During the era of apartheid in South Africa, press was severely curtailed and subject to repressive laws. The dawn of democracy liberated the press in more ways than one. The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent, in practice, a free press in South Africa is able to report freely without hindrances. Several challenges have been observed even during this era of democracy, most notably being the racism in the media, among many others. Several recommendations have been suggested in this study suggesting methods that could be used to address these challenges.

This book gives an overview of current debates surrounding press freedom in Africa in response to ongoing contestations between media and governments on the continent. Through case studies of individual African countries as well as international comparisons, a wide range of global contributors provide critical assessments of the state of press freedom on the continent and critical perspectives on the dominant discourses around freedom and democracy. Some fear an alarming slide towards a media-intolerant environment in South Africa, and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and the Protection of State Information Bill (POSIB) have met with strong criticism from journalism practitioners and educators. This book examines these and other recent developments seen to represent a threat to press freedom on the African continent. Contributors to the volume take a comparative look at the situation in South Africa within a broader, global context of transitions to democracy and globalised marketization of the media, as well as inspecting specific African examples that may serve to illuminate broader trends. Case studies from different African countries are examined, but in the process the discourses around press freedom are also subjected to critical scrutiny. Critics state that the South African media are not without fault, and that part of journalism scholarship’s role is to continue to point to these shortcomings and to suggest ways of improving the media’s democratic responsibility. Press Freedom in Africa provides a range of perspectives on the heated debates surrounding press freedom. It illustrates the importance of research-based, scholarly interventions into the often emotional and rhetorical debates surrounding the role of the media in African society. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies.

The essays in this collection reveal that the social and political development of post-apartheid South Africa depends to an important degree on the evolving cultural, social and political identities of its diverse population and on the role of the media of mass communications in the country's new multicultural democracy. The popular struggle against the country's former apartheid regime and the on-going democratisation of South African politics have generated enormous creativity and inspiration as well as many contradictions and unfulfilled expectations. In the present period of social transformation, the legacy of the country's past is both a source of continuing conflict and tension as well as a cause for celebration and hope. Post-apartheid South Africa provides an important case study of social transformation and how the cultural, social and political identities of a diverse population and the structure and practices of the media of mass communications affect the prospects for developing a multicultural democracy. The promise and the challenge of building a multicultural democratic society in a country with a racist and violent authoritarian legacy involves people with different identities and interests learning how to respect their differences and to live together in peace. It involves developing an inclusive or overarching common identity and a commitment to working together for a common destiny based on social equity and justice. South Africa's media of mass communications have an important role to play in the process of unprecedented social transformation - both in developing the respect for differences and the overarching identity as well as providing the public forum and the channels of communication needed for the successful development of the country's multicultural democracy. In South Africa, the democratization of the media must go hand in hand with the democratization of the political system in order to ensure that the majority of the citizenry participate effectively in the country's multicultural democracy. Topics covered include The "Struggle for African Identity: Thabo Mbeki's African Renaissance", "Between the Local and the Global: South African Languages and the Internet", "Shooting the East/Veils and Masks: Uncovering Orientalism in South African Media" and "Black and White in Ink: Discourses of Resistance in South African Cartooning". Contributors are Pal Ahluwalia, Gabeba Baderoon, Richard L. Harris, Sean Jacobs, Elizabeth Le Roux, Andy Mason, Thembisa Mjwacu, Herman Wasserman, and Abebe Zegeye.

The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead.

In Media in Postapartheid South Africa, author Sean Jacobs turns to media politics and the consumption of media as a way to understand recent political developments in South Africa and their relations with the African continent and the world. Jacobs looks at how mass media define the physical and human geography of the society and what it means for comprehending changing notions of citizenship in postapartheid South Africa. Jacobs claims that the media have unprecedented control over the distribution of public goods, rights claims, and South Africa's integration into the global political economy in ways that were impossible under the state-controlled media that dominated the apartheid years. Jacobs takes a probing look at television commercials and the representation of South Africans, reality television shows and South African continental expansion, soap operas and postapartheid identity politics, and the internet as a space for reassertions and reconfigurations of identity. As South Africa becomes more integrated into the global economy, Jacobs argues that local media have more weight in shaping how consumers view these products in unexpected and consequential ways.

