The impact of tabloidisation on the South African press

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The advancement of news technology in the last few decades has lead to aninformation explosion of an unprecedented scope. Twenty-four hour a day newschannels, electronic publications, the Internet, and a proliferation of print publicationsfeed this media explosion.Coupled with this has been the growth of a celebrity culture, where the lives of therich and famous have been placed under intense scrutiny.Commercial interests also have to be taken into account. It is conventional wisdomthat sensational news sells newspapers. This news is not limited to celebrity news, butencompasses crime reporting as well as high profile scandals affecting ordinarypeople. As the news becomes more ubiquitous, the competition becomes tougher andthe pressure to print what sells grows.The other commercial pressure is that of the marketers of the entertainment industrywho have a vested interest in having the stars of their movies, music and televisionshows enjoy a high media profile.This study aims to determine whether the South Africa media has shown a trendtowards reporting a more sensational and celebrity based form of news. It seeks todiscover whether the South African news has become tabloidised.This will be done by analysing the content and presentation of the front page of TheCape Times, a Cape Town based broadsheet, over the period of several years. Thiswill be used as a measure to determine whether or not the content and form of theSouth African media is following a trend to tabloidisation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University