News Covering in the Online Press Media During the ANC Elective Conference of December 2017 Tigere Paidamoyo Muringa 212556107
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News covering in the online press media during the ANC elective conference of December 2017 Tigere Paidamoyo Muringa 212556107 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Centre for Communication, Media and Society in the School of Applied Human Sciences, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. Supervisor: Professor Donal McCracken 2019 As the candidate's supervisor, I agree with the submission of this thesis. …………………………………………… Professor Donal McCracken i Declaration - plagiarism I, ……………………………………….………………………., declare that 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons' data, pictures, graphs or other information unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons' writing unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a. Their words have been re-written, but the general information attributed to them has been referenced b. Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and the References sections. Signed ……………………………………………………………………………… ii Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to the discipline of CCMS at Howard College, UKZN, led by Professor Ruth Teer-Tomaselli. It was the discipline’s commitment to academic research and academic excellence that attracted me to pursue this degree at CCMS (a choice that I don’t regret). I want to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Professor Donal McCracken, all the CCSM team who have been very helpful in the proposal stages of this degree. Thank you to my parents, family, and friends. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all media practitioners, students and researchers around the world who are working towards the democratisation of the media. iv Abstract Online press plays an imperative role in the legitimation of ideas, individuals, events and interpretations. Evidence suggests that news media play a significant role in legitimising and de- legitimising political candidates, particularly in the period leading to and after elections. There is increased interest in recent studies in the field of media framing, legitimation and de-legitimising of political candidates. While scholars provide useful insights on prospective media use of frames to de-popularise political leaders, up to now, studies have not gone beyond explaining the frames used by the news media. Little effort has been made to understand the relationship between media frames and the different discursive practices that affect the construction of such frames. Drawing on Van Gorp's (2007) framing theory and Foucault's (1980) concept of discourse power/knowledge to investigate news coverage in the South African online press, this thesis examined the frames used by News24 and IOL to legitimise and de-legitimise election candidates during their reporting of the 54th National Congress of the African National Congress. Using the national congress as a case study in point, qualitative archival data consisting of 100 news articles were retrieved from online archives of New24 and IOL. The information was analysed to assess how the content reported was framed to legitimise or de-legitimise Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dhlamini- Zuma's political leadership qualities both at the national and political party level. Through a critical discourse analysis approach, six broad frames were thematically organised and presented as evidence on how news frames were constructed through culturally constituted communication artefacts. The study found that the reports by both, News24 and IOL were heavily influenced by the prevailing societal discourses that shaped politics and economy in the period of their construction. Notably, this thesis reveals how both presses used similar frames in their reporting. Even though they used similar frames, there were significant differences in approaches that were used by IOL and News24 in reporting on Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa. As a result, this study contributes to the body of knowledge, by confirming how the press evokes cultural discourses when reporting on political candidates, to remind readers and allow them to interpret issues and topics using the culturally constructed reality as a frame of reference. Key words: legitimisation; de-legitimisation; online press; Cyril Ramaphosa; Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. v Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Background to the study .......................................................................................................... 1 Research problem for the study ............................................................................................... 3 Aim of the study ........................................................................................................................ 6 Research questions .................................................................................................................... 7 Objectives of the study.............................................................................................................. 8 Significance of the study ........................................................................................................... 8 The discourse of legitimation and de-legitimation ............................................................... 10 Authorisation ....................................................................................................................... 13 Moral evaluation ................................................................................................................. 17 Rationalisation..................................................................................................................... 19 Mythopoesis ......................................................................................................................... 20 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................................. 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2: Background to the 54th national conference of the ANC .................................... 24 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 24 The 54th national conference .................................................................................................. 24 Events leading up to the conference ...................................................................................... 25 What do we know about the national elective conference?................................................. 27 Why is the national elective conference significant? ........................................................... 28 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3: Background to News24 and IOL ........................................................................... 31 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 31 Background of News24 ....................................................................................................... 31 Background of Independent Online News and Media..................................................... 34 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: Biography and leadership qualities of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa .................................................................................................................................. 37 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 37 Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma: a short biography ................................................................. 37 vi A technocrat and reformist ................................................................................................ 38 An unpopular leader ........................................................................................................... 40 A ‘compromised’ leader ..................................................................................................... 42 Cyril Ramaphosa: a short biography ................................................................................ 47 The champion of strong institutions .................................................................................. 47 A coordinator and mobiliser .............................................................................................. 49 The pragmatic negotiator ..................................................................................................