South Africa Journal Research Articles

The impact of COVID-19 on science journalists in South Africa: Investigating effects, challenges, quality concerns and training needs

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic demanded ongoing media coverage unprecedented in its scope and reach. As a result, the pandemic dominated global and national news headlines for an extended period of time. Science and health journalists, and their colleagues covering other journalistic beats, were called upon to report on various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and many journalists found themselves in unchartered waters. To investigate the effects of the pandemic on journalists in South Africa, we adopted a qualitative approach and conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty science, health and environmental journalists. We explored the challenges and demands that they faced, as well as how the pandemic changed science journalism in South Africa. This study highlights journalists’ capacity-building needs as identified during the pandemic and suggests ways to strengthen science journalism in the country.

Through the Media Looking Glass: Journalists’ Perceptions on South Africa’s Funded Environmental Journalism

ABSTRACTEnvironmental journalism has passed through a plethora of iterations—from a reporting that was science-oriented to a reporting for popular publications focusing on the green. This qualitative study looks at the political economy of environmental journalism in South Africa. The study seeks to understand the rationale of environmental journalism funded by corporate organizations in South Africa The study solicited for opinions from journalists who have been funded by various corporate organizations to cover social responsibility environmental initiatives. The study also gestures the use of environmental journalism to positively impact attitudes, raise awareness and play the advocacy role.

Beyond Cheerleading: Navigating the Boundaries of Science Journalism in South Africa

ABSTRACT Science journalism faces an issue that is part of a bigger picture of media change. The economic pressures which have seen shrinking resources available for reporting news are contrasted by the relentless rise of corporate communication and public relations. Institutional science communication has become a booming industry, operating, at least partially, by bypassing the traditional roles of journalists. To interrogate how science journalists perceive the impact of these changes on their professional roles, as well as how they navigate relationships with scientists and institutional science communicators, we conducted in-depth interviews with experienced South African science journalists. Our paper summarises the results of this study, including how journalists perceive changes in their professional identities and responsibilities. We analyse the interview data and explore the extent to which science journalists perceive themselves as “cheerleaders” for science, in contrast to critical investigators tasked with holding science and scientists to account, as well as how they operate in a world of well-endowed corporate science communication. We situate these interview findings against the theoretical background of boundary work and recent discussions about the blurring boundaries between science journalism and science communication.

Peace journalism in South Africa

This article presents a theoretical exploration of the concept of peace journalism. It assessesits usefulness for strengthening existing practices in the South African media. Peace journalismaddresses issues around journalistic practices in relation to story selection and presentation withthe aim of facilitating non-violent responses to real and potential conflict. There is no doubt thatcommercial media coverage often relies on sensational and inflammatory discourse to attractconsumers (audience), and that, even during times of peace, political communication frequentlyincorporates conflict or war terminology. Given the potential for individual and intergroup violence(actual or latent) due to the diverse nature of the population and South Africa’s historical legacies,there is a need to address peace-communication concerns on a continuous basis. This article isbased on a review of seminal literature in the field and also on the discussion and findings of around table conducted at the University of Johannesburg on 27 and 28 October 2011 with a numberof South African academics and representatives of national media-monitoring organisations.

De Zuid-Afrikaan en die teenstrydighede van 19de-eeuse Kaapse liberalisme De Zuid-Afrikaan and the contradictions of 19th century Cape liberalism

