The political role of black journalists in Post-apartheid South Africa : the case of the City Press – 1994 to 2004

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the political role of the City Press. black journalists in post-apartheidSouth Africa. Taking into consideration its ownership by a white media company, the studyinvestigated the role played by African cultural values in the execution of their tasks with aparticular focus on the period 1994 to 2004.The interest in the role played by African cultural values in the execution of the City Press.black journalists. tasks, and in the issue of the newspaper.s white ownership, was driven byan observation that historically, the trajectory of black newspapers was to a great extentinfluenced by the interests and values of the owners. The issue of ownership was of interestalso because the black political elite frequently accused black journalists in South Africa ofundermining the ANC government so as to please the white owners of the newspapers theyworked for.Also, taking into consideration that the City Press played a conscious role in the struggleagainst apartheid, the study sought to investigate the role the City Press defined for itsjournalists in post-apartheid South Africa, specifically in the first decade after 1994.Three theoretical frameworks were deemed applicable in this study, namely Liberal-Pluralism, Political Economy, and Afrocentric theories on the media.s political role insociety. The first was chosen on the basis of its theorisation on the political role of the media.The second was chosen on the basis of its analysis of the link between the performance of themedia and ownership, although that is not the only issue Political Economy deals with. Thethird was chosen on the basis of its focus on African historical and cultural issues. The studyhas employed qualitative research methods, namely content analysis and interviews. It has aquantitative aspect in that it involved the counting of the City Press. editorials, columns andopinion pieces, as an indication of how many journalistic pieces were analysed.The period of this study ends in 2004 in the year that the City Press was re-launched as a¡°Distinctly African¡± newspaper. The ¡°Distinctly African¡± concept had both cultural andpolitical implications for the City Press. journalists. This study covers some of these aspectsin a limited way since the research period ends in the year 2004.The research found that in post-apartheid South Africa, the City Press. black journalists.political role was to make sure that the objectives of the anti-apartheid struggle wereachieved. It also established that the City Press. black journalists executed their tasksindependently without interference from their newspaper.s white owners. The study alsoestablished that some of the newspaper.s black journalists experienced tensions between whatthey perceived as expectations of journalism and what they perceived as the prescriptions ofAfrican culture.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University