How Journalism Uses History examines the various ways in which journalism uses history and historical sources in order to better understand the relationships between journalists, historians and journalism scholars. It highlights the ambiguous overlap between the role of the historian and that of the journalist, and underlines that there no longer seems to be reason to accept that one begins only where the other ends. With Journalism Studies as a developing subject area throughout the world, journalism history is becoming a particularly vivacious field. As such, How Journalism Uses History argues that, if historical study of this kind is to achieve its full potential, there needs to be a fuller and more consistent engagement with other academics studying the past: political, social and cultural historians in particular, but also scholars working in politics, sociology, literature and linguistics. Contributors in this book discuss the core themes which inform history’s relationship with journalism from a wide range of geographical and methodological perspectives. They aim to create more ambitious conversations about using journalism both as a source for understanding the past, and for clarifying ideas about its role as constituent of the public sphere in using discourse and tradition to connect contemporary audiences with history. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journalism Practice.

Less than a decade after the advent of democracy in South Africa, tabloid newspapers have taken the country by storm. One of these papers -- the Daily Sun -- is now the largest in the country, but it has generated controversy for its perceived lack of respect for privacy, brazen sexual content, and unrestrained truth-stretching. Herman Wasserman examines the success of tabloid journalism in South Africa at a time when global print media are in decline. He considers the social significance of the tabloids and how they play a role in integrating readers and their daily struggles with the political and social sphere of the new democracy. Wasserman shows how these papers have found an important niche in popular and civic culture largely ignored by the mainstream media and formal political channels.

While transitioning from autocracy to democracy, media in Africa has always played an important role in democratic and non-democratic states; focusing on politicians, diplomats, activists, and others who work towards political transformations. New Media Influence on Social and Political Change in Africa addresses the development of new mass media and communication tools and its influence on social and political change. While analyzing democratic transitions and cultures with a theoretical perspective, this book also presents case studies and national experiences for media, new media, and democracy scholars and practitioners.

This book makes a very significant, timely and relevant contribution to a very topical subject of immense local as well as global interest. Through tracing the evolution of media discourse about race and racism, which the author prefers to call ‘race talk’, the writer prised open a window to a panoramic, variegated and yet nuanced perspective of the perennial South African race question etched across the vistas of time and memory since Jan Van Riebeeck set up the first European settlement as a refreshment station for the Dutch East India Company, at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 up to the time of writing this book. It lends a fresh lens through which to re-read South African society, not only to a studious scholar of media history but also to anybody interested in the general history of South Africa. - Dr Zvenyika Mugari, WITS This book is based on meticulous archival searching, presented in a new, fresh and highly engaging way. This is a book based on evidentiary-led scholarly principles that has lucidity as a goal. Unlike so many scholarly works which are turgid and very difficult to read because they are written in restricted codes meant only for other academics, this manuscript is wonderfully lucid, accessible and a pleasure to read. The prime readership will be academics but its lucidity makes it appealing beyond a purely academic readership, hopefully reaching media professionals and students also and influencing debates on race policy. This is how academic books, in fact, should be written. - Prof Keyan Tomaselli, University of Johannesburg The author has embarked on a very difficult and complex task of understanding the race construct in the South African media context. This is a highly contested and contentious space in South Africa and it is particularly arduous for a “white, middle-class, middle-aged, Afrikaans male” to navigate this space. The author has however eloquently managed to pilot this fine line of controversy. He offers a balanced view of the belligerent debate without treading insensitively on the toes of protagonists and at the same time challenges prevailing views. - André Rose, National Cancer Institute

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the economic difficulties facing journalism, including the impact of television's increasing share of the advertising market. It focuses on the alternative press, which arose in the mid-1980s at the height of the government's crackdown on dissent.