OPSOMMING Die Kaapse koloniale koerant De Zuid-Afrikaan, wat in 1830 die eerste maal verskyn het, word tradisioneel as die grondlegger van die Afrikaanse joernalistiek in Suid-Afrika gesien. Moet die koerant as reaksionêre voorloper van die Afrikaanse joernalistiek van Afrikaner-nasionalisme en apartheid gesien word, of het dit in die konteks van die 19de eeu 'n liberale stem verteenwoordig wat sedertdien onderbeklemtoon is? Hierdie artikel belig De Zuid-Afrikaan se redaksionele dekking van twee sleutelkwessies. Aan die een kant was daar sy (liberale) ondersteuning van persvryheid en meer selfbeskikking vir die koloniste, en aan die ander sy (konserwatiewe) houding teenoor slawerny. Die historiese nalatenskap van die koerant word herbesoek aan die hand van 'n literatuuroorsig en geselekteerde aanhalings uit die oorspronklike inhoud. Die slotsom is dat evaluering van De Zuid-Afrikaan in die 20ste-eeuse geskiedskrywing as eenduidig reaksionêr moontlik heroorweeg moet word. Van die nuanses en teenstrydighede van die spesifieke 19de-eeuse omgewing waarin die koerant ontstaan en ontwikkel het, het dalk verlore geraak. Trefwoorde: Afrikanernasionalisme, De Zuid-Afrikaan, geskiedskrywing, joernalis-tiek, Kaapkolonie, koerante, konserwatief, liberaal, selfregering, slawerny, Suid-Afrika, 19de eeu, 20ste eeu ABSTRACT The Cape colonial newspaper De Zuid-Afrikaan, which was published in 1830 for the first time, is traditionally regarded as the founder of Afrikaans journalism in South Africa. But how should its legacy be remembered? Historians of different generations seem to differ. Was the newspaper the reactionary forerunner of Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid, or must it be viewed as a liberal voice within the context of the 19th century which has perhaps been underemphasised in 20th century historiography? This article revisits the editorial coverage of De Zuid-Afrikaan on two key issues, the emancipation of slaves in 1834 and the introduction of a representative elective government system in 1854. The newspaper was conservative towards the former issue, but liberal towards the latter. The portrayal of the newspaper is revisited by engaging in a literature review and quoting selected passages from the newspaper. In conclusion it is argued that past evaluations of De Zuid-Afrikaan as one-sidedly reactionary should probably be revisited, because much of the contradictions and nuances of the specific 19th century surroundings in which it was founded might have been lost in most recent versions of its history. This probably happened because the rise of Afrikaner nationalism in the 20th century was projected backwards onto De Zuid-Afrikaan. The result is a simple dualistic view of South African newspaper history in which De Zuid-Afrikaan represents a reactionary pole and its main competitor, The South African Commercial Advertiser, a liberal one. These two poles are then seen as representative of respectively Afrikaans and English journalism as it developed in the 20th century. A closer look at the founding and development ofDe Zuid-Afrikaan reveals a much more nuanced picture. Although the owners and editors of the newspaper were Cape Dutch in the main, it also made available its copy in English for at least seven decades. Afrikaans language nationalism in the form in which it later developed was not its aim nor its legacy to Afrikaans journalism. It is also a mistake to view the newspaper's defence of the interests of slave owners as a precursor to the support that Afrikaans newspapers provided to apartheid. De Zuid-Afrikaan did not try to justify and promote slavery as an ideology in the way in which Afrikaans journalists did with apartheid. In the 19th century slavery was regulated and based on accepted practice. The newspaper emerged as mouthpiece for slaveowners who had legitimate interests, claims, and fears when the system was no longer acceptable, and the law changed. The case of apartheid was different: first the Afrikaans journalists created visions, and then the laws followed. This article does not try from the moral high ground of the 21st century to whitewash the history of De Zuid-Afrikaan or present it as liberal ahead of its time. The point is that the newspaper was exactly a product of its time, and part of a greater Western movement from patriarchy to a more liberal order. Its editors were learned men who were in touch with the changes in parts of the world like France, the Netherlands, Britain and the United States of America. The support that De Zuid-Afrikaan provided to the liberal (in its time) constitution of 1854 shows an attitude towards other members of society, white and black, which seems to differ from later incarnations of Afrikaner nationalism in the press. De Zuid-Afrikaan was part of the development of Cape liberalism, which should be distinguished from the Afrikaner nationalism of the 20th century. Perhaps the question should be addressed whether it would have been more suited to the inclusive democracy of the 21st century or the fatherland of apartheid? Keywords: Afrikaner nationalism, Cape colony, conservative, De Zuid-Afrikaan, historiography, journalism, liberal, newspapers, representative government, slavery, South Africa, 19th century, 20th century

