Reconsidering the History of South African Journalism: The Ghost of the Slave Press

It has become a pattern to find academics, professionals and students of journalism bragging with the scope, techniques and dilemmas of investigative journalism. But there is one gaping hole: nowhere was information collated about the heroic contributions, and often the sacrifices, that were made for the profession by African investigative journalists across Africa. Writing a history or complete account of African investigative journalism is outside the scope of this article. But I am trying to offer here a series of contributions – some current, some historical – on the topic of safety of journalists, that will, hopefully, lay the foundations for further research, and also lay to rest decisively the myth that journalism which exposes social problems and criticizes the powerful is ‘ un-African ’ . Keywords: Africa, transparency, investigative journalism, safety of journalists, risk societies, watchdog

The history of South African journalism and mass communication (JMC) scholarship at university level stretches back to the 1960s. Five primary paradigms could be distinguished between 1960 and 1990. These were the German and Netherlands tradition (Zeitungswissenschaft and Perswetenschap, i.e. media history, law, ethics), positivist, functionalist, interpretative and Marxist. The last four approaches corresponded broadly to three sociological paradigms, namely: the positivist, idealist and realist. Different academic departments combined elements of the three approaches in varying proportions and combinations, each developing a preferred paradigm. This article begins with a cursory historical sketch of South African journalism, followed by a brief overview of JMC departments. The main trends in scholarship are then discussed against the backdrop of a qualitative analysis executed for this article. The authors conclude that theoretical and political rapprochement rather than division is occurring and evolving within post-apartheid JMC; that there is increasing co-operation and willingness to debate issues; that there is a recognition of the value of paradigm difference in debating issues, and that there is the need to locate South African JMC in an African and global context.

In view of the Brazil–South Africa Journalism Research Initiative, the purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to some of the main themes and topics in South African (SA) journalism research, and to contribute to the further theoretical conceptualisation of the initiative against the background of the opinion raised in this article about the nature of SA journalism research. The article is structured around four arguments: how the legacy of apartheid has guided, if not dictated, SA journalism research and continues to do so; how the dichotomy of SA society, being both a Third and a First World, affects SA journalism research; how being primarily quantitative, empirical research has produced a mainly self-reflexive and self-indulgent body of journalism research and has obstructed the way for a more phenomenological approach to SA journalism, as being first and foremost a communication phenomenon and a part of cultural production and the production of the SA semiosphere of mediated meaning; and how representation could form a metatheory for future research and contribute to the ontological and epistemological points of departure of the comparative research between South Africa and Brazil.

Reconsidering the History of South African Journalism

A recent research report by the Media Monitoring Project (2006) into South African arts journalism confirms worrying popular observations relating to commodification and a lack of focus, purpose and status since the demise of apartheid. Although it is a valuable'baseline study', as the study positions itself at the start, in the final instance the MMP (2006) report displays neither a coherent theoretical approach or departure point, nor any consistent framework into which to place and in terms of which to discuss its findings. With this article I therefore have two aims. Firstly, by using the field theory of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu-especially his concept of different forms of transferable capital – I develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of changes in the field of arts journalism in South Africa. Secondly, I use the MMP report in a pilot study to evaluate the current positioning of arts journalists in the context of their historic role under apartheid. The view of changes in the field of South African arts journalism expressed in this article leads to the development of Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital to include both content in support of elite power and hegemony, and content created in opposition as part of a process of power transformation. Cultural capital therefore becomes a useful tool in the description of the changing role of arts journalism in society. In conclusion I state that while the MMP report succeeded in part to account for the fact that the field of arts journalism is currently dominated by the economic pole in South African society, it failed to provide an adequate description of the related structural influence of the cultural/political pole. It is also suggested that while a focus on minority culture might bring back some purpose to arts journalism, some unifying globalising trends relating to both economic and cultural capital might negate the effort.

