Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / 131 p. / This thesis explores how six commercial local newspapers based in the towns of
Swellendam, Bredasdorp, Caledon and Gansbaai are reporting on gender and HIV/AIDS
in ways that may help to shift specific attitudes as well as to generate appropriate
community responses. The overall aim of the study is to advance theories around the
location of commercial news media in the development context. It also aims to inform
and empower development workers and activists on the opportunities or pitfalls in
engaging with rural local media to advance their development goals.
In most prior studies into the nature of gender or HIV/AIDS reporting in the media in
South Africa, the focus has been exclusively on mainstream corporate and/or urbanbased
media titles and very little investigation has been done into the performance of small
ruralbased
media. The study employs two methods of data collection namely, a
quantitative content analysis of newspapers and structured interviews with the editors of
the papers, and a sample group of government employees and community activists in the
respective towns.
The structured interviews provide a qualitative dimension to the content analysis, bearing
in mind the dangers of quantifying media content and making isolated judgements on the
actual context of journalistic practice. Through the interviews, the researcher has been
able to explore the extent to which the perceptions of the media editors visavis
a public
interest role with respect to gender and HIV/AIDS actually differs from the quantitative
evidence of their performance and the perceptions of key informants in their
communities.
The findings of the study suggest that local rural media hold out great hope with respect
to the advancement of development communication goals through commercial media
platforms. The editors in the four towns have established organic connections with their
community, albeit tenuous, but which extend into the ranks of development workers in
their towns. The data from the content analysis suggests that women enjoy high visibility
in the pages of their local papers, and they are most likely to be portrayed as positive
achievers than as women encountering violence.
The tenuous nature of the connections between editor and community are most starkly
evident around the issue of HIV/AIDS, with coverage of this being very low despite much
work being undertaken in the community to deal with the pandemic. With respect to the
issue of gender, there was demonstrable evidence from actual examples of content, that
showed on the one hand the capacity to motivate for change in women's lives, but also on
the other hand a danger of reinforcing attitudes that compound women's oppression. The
study offers recommendations to a range of roleplayers to ensure, firstly, the continued
survival of local rural newspapers, and also support in building capacity to see these
papers mature into journalism products that are integrative and transformative. / Ford Foundation and the Media Development and Diversity Agency
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/4190 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Galant, Raashied |
| Contributors | Ogada, J., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 131 p. |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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