An Intersectional Approach to Exploring Audience Expectations of Journalism

Audience expectations of journalism reveal how well journalism is performing its role in society in the minds of its consumers. In an increasingly fragmented media and audience landscape, it has become more important to consider how social identity shapes audience expectations. However, scholarship has tended to examine expectations based on single identity categories (e.g., class or gender), revealing a crucial but disassembled understanding of how audiences perceive the journalism they consume. This study relies on an intersectional framework and eight focus groups to examine how class, race, and gender, as intersecting and mutually constitutive modes of power/oppression, shape audiences’ expectations of journalism in South Africa. It identifies intersectional differences in audiences’ expectations of solutions journalism, perceptions of journalism’s unaffordability and inaccessibility, and normative evaluations of quality and popular journalism that reveal classist and racist discourses of distinction and stereotyping. The study demonstrates the importance of intersectionality as a critical framework for studying audience expectations and the extent to which they are in/excluded and rendered (in)visible to journalism’s dominant ideology.

“But is it Journalism?” Reflections on Online Informational Roles and Content Creation Practices of a Sample of South African Lawyers

ABSTRACTIn the era of social media, journalism is no longer the preserve of journalists. In specialised fields, such as law, the public in general and lawyers and legal academics specifically are able to “push in” and report and comment publicly on legal matters including trials, commissions, acts of law passed in parliament and other legal processes. These contributions, as this paper explores, are reshaping the contours and content of public discussions of legal matters and of legal journalism in South Africa. This paper suggests that recent theorising of journalism role theory can help understand not just the motivations of these legal interlopers in the journalism space but also how they are shaping a new informational ecosystem in which legal issues, including human rights, administrative and criminal law, and other topics, are brought into the public domain. The paper explores what some South African lawyers understand about the roles they are playing in digital public spaces and how they perceive their contributions and their relationship to the journalism profession and to journalists within that profession. The paper suggests that these lawyers’ practices challenge our understanding about how digital media informational ecosystems work and explores how this is impacting journalism in South Africa.

Beyond Watchdog Journalism: Media and Social Accountability in South Africa

ABSTRACTThis article offers an analysis of newspaper coverage of education in the Eastern Cape. Using content analysis of news print media as a method of investigation, the findings illustrate a gap in education journalism in South Africa between 2005 and 2016. This study is an exploration of the education landscape in the Eastern Cape across two interrelated fields—social accountability and journalism. The aim is to understand the gaps in coverage in a key sector in the province, one that has continually been visible in the media, but which has also consistently failed to improve despite that visibility. The argument made herein is that for the media to be effective in holding duty bearers to account and fulfilling their role as “watchdogs” of society, what is required is a shift in the assumption that simply reporting on or highlighting corruption, maladministration or mismanagement of public resources is sufficient. Rather, the episodic reporting which is currently prevalent in education coverage keeps citizens information-poor and lacking the knowledge they require to actively hold public officials to account. The findings point to a failure by the printed press in fulfilling any accountability role and suggest that they are currently not contributing meaningfully to social accountability in the education sector in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

Chinese Media Engagement in South Africa

China’s footprint in Africa’s media sector over the last decade has reached dimensions that make it impossible to go unnoticed. In South Africa, one of the countries where this imprint is most diversified, Chinese media have been engaged in a varied range of activities, including content production and distribution, infrastructure development, direct investment in local media and training of journalists. Building on previous exploratory studies by the authors, this paper addresses an unresolved question in the study of China’s media internationalization: the impact on journalism. Using data from 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with editors, journalists and policy makers, we investigate how much influence Chinese media exercise on journalism in South Africa. We present responses along three dimensions: consumption of and attitudes towards Chinese media, impact on local journalism and views about South Africa–China relations. Our data offer evidence that, despite having substantially increased their presence, Chinese media are far from having a profound impact on media professionals. While some interviewees report the adoption of some Chinese media in their daily news consumption, scepticism towards China, and by extension its media, dominates. We discuss these findings in the context of Chinese state-owned media’s attempts to increase their discursive power globally.

