Language policy and practice in the electronic mass media in multilingual, developing countries: The case of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

Abstract

Along with other parameters such as standard of living, level of education and literacy, and rate of industrialisation (often used in determining the socio-political and socio-economic status of a country), South Africa also evinces the features and challenges of official multilingualism, i.e., the formal adoption and use of several languages amongst its peoples. With a population of about 50.59 million (Statistics South Africa 2011 estimates), it is a classic example of ‘one nation, many peoples’. It has, therefore, become crucial to examine the various linguistic and mass communicational issues and challenges arising from this situation of official multilingualism in several spheres of everyday life in South Africa. This study focuses on the policies and practices guiding the use of many languages in disseminating information to all the peoples of the country through the electronic mass media. Examining the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as a case study, this mini survey attempts to identify some of the challenges associated with the delivery of daily news and entertainment to all the peoples of South Africa in the 11 official languages, and reports on the reactions of a sample of the SABC's practitioners and listening and viewing audiences to the corporation's current performance in meeting the multilingual information and entertainment needs of all the different ethnic and cultural milieux that make up today's republic.