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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Contradictions of Broadcasting Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Author:Barnett, CliveISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Review of African Political Economy
Volume:25
Issue:78
Period:December
Pages:551-570
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:media policy
broadcasting
Politics and Government
Law, Human Rights and Violence
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
External links:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249808704343
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=438CBA3BBDE4437C84E1
Abstract:This paper examines the process of mass media reform in South Africa during the 1990s, with particular reference to broadcasting. It identifies tensions between the attempt to restructure broadcasting as a public sphere capable of supporting national unification and democratization, the existence of socioeconomic differentiation and cultural diversity at subnational levels, and the pressures which impinge upon the broadcasting sector as a result of policies aimed at internationalizing the South African economy. The formulation of broadcasting policy between 1990 and 1995 is reviewed, and the changes that have taken place during the implementation of restructuring and reregulation from 1996 to 1998 are assessed. In the contest to control the future of TV in the country the interests of the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation), the ANC, various interested business parties, plus the ethnic objectives of Afrikaners struggled to maintain an influence. The author traces how the initial, prior to election, aims of the ANC gradually altered when in government, and observes the decline in influence of the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) in the face of the powerful business lobby. The paper concludes that the intensified commercialization of broadcasting is at odds with the political objectives of transforming the mass media into a public sphere supportive of a diverse and independent civil society. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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