1,720,968 research outputs found
Understanding the dynamics of broadcast operations driven by a converged digital ecosystem
Full text linkBroadcast Media Africa’s 2021 conference in Cape Town, South Africa, was dubbed the “Broadcast Media Convention of Southern Africa” and was organised in partnership with the Southern Africa Broadcasting Association. The conference drew attention to several issues, including the technological developments affecting broadcasters and the effect of Covid-19 on broadcasting operations. This article is based on the paper presented there. The article notes that the broadcast industry has evolved drastically over the past few years. However, with rapid technological developments and new trends in the increasingly digital and converged media markets, broadcast managers increasingly must look for new strategies to stay afloat in the competitive and mediarich environment in which broadcast institutions operate. The article posits that the new media ecosystem has essentially brought to the fore one aspect, which was always known but often took for granted – the importance of the audience. The article appraises the developments in the converging environment to improve our understanding of how African broadcasters could continue to innovate successfully
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The use of females as sources of information in SABC newscasts
No full textUsing content analysis, this article examines the habit of using sources in television news with specific reference to one of South Africa’s major English channels, SABC 31. A total of 21 news bulletins were analysed to determine the way in which news is presented through male and female sources as authority within which reality is perceived. After the content analysis, I attempt to understand what is at stake and in doing so I situate this article on transformative feminist perspective, which inculcates both theory and praxis. In the first instance, the content analysis reveals that whilst both males and females were used as sources or authority of information in the channel’s news broadcasts, males in general were the preferred sources and that they were more likely to be used on stories and roles that are traditionally deemed as typically masculine, while women were used on those that are traditionally perceived as feminine. The latter category of stories was scarcely covered compared to the former, further confirming the research assumption that it is largely the views of men that are represented in the news since more males than females are more likely to be used as sources of information. Furthermore, I posit that the preponderance of male sources and the authoritative tenor that the media ascribes to them together with the correlating paucity of female as sources of news contribute to the production and the perpetuation of gender stereotyping and imbalances in society. Ultimately, I find that the application of transformative feminist approach leads not only to an insightful understanding of the news media as a “rendition of society’s patriarchal practice” (Ross, 2004), but also serves as a useful strategy to containing the problem
Language, Afrikology and the tremor of the political moment : English as a main language of discourse in Africa
No full textEnglish plays a pivotal role as a language of discourse in Africa. Recently, the relentless
pressure to embrace the much-heralded African Renaissance has prompted many African countries to promote indigenous languages and elevate their status to that of official languages, alongside English which enjoys first place due to its development and popularity across Africa. Through the theoretical lenses of hegemonic theory and Afrikology, this article explores the use of English as a dominant language in Africa. It is posited in this article that language is the embodiment of culture and that over reliance on foreign languages often leads to unintentional consequences, which include serving as a hegemonic devise to promote foreign cultures at the expense of African culture. The article is informed, in part, by the author’s personal experience while living in a native Englishspeaking country (United Kingdom); his experience while teaching English in a non-English speaking country (Japan) and his experience in his native multilingual country (South Africa). The article concludes that while the merits of using English as a main language of discourse in Africa are clear, the need to challenge such a situation is even more compelling, and proposes that at least one African language should equally be endorsed
Journalism education and practice in South Africa and the discourse of the African Renaissance
No full textAt the turn of the century there was sheer optimism that ‘Africa’s time’ to address all its problems had come,
and as a result the 21st century was widely hailed as the ‘African century’ (Ban 2008; Makgoba 1999; Mbeki
1999; O’Reilly 1998; Zoellick 2009). This pronouncement was accompanied by the parallel call for the
African Renaissance, which challenged many institutions to align themselves with this ‘crucial phase’ in the
history of Africa. In the process, expressions such as ‘de-Westernisation’, ‘Africanisation’, ‘indigenisation’ and
‘domestication’ became buzz-words. Yet, after almost a decade of such claims, there appears to be very little,
if anything, gained from these confident pronouncements. This article is situated within embryonic debates on
the Africanisation of the curricula. The article explores the current thinking on journalism education (the teaching
of journalism) and practice (the practice of journalism) in the country, with a view to furthering our understanding
of journalism agility deemed important for the ‘African century’. It further explores the opportunities and limitations
of situating journalism education and journalism practice within the discourse of the African Renaissance. The
key data that form the basis of this article were collected through interviews and an open-ended questionnaire
from a sample consisting of journalists, journalism educators and senior journalism students. The findings point
to the need to rethink journalism education and journalism practice, given the trends of globilisation and the
equally compelling need to Africanise
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
When the subaltern speaks : re-examining indigenous language media as alternative public sphere during colonial South Africa
Full text linkAbstract: This article attempts to examine the efficacy of indigenous language newspapers that operated in South Africa during the colonial era. In doing so, the article is particularly interested to see how the success achieved by those publications could be replicated to boost post-apartheid indigenous language media in their encounter with the hegemonic onslaught of the mainstream media whose scope and hegemony continue to expand at an alarming rate. The article embraces the notion of the public sphere and the theory of hegemony to make sense of how indigenous media permeated the language and political discourse and emerged as a strong voice for the oppressed, reinforcing at once what Herman and Chomsky (1988) refer to as “class consciousness”. The notion of the public sphere is found to be particularly profitable in highlighting the exclusion/inclusion of wide-ranging voices in the public affairs while the robustness of the theory of hegemony lies in its strengths to unravel the political imperatives and the ideological contest that characterized the colonial era. The article argues that indigenous publications succeeded in becoming viable platforms for the indigenous communities who had been pushed beyond the realm of public sphere and the margins of citizenship. The article concludes that indigenous language media were particularly important for their political mobilization and contribution to media diversity, resulting from the range of voices that they orchestrated
Book publishing in indigenous languages in South Africa: challenges and opportunities
No full textMajor publishers in many parts of Africa are conspicuous by their reluctance to publish in indigenous African languages. Many of these publishers cite lack of readership in indigenous languages as a reason for this move which is frustrating efforts at indigenisation and domestication and increase dependency on foreign languages, notably English. This article explores book publishing in indigenous languages in South Africa and exemplifies pertinent issues inherent in the multilingual country where English has remained a dominant discourse at the expense of indigenous languages which have largely remained under utilised as media of instruction and public discourse. It is argued in this article that this under utilisation impacts directly on book publishing in indigenous languages as it leads to a shrinking market for publishers. It is posited further that, since language is a key feature of culture which also enables access to indigenous wisdom especially in the context of Africa, it can be concluded that the cultural legacy of many indigenous African communities is under threat
Book publishing in indigenous languages in South Africa: challenges and opportunities
No full textMajor publishers in many parts of Africa are conspicuous by their reluctance to publish in indigenous African languages. Many of these publishers cite lack of readership in indigenous languages as a reason for this move which is frustrating efforts at indigenisation and domestication and increase dependency on foreign languages, notably English. This article explores book publishing in indigenous languages in South Africa and exemplifies pertinent issues inherent in the multilingual country where English has remained a dominant discourse at the expense of indigenous languages which have largely remained under utilised as media of instruction and public discourse. It is argued in this article that this under utilisation impacts directly on book publishing in indigenous languages as it leads to a shrinking market for publishers. It is posited further that, since language is a key feature of culture which also enables access to indigenous wisdom especially in the context of Africa, it can be concluded that the cultural legacy of many indigenous African communities is under threat
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