Abstract
Afrikaans and English television news started in 1975 with equal airtime. In 1996 afteran SABC policy change, the Afrikaans TV news bulletin was relegated to a lesser andinfrequent time slot. Many Afrikaans-speaking viewers perceived these changes as athreat to the future of Afrikaans and pressure was exerted by cultural organizations andAfrikaans newspapers. There are also indications that economy of language played amajor role in the re-establishment of a regular time slot for Afrikaans television news.Economy of language is a field of study probing the relationship between linguistic andeconomic variables. The role of language in people’s involvement in the economy isdiverse but fundamental. On the one hand language empowers or disempowers peopleto join the national economy, and on the other hand people’s language preferencessometimes determine their consumer decisions. The SABC’s Afrikaans television news isa prime example of language preference becoming an economic determinant.
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