The Case of Lotus FM
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Identity in the media in a post-apartheid radio station in South Africa: The case of Lotus FM By Divinia Pillay Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University April 2015 Supervisor: Dr Janina Wozniak 1 Acknowledgements To my mother and my father, thank you for all of your support throughout this project. Without your unwavering patience and support and encouragement, this project would never have been completed. To my loving husband. Since I have known you, I have been working on this project. Your encouragement and support has been a source of motivation to complete this. Thank you. To my employers at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Thank you for all of the encouragement and support throughout this project. Lastly, to my supervisor, Dr Janina Wozniak. Thank you for all of your patience and understanding throughout this long journey. I have learned so much from you throughout this project, and I am very grateful to have had you as my supervisor. 2 Abstract This research study investigates Lotus FM, as one of many South African Media components that are catering for one specific cultural or religious group. The investigation explores the implications of practice of a specific media component that caters for specific cultural or religious groups operating in a post-apartheid South Africa. After the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, a number of South African media components have proclaimed their commitment to reconciliation and nation building within South Africa by attempting to unite audiences. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, which held the monopoly on South African Broadcasting for decades, has promulgated the notion of the rainbow nation to audiences in South Africa. Since 1994, sub-components of the different South African media segments were developed to cater for specific ethnic or cultural groups by the station managements. This was aimed at reversing the effects of pre-1994 media that catered for the former ruling minority only or ethnic groups that were categorized by the former political dispensation. It is possible, however, that this has resulted in a renewed and continued separation of interest groups present in South Africa today. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................. 10 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 10 1.2. Focus of the study ....................................................................................... 10 1.3. Relevance of Study and Theoretical Foundations ....................................... 11 1.4. Research Aim .............................................................................................. 17 1.5. Assumptions................................................................................................ 17 1.6. Summary of the Research Methodology ..................................................... 19 1.6.1. Research Design ..................................................................................... 19 1.6.2. Data Sources ........................................................................................... 20 1.6.3. Data Collection methods .......................................................................... 20 1.7. Summary of Literature Review .................................................................... 23 1.7.1. The history of the South African Indian Community .............................. 23 1.7.2. Community Media ................................................................................. 25 1.7.3. Post-1994 Social Transition .................................................................. 26 1.8. Overview of Study ....................................................................................... 27 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Background to the study: Radio in a Post- apartheid South Africa: SABC Niche Radio stations as a vehicle for group identity. 28 2.1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 28 2.2. SABC Niche Radio stations as a vehicle for group identity ............................ 29 2.2.1. Origins of the SABC ................................................................................. 29 2.2.1.1. From demise of state control to the rise of community radio ................. 30 2.2.1.2. Statutory principles for community radio after 1994 .............................. 32 2.2.2. Restructuring the SABC after 1994 .......................................................... 33 2.2.3. Audience as community – Community Radio stations ............................. 33 2.2.4. The public service mandate of the SABC ................................................ 36 2.2.5. The SABC core editorial values and code of conduct .............................. 38 2.2.5.1. Radio as a vehicle to promote and preserve culture. ............................ 41 2.2.6. Radio for a community: Lotus FM as a niche radio station in the SABC radio landscape. ................................................................................................ 42 2.2.7. Nation Building as a mandate for the SABC as a response to apartheid structures ........................................................................................................... 47 4 2.2.8. Regulating the Broadcast Industry ........................................................... 51 2.3. Literature overview for the history of the South African Indian Community .... 54 2.3.1. The arrival of Indians in South Africa ....................................................... 54 2.3.2. South Africa under colonial rule ............................................................... 55 2.3.3. Indians in South Africa under colonial rule ............................................... 57 2.3.4. The Indian Opinion and resistance to racial discrimination ...................... 58 2.3.5. The Impacts of World War I and World War II on Indians in South Africa 59 2.3.6. South Africa under apartheid rule ............................................................ 60 2.3.7. South African Indians under apartheid rule .............................................. 60 2.3.8. Sanctions against South Africa during apartheid ..................................... 62 2.3.9. South Africa’s transition to ANC leadership ............................................. 63 2.4. Race relations, Community Radio and Nation Building .................................. 64 2.4.1. The history of African/Indian interaction in South Africa .......................... 64 2.4.2. The United Nations 1946 intervention and the 1949 riots as the first violent conflict between Indian and Black South Africans ............................................. 64 2.4.3. South African Indian responses to Post-apartheid South Africa .............. 66 2.4.4. South African Indian Identity and Culture ................................................ 67 2.4.5. Evidence of Racial Conflict ...................................................................... 67 2.4.6. Race relations in South Africa today ........................................................ 68 2.4.7. Post-apartheid Nation Building in South Africa ........................................ 70 2.5. The development of audience identity is the history of broadcasting in South Africa ..................................................................................................................... 71 2.5.1. Initial stages of broadcasting in South Africa under colonial rule ............. 72 2.5.2. Broadcasting between 1948 and 1994 .................................................... 73 2.5.3. Transformation of South African Media. (1990 – 1994) ........................... 76 2.5.4. Broadcasting in a post-apartheid South Africa ......................................... 78 2.6. Radio and its contribution to Nation Building .................................................. 78 2.7. Post-1994 Social Transition ........................................................................... 80 Chapter 3 Research Methodology ............................................................................ 81 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 81 3.2. Research Problem ......................................................................................... 81 3.3. Research Design ........................................................................................... 81 3.3.1. Research Questions.................................................................................... 81 3.3.2. Sub-questions ............................................................................................. 82 5 3.4. Research Approach and Methods .................................................................. 82 3.4.1. Historical enquiry as a method of understanding current cultural identity ... 82 3.4.2. South African Indian Immigrant history and present day identities .............. 84 3.4.3. Nation Building in South Africa ...................................................................