Ruth First: political journalist, researcher and teacher

This article begins with Ruth's teaching at Durham and Dar es Salaam and teaching and research at the Centro de Estudos Africanos in Maputo. It discusses Ruth's research on how white farmers and mining houses in South Africa addressed their common problem of finding labour that was ‘abundant and … cheap’. She wrote about migrant workers to the South African mines from the South African end in ‘The gold of migrant labour’ and from the Mozambican end in Black Gold: the Mozambican miner. The address examines her analysis of the ‘power elite’ in Barrel of a Gun. It concludes with the threat that new legislation makes to investigative journalism in South Africa.

Social Media and Community Radio Journalism in South Africa

Using a qualitative approach, this article explores South African community radio stations’ uses of the internet, particularly the online social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter. Specifically, it explores the extent to which these sites are used in news production, and whether there is an increase in organization on the basis of network sociality instead of identity politics or communal social relations. Focusing on three community radio stations in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban (South Africa’s three largest cities), the article draws on anthropological methods of participant observation and qualitative interviews. The study argues that while the potential exists, in this case access to and the use of social media does not necessarily facilitate the formation of counterpublics or result in collective political action and networked activism. However, the technologies have impacted on the daily routines of community radio journalists who increasingly rely on the internet as a source of news; and in turn, their use of social media has led to greater access and participation for those audiences which are already online.

Tabloid Journalism in South Africa by H. Wasserman Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2010. Pp. 218, £16·99 (pbk). - Starring Mandela and Cosby: media and the end(s) of apartheid by R. Krabill Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pp. 199, £13·50 (pbk). - Political Economy of Media Transformation in South Africa edited by A. Olorunnisola and K. G. Tomaselli

Tabloid Journalism in South Africa by H. Wasserman Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2010. Pp. 218, £16·99 (pbk). - Starring Mandela and Cosby: media and the end(s) of apartheid by R. Krabill Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pp. 199, £13·50 (pbk). - Political Economy of Media Transformation in South Africa edited by A. Olorunnisola and K. G. Tomaselli

Evidence to support a food-based dietary guideline on sugar consumption in South Africa.

BackgroundTo review studies undertaken in South Africa (SA) which included sugar intake associated with dental caries, non-communicable diseases, diabetes, obesity and/or micronutrient dilution, since the food-based dietary guideline: “Use foods and drinks that contain sugar sparingly and not between meals” was promulgated by the Department of Health (DOH) in 2002.MethodsThree databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect), and SA Journal of Clinical Nutrition (SAJCN), DOH and SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) websites were searched for SA studies on sugar intake published between 2000 and January 2012. Studies were included in the review if they evaluated the following: sugar intake and dental caries; sugar intake and non-communicable diseases; sugar and diabetes; sugar and obesity and/or sugar and micronutrient dilution.ResultsThe initial search led to 12 articles in PubMed, 0 in Cochrane, 35 in ScienceDirect, 5 in the SAJCN and 3 reports from DOH/SAMRC. However, after reading the abstracts only 7 articles from PubMed, 4 from SAJCN and 3 reports were retained for use as being relevant to the current review. Hand searching of reference lists of SAJCN articles produced two more articles. Intake of sugar appears to be increasing steadily across the South African (SA) population. Children typically consume about 50 g per day, rising to as much as 100 g per day in adolescents. This represents about 10% of dietary energy, possibly as much as 20%. It has been firmly established that sugar plays a major role in development of dental caries. Furthermore, a few studies have shown that sugar has a diluting effect on the micronutrient content of the diet which lowers the intake of micronutrients. Data from numerous systematic reviews have shown that dietary sugar increases the risk for development of both obesity and type 2 diabetes. Risk for development of these conditions appears to be especially strong when sugar is consumed as sugar-sweetened beverages.ConclusionBased on the evidence provided the current DOH food-based dietary guideline on sugar intake should remain as is.

