Abstract
Focusing on South African media in Africa as a case study, this article argues that national media regionalisation of those economically dominant countries located geo-politically in the southern hemisphere is paradoxical. On the one hand, it follows the same liberal economic expansionist logic as their Western media counterparts and can pose a serious threat to the development of the national/local media of the recipient countries. On the other, it can foster new forms of cooperation among developing countries in the areas such as programme exchange and local media content production. Despite some advantages, the paper argues, these expansions and particularly the South African ones can function as intermediaries for extension of various forms of Western media and cultural imperialism(s).
Highlights
South African media’s regionalisation into the rest of the African geo-political and socio-cultural space provides an indispensable case study in exploring mediated time and space reconnection of the African Continent
South African media’s advance into the rest of African space, unlike that of developed countries’ media, is configured largely by intra-national political, historical and socio-economic developments of South Africa itself, a developing country situated not in the geopolitical north, but in the southern hemisphere. This geo-political location coupled with shared class- and racebased historical negative sentiments against Western imperialism and colonisation- cause some South African media (SABC Africa) to perceive their northward expansion, not as media re-colonisation of Africa, but as concrete realisation of south-south cultural solidarity as conceived in New World Information Order (NWICO)
In a nutshell, during 1970s and 1980s the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) arose as direct response to what is called media imperialism, a concept closely related to cultural imperialism (Fourie and Oosthuizen 416)
Summary
South African media’s regionalisation into the rest of the African geo-political and socio-cultural space provides an indispensable case study in exploring mediated time and space reconnection of the African Continent. Intra-national political, historical and socio-economic developments of South Africa itself, a developing country situated not in the geopolitical north, but in the southern hemisphere This geo-political location coupled with shared class- and racebased historical negative sentiments against Western imperialism and colonisation- cause some South African media (SABC Africa) to perceive their northward expansion, not as media re-colonisation of Africa, but as concrete realisation of south-south cultural solidarity as conceived in New World Information Order (NWICO). Developing world media’s promotions of nationally- or regionally-produced cultural products are perceived as reversal of cultural imperialism and/ or internationalisation of local cultures they carry (Borman and Schoonraad; Servaes, Lie and Terziz; Straubhaar and Viscasillas; Sinclair; Tomlinson) Missing in these analyses, is the threat to local or national media posed by regional expansion of southern-based dominant media. The reason for this is that South African media regionalisation is not a humanitarian venture but strategic and calculated capturing of African media markets
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