This study examines the party-controlled communication of the five most important political
parties in the North West Province of South Africa during the 1999 general elections.
The main assumption is that political parties in developing democracies have a normative
obligation to do more than canvas for votes during an election campaign. Political parties
should also be instrumental through their communication in fostering a democratic political
culture. Central to this argument is the notion that a typical marketing approach is not suitable
for an election campaign in a developing democracy. In accordance with the participatory
approach to development, it is thus proposed that the two-way symmetrical model for public
relations (as proposed by James Grunig) is a more appropriate approach to election
campaigns. Especially relevant for this study is the two-way symmetrical model's emphasis
on interaction and the establishment of long tern relationships with target publics.
Through an extensive qualitative analysis of all relevant material (party manifests, newspaper
advertisements, radio advertisements, pamphlets, posters and web pages), it was found that
South African political parties placed much less emphasis on the "image" of the party or its
leader compared to their American counterparts. However, that did not imply that the
substance of the message was emphasised adequately. On the contrary, the political parties
participating in the elections in the North-West province generally failed the normative
criteria of informing voters and identifying democratic values adequately.
Furthermore it was found that the cognitive and emotional campaign messages were not fully
integrated. While the focus was on typical election issues (emotional message), these issues
were not explained and contextualised within a developing democracy to the full extend
(cognitive message). Therefore the emotional message was not utilised to focus the voter's
attention on policy issues and democratic values.
In conclusion it is argued that political parties should do much more than merely canvas for
votes. They should also empower voters by informing them on their policy issues and
highlighting democratic values in society. Only then the new South African democracy will
be sustainable. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/182 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Fourie, Lynnette Mitzi |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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