‘Sexing up’ environmental issues: Exploring media eco-ethics, advocacy and journalism in a South African context

Environmental journalism in South Africa is often criticised for being inaccurate, lacking in depth or tending towards advocacy. Sources of information are similarly criticised, often for being inaccessible or displaying unethical behaviour, ranging from hyperbole to the more serious distortion or omission of factual information. This article explores the Climate Change Media Partnership's 2011 policy guidelines for policymakers in the global South, and volunteers some thoughts in the context of the ‘problem of knowledge’ (Baggini 2002). It looks at the challenges faced by South African journalists, asking whether ‘caring’ necessitates advocacy in environmental journalism. The article concludes by examining Claassen's (n.d.) ethical beacons for science journalists, and suggesting a preliminary ethical framework for South African environmental journalists.

Photojournalism, media freedom and democracy

In the teeming Negro and colored shantytowns of Johannesburg, where newspapers and magazines are a rarity, a truck piled high with magazines rumbled through the unpaved streets last week. Wherever it stopped, hundreds of people swarmed about it, buying the magazine: The African Drum. (extract from 'South African Drumbeats', TIME Magazine, 1952) This short article is based on an address I offered at the opening of the 'G.R. Naidoo: a generous eye' photographic exhibition held at the Albert Luthuli Museum in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, on 18 June 2010. (1) The travelling exhibition celebrates the work and life of G.R. Naidoo, a photojournalist who was committed to reporting on South Africa's freedom struggle in the 1950s. The Drum Decade (1950s), as the moment is known, has a special place in South African popular memory. This was the time and the place that a whole generation of black journalists and photographers cut their teeth, and went on to become the subject of university classrooms and academic books on literature and films for well over the next seven decades. So powerful was the writing and imaging that emerged from the period, that no other moment in South African journalism (or photography) has eclipsed it. From a reading of English literature course entries, some might think that journalism in South Africa stopped when Drum had passed its primo in the mid1960s. Drum became the most widely read magazine in Africa at the time. A 1959 TIME article, entitled 'Drum beat in Africa', stated that 240 000 copies of Drum were distributed across Africa, to countries like Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The magazine was so popular, in fact, that illiterate people allegedly paid educated friends to read them the magazine. What Drum launched, of course, was a whole generation of engaging writers and cultural workers whose sociology of everyday township life became the model for many disciplines. That their output was written during apartheid, and that they were nevertheless able to generate their stories, photography and act in films like Come back Africa (1959), is testimony to the idea that even the most repressed can tackle their conditions through creativity, resilience and intelligence. Adversity generates the best in people: they create, they cooperate and they generate--ideas, stories, histories, and so on. It is in these kinds of moments that journalism becomes a means to a social end. Journalists and photographers change the world. Think of the pictures of war and how single photographs have rattled the global conscience: * The young naked girl burned with agent orange, fleeing towards the camera during the war in Vietnam; * The picture of Hector Pieterson being carried horizontally during the Soweto uprising; * The Kevin Carter photograph of a baby in Rwanda desperately trying to get to a place of safety as a nearby vulture eyes it; * And, the euphoria as we saw Nelson Mandela for the first time in 26 years in February 1990. Who can fail to be affected by such evocative, historically significant images? Photographers always take sides, they don't just take pictures. And, if they think they are just picture takers, then I would refer you all to the film Under fire, where the photographer changes his defensive catchphrase: 'I don't take sides, I just take pictures.' The pictures, he learns, 'take sides', even as they are appropriated by different constituencies struggling for different--even opposing--outcomes. Photographers are part of what they document; they also often pay the price for their compassion. Kevin Carter committed suicide soon after he took the picture of the baby and the vulture. Many reporters have paid the price of their profession they are shot, captured, assassinated, jailed, threatened and interrogated. It cannot be surprising, therefore, that reporters, journalists and photographers have more than just a theoretical understanding of the idea of human rights and social justice. …