Informed by the theories of Bourdieu and Rancière on aesthetics and the role of the arts and art criticism in society, this article analyses the emergence of the South African Arts Journalism Awards (2013–2014) nearly 20 year after the end of apartheid. The particular research questions are whether the competition can be described as “transformed” in post-apartheid and post-colonial terms, and whether the winners displayed engagement or disengagement with larger socio-political debates. The competition arguably aids the distribution of “cultural capital” in the subfield of arts journalism. Following Rancière, the article also argues that the Awards provide credibility to the political views expressed by the winning arts journalists, in other words to their particular perspective on the “distribution of the sensible”. The methodology includes a brief quantitative comparative overview in search of indicators of transformation, as well as analysis of the entered content and motivational letters of six winners in both years using critical discourse analysis as method. The article found that the winners displayed a high level of political engagement, in contrast to suggestions by previous research that post-apartheid arts journalism has lost direction and purpose. But while male and female involvement in the competition was on a par (except in the list of final winners), the South African Arts Journalism Awards have clearly not been transformed in terms of “racial” and ethnic diversity.

Higher education institutions are increasingly faced with the challenge of producing graduates ready to enter the world of work—a continuously evolving world that can be unceremoniously upended by global events such as Covid-19. Journalism educators share in this dilemma—especially given the upheaval faced by the media industry. Through an exploratory pilot study, this paper aims to provide insight into what knowledge and skills graduates themselves value once they have entered the world of work. Focus groups were conducted with 38 alumni from a South African postgraduate journalism programme to explore their understanding of the ways in which their studies prepared them to adapt to the workplace. The findings indicate alumni are grateful to have been exposed to a variety of practice-orientated applications in which they could later choose to specialise. More importantly, however, alumni were vocal about the fact that they were taught—sometimes implicitly—skills that transcend disciplinary boundaries and that have stood them in good stead in a variety of careers. These skills include being comfortable networking with peers and colleagues; the ability to meet deadlines; knowledge about how to build contacts; an understanding of the need for lifelong learning; the ability to tell a story with any information at hand; time management skills; and related generic life skills such as resilience. The findings of this pilot study seem to suggest journalism educators should be cognisant that they are training students for the workplace, not just for newswork or mediawork, and that soft skills should be prioritised.

This article will, as a first exploration, attempt to put some aspects of the Afrikaans journalist Rykie van Reenen into perspective with the aim of understanding her contribution to South African journalism and the extent of her oeuvre. Van Reenen was referred to as 'undoubtedly the most outstanding Afrikaans journalist of the [twentieth] century' (Giliomee 2003, 564). In the Afrikaans rewritten version of this book, it is qualified with the word 'waarskynlik' – (probably) (Giliomee 2004, 470). Although her journalism, according to sources, contributed in a significant way to the eventual political change from an Afrikaner Nationalist-governed country to a democracy, very little is known about the journalist. This initial recording of van Reenen's oeuvre is part of a more extensive study of this journalist who has set a standard in South African Afrikaans journalism in terms of subject matter and writing style. This article can thus also be regarded as a contribution in a small way to a more complete South African media historiography, which, in general, lacks significant scholarly attention.

Next article No AccessThe Chosen PeopleJ. M. Powis SmithJ. M. Powis Smith Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 45, Number 2Jan., 1929 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/370219 Views: 5Total views on this site Citations: 28Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (1895-1941), which is continued by the Journal of Near Eastern Studies (1942-present). 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Qualitative interviews with postgraduate journalism students at a South African residential university inform this exploratory study on emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the Covid-19 national lockdown. The aim of the study was to interrogate and describe the students’ personal experiences related to ERT and the way their initial expectations for the academic year were disrupted. The findings indicate that students struggled to adapt to ERT due, in part, to unequal access to infrastructure and an inability to regulate their home environment. A key finding of the study is that students relied heavily on peer support to encourage and motivate them during this period of disruption.

