen
PublisherUniversity of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Political Studies
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeMaster Thesis, Masters, MSocSc
Formatapplication/pdf

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