Political posturing and the need for peace journalism in South Africa: The case of Julius Malema

For South Africa, 2010 marked a renewed presence in the international community both as the host of the FIFA Football World Cup, and as a continued economic and political powerhouse on the African continent. In light of this, some concern was (and continues to be) expressed about the mass media's ongoing coverage of the contentious racial discourse – and often violent rhetoric – used by Julius S Malema, current President of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Should more aggressive and confrontational political posturing in a newly emerging democracy be silenced, or should such perspectives be afforded the magnitude of coverage awarded to Malema, so as to encourage public debate? Labelled a ‘moron’ by Time Magazine, and eventually called to order by the ANC leadership in May 2010 for bringing the party into disrepute, Malema is a controversial figure in both international and local circles. While the role he plays may merit attention, it is the sheer volume of media reports and the nature of their content that demand examination and reflection. In the interests of maintaining stability within diverse societies, it is arguable that the media should be more aware of peace journalism practices, and should attempt to adhere to some of these principles when producing material for public consumption. This study is informed by a content analysis of English South African print media, conducted over an 18-month period.

Tabloid journalism in South Africa: true story!

Contents Acknowledgments 1. Shock! Horror! Scandal! The Tabloid Controversy and Journalism Studies in Post-Apartheid South Africa 2. Attack of the Killer Newspapers! Tabloids Arrive in South Africa 3. Black and White and Read All Over: Tabloids and the Glocalization of Popular Media 4. Not Really Newspapers: Tabloids and the South African Journalistic Paradigm 5. The Revolution Will Be Printed: Tabloids, Citizenship, and Democratic Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa 6. Truth or Trash? Understanding Tabloid Journalism and Lived Experience 7. Often They Cry with the People: The Professional Identities of Tabloid Journalists 8. Conclusion: Telling Stories Notes References Index

NRJ Book Review: Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story!

Herman Wasserman, Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story! (Indiana University Press, 2010) 218 pages, $24.95 (paperback).Review by Anthony A. OlorunnisolaHerman Wasserman's Tabloid Journalism in South Africa joins a longstanding discourse about the commercialization of the mass media. Long before the coinage of and tabloidization-describing the takeover of traditional by market journalism-media scholars in the U.S. worried about yellow and then about sensationalism. Concerns about the latter produced a Hutchins Commission charged with addressing the decline of the so-called assumption, and its recommendation of social responsibility handicapped an otherwise free media. The tendency to look at tabloids as purveyors of untoward content for democratic citizens' consumption has continued to bother contemporary media scholars.In Tabloid Journalism in South Africa, Wasserman proposes that the popular notion that tabloids are the bad boys of modern journalism be revisited to broaden scholarly conversation. Academics should not accuse Wasserman of ghettoizing this genre's evolution by treating its inception and unprecedented success as developments with no relevance for journalism in the real world. He sees a lesson in the sociology of journalism for tolerant critics.Wasserman considers it universally noteworthy that tabloids in postapartheid South Africa have granted access to populations previously marginalized by the mainstream media. By so doing, tabloids are giving the mainstream media a run for their money in terms of circulation-about 500,000 copies per day which translates into around 4.7 million regular readers- while showcasing a scenario contrary to the dying spell cast on print journalism in the global North.Starting with the preface through eight chapters of the 218-page text, Wasserman lays a foundation for the book's counter-proposition by suggesting that scholars should be cautious when transporting concepts operationalized in the global North to the study of phenomena in the global South where peculiarities of living may vary. Secondly and consistent with norms of theory- building and theory-testing, evidence that negatively rated tabloids work differently for readers in the global South should be embraced by scholars everywhere.Wasserman points out limitations, which were created partly by his identity as a privileged Afrikaner whose social location was and remains different from that of the majority of South Africans. He clarifies that his objective is neither to apologize for tabloids nor demonize their emergence in South Africa as critics have done. Rather, his goal is to examine tabloids not as problematic but as sociological developments that have redefined journalism. By so doing, it becomes possible to pose different questions. For example, why have South Africans overwhelmingly embraced tabloids? In Chapter 3 Wasserman ponders the controversy over South African tabloids as imitations of American and/or British versions of the genre, a factor that raises questions either about outlandishness or cultural imperialism or cultural hybridism. His treatment of the controversy admits foreign cross-influences. Although he provides evidence that sheds extensive light on global and local influences, Wasserman refrains from categorically resolving the identity question.Wasserman contends with the identity of tabloids in Chapter 4 by broaching their acceptance by mainstream journalists, journalism forums and media critics. Critics' doubts that tabloids should be considered real newspapers led Wasserman to question what tabloids should do to measure up to standards; should they cease being tabloids altogether? Wasserman straddles the controversial divides of professionalism, ethics and value to audiences between mainstream papers and tabloids nicely by recommending paradigms for moving the debate beyond simplistic binaries. …