While it is generally understood that business journalism involves a pro-corporate bias, as choices made about the content and framing of financial news are governed by a deliberate wish to portray corporations and their activities in a positive light, very few studies in Africa have examined how reporters and editors negotiate and experience ethical policies in different newsroom habitus. This is particularly important in the context where research elsewhere has demonstrated that there are ethical challenges for business journalists who have access to information and the ability to either influence markets or to gain personally themselves. This chapter sheds light on how business journalists in Kenya and South Africa negotiate ethical frameworks in their daily work. Drawing empirical data from document analysis and in-depth interviews, the chapter argues that the discourse of business journalism ethics is still very much alien to Kenyan and South African newsrooms. Departing from previous studies conducted mostly in Western societies, this study demonstrates that covert and overt pressures from advertisers, shareholders, news sources, and editorial management are militating against the institutionalization of ethical business journalism in African newsrooms. The findings, therefore, question the liberal-pluralist foundations of colonially inspired business journalism in Africa. The chapter thus argues that context-specific challenges negate the lofty ideals of professional autonomy and objectivity associated with liberal journalism. It also contends that given the precarious political and economic conditions under which African journalists operate, brown envelope journalism has become habitualized and institutionalized in the Kenyan newsroom when compared with the South African context. The chapter also reveals that although Kenyan and South African business journalism is relatively ring-fenced from direct government interference, it is not immune to ‘capture’ from other actors within the journalistic field’s value chain, who take advantage of their access to various species of capital in order to shape the newsmaking agenda.

In the present article I seek to discuss, following a diachronic approach, the close-knit relationship that can be found between journalistic discourse and the genre of the short story in Anglophone South African literature over a time span of fifty years, between the late Twenties and the Eighties. In particular, I intend to explore this genre negotiation by close reading selected short stories and/or newspaper articles by four non-white South African writers: R. R. R. Dhlomo, Can Themba, Alex La Guma, and Miriam Tlali. The intersections between the two different genres and discourses in these hybrid texts can be identified at the level of both content and form. A close reading of selected short stories and/or articles may call for a revaluation of this “South African New Journalism” as a creative experimentation that challenges conventional generic categorisations.

The inauguration of the first South African university journalism (perswetenskap) course in 1959 at Potchefstroom University was only the beginning of a long road that still meanders more than four decades later between the prerequisites of academe and the needs of industry - let alone the needs of society and the watchful eye of government.

By exploring the literary journalism of Rian Malan (My Traitor’s Heart), Antje Krog (Country of My Skull and Begging to Be Black), Jonny Steinberg (Midlands) and Kevin Bloom (Ways of Staying), I seek to reflect upon the ways in which these writers are able to use the uncertainties and contradictions inherent in this genre to reveal the complexities of identity formation and negotiation within contemporary South African society. They are very often writing at times of political and social flux, and by writing at the unstable boundaries of literature and journalism these authors not only mirror the volatility of their social setting but also endeavour to find new narrative forms through which to address the complexities of white South African identity. By working at the fault line of literature and journalism, Krog, Bloom, Malan and Steinberg are seeking those points of intersection and interpenetration that create narrative instability and fluidity, in order simultaneously to reveal the inherent anxiety and possibility of the “inbetween.” Finally, I suggest that the instability and liminality of “skin” offers a space in which white South African identities can become fluid rather than fixed, and in which whiteness can begin to move out from under the umbrella of its global sanctity and into “folded-togetherness” with its many “others”

The emergence of democracy in South Africa has given rise to considerable debate and discussion surrounding the renewed role of the broadcasting media. The role of South African television news in enabling and enacting democratic processes, however, remains largely unnoticed and under-theorised. This article reports on recent research that secures added empirical purchase on South African television journalism today and does so by analytically identifying, systematically mapping and pursuing into the production domain the repertoire of communicative frames that characterise contemporary South African television news both within as well as across the daily news programmes delivered by the public broadcaster, SABC, and the private network, eTV. Our findings document that there is considerably more complexity in the field of television news than has so far been acknowledged or explored and these complexities have direct bearing on debates about the establishment and enhancement of ‘democracy’ in South Africa's diverse, fractured and troubled polity.