Digital journalism and online public spheres in South Africa

This article explores and evaluates the growth of digital journalism in South Africa, within the context of increased use of online social media in the field. Increasingly, local activists are using mobile and online social networking to promote their events and causes, and reach their constituencies. Similarly, journalists are using digital media to practise their craft, reach new audiences, and sometimes even to change the notion of who practises journalism, as in the case of citizen journalism. South African journalists, via community media and sometimes even tabloid newspapers, have long embraced the notion of civic or community journalism, framing news ‘in a way that facilitates people thinking about solutions, not just problems and conflict’ (Hoyt 1995). With the rise of Web 2.0 and increased access to the Internet, digital journalism in South Africa has spread to include a strong focus on user-generated content, with traditional news media using Twitter and other social media to generate reader feedback. Similarly, the Mail & Guardian ‘Thoughtleader’ blog, originally designed for socalled J-bloggers, is another example of the ‘convergence’ between journalism and social media. The article provides an overview of emerging trends and theories in the South African context, focusing particularly on the public sphere created by bloggers, the citizen journalism of MyNews24.com and journalists' engagement with online social media. Furthermore, the article reflects on the possibility that online news sites and blogs may represent a space for the creation of online public spheres in South Africa.

Political journalism in South Africa as a developing democracy – understanding media freedom and responsibility

As an emerging democracy in Africa, the political communication system of South Africa has undergone major shifts since the early 1990s. Democracy brought greater and constitutionally protected freedom of the media. This freedom was, however, seen as linked to certain responsibilities for the media to fulfil as democratic institutions. Ongoing clashes between the media, politicians and the government have made it clear that there is no consensus about what media freedom and responsibility mean in the context of a new democracy. In order to assess the political communication system within South Africa, against the background of the new wave of democracy that has swept the globe since the early 1990s, a structural analysis of the political economic, regulatory and policy conditions underpinning the political communication system is not sufficient. Attention should also be paid to the dynamic, cultural dimensions of political communication – the attitudes, value frameworks and mutual expectations of role-players in the system. Drawing on approximately 30 semistructured interviews with journalists, politicians and political intermediaries in South Africa as part of a multicountry comparative study, this article explores how values like freedom of speech, media responsibility and the democratic role of the media are understood by these various role-players in the political communication process. The aim is to identify emerging themes in the discourse around freedom and responsibility, in order to gain a better understanding of how these interpretations inform the sometimes strained relationship between the media, intermediaries and politicians in these emerging democracies.