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Manufacturing Consent in Democratic South Africa: Application of the Propaganda Model

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Manufacturing Consent in Democratic South Africa: Application of the Propaganda Model View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Wits Institutional Repository on DSPACE Manufacturing Consent in democratic South Africa: Application of the propaganda model Scott Lovaas Dr. Nathalie Hyde-Clarke, Advisor Witwatersrand University Johannesburg, South Africa September 2008 Revised December 2008 Lovaas 2 Contents List of acronyms and abbreviations 5 Abstract 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Media ownership 47 The global media and the effects of media consolidation South African media Independent News and Media (Cape Times) Johnnic Holdings (Business Day) Naspers (Natal Witness) Interlocking capital Impacts of corporate media Media, markets, and democracy Watering down democracy Decreased competition and diversity of opinion Media beholden to advertisers Rise of sensationalism Protecting self-interest Conclusion Chapter 2: Advertising 87 Advertising underwrites and marginalises Advertising promotes an economic way of life Suppression, self-censorship, and direct pressure Conclusion Chapter 3: Forestry 103 A brief history of forestry in South Africa South African forestry today Terms Methodology Sources Sourcing methodology and scoring Analysis of sources by category Workers, unions, and progressive society Lovaas 3 Environmental groups Community members or representatives Analysis of sources by newspaper Business Day Cape Times Natal Witness Range of expressible opinion Breakdown of articles by genre Environmental impact Labour Community forestry and woodlots Privatisation and Komatiland Servicing the North Conclusion Chapter 4: New Partnership for Africa’s Development 145 What is NEPAD? Methodology Sourcing methodology and scoring Scoring results Analysis of sources by category Government and corporations/business/finance Poor, workers, and unions Civil society and community members Academics and think tanks Environmental groups Analysis of sources by newspaper Business Day Cape Times Natal Witness Range of expressible opinion Breakdown of articles by topic Poverty and HIV/AIDS coverage Women and agriculture Past frameworks and capital flight Political credentials of African leaders The case of Zimbabwe Conclusion Chapter 5: Terrorism 191 Introduction Lovaas 4 Methodology Sources methodology and scoring Scoring results Analysis of sources by category Government Academics and think tanks Terrorists Who are the terrorists? Range of expressible opinion: Paired examples Angola Chechnya Colombia Cuba Range of expressible opinion: Intellectuals Greg Mills John Stremlau Allister Sparks Flak in the case of Israel Conclusion Conclusion 243 Summary of findings Media Ownership Advertising Forestry NEPAD Terrorism Internalised values First, second, and third-order predictions Implications for journalists, academics, and citizens Conclusion Appendices 271 Bibliography 305 Lovaas 5 List of acronyms and abbreviations AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome AMF Advertising Media Forum ANC African National Congress BCCSA Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa BEE Black Economic Empowerment CBS Columbian Broadcasting System CNN Cable News Network COASTU Congress of South African Trade Unions CPI Committee on Public Information DA Democratic Alliance DAWF Department of Water Affairs and Forestry EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FSA Forestry South Africa FXI Freedom of Expression Institute GATS General Agreement on Trade in Service GEAR Growth, Employment, and Redistribution HIV Human immunodeficiency virus HSIC Head of State and Government Implementation Committee IDASA Institute for Democracy in South Africa IMF International Monetary Fund JSE Johannesburg Stock Exchange KZN KwaZulu-Natal LSM Living Standards Measure MP Members of Parliament NALEDI National Labour and Economic Development Institute NEC National Empowerment Consortium NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development OAU Organisation of African Union OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation PBS Public Broadcasting Service PLO Palestine Liberation Organization PM Propaganda Model PMSA Print Media South Africa RDP Reconstruction Development Programme. RSA Republic of South Africa SAARF South African Advertising Research Foundation SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACC South African Council of Churches SADC Southern African Development Community SAFCOL South African Forestry Company Limited SAIIA South African Institute for International Affairs SANEF South African National Editors Forum Lovaas 6 SANGOCO South African National NGO Coalition SAPA South Africa Press Association SAPPI South African Pulp and Paper Industries Limited TAC Treatment Action Campaign TRC Truth and Reconciliation Committee TRIPS Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola US United States USAID US Aid for International Development WAN World Association of Newspapers WTO World Trade Organization ZAR South African Rand (currency) Lovaas 7 Manufacturing Consent in democratic South Africa: Application of the propaganda model Abstract: While the end of apartheid in South Africa brought the end of state repression and formal apartheid censorship of the press, new mechanisms have come to replace the old. Market-driven English daily newspapers continue, through a series of new filters, to limit, shape, and censor ideas for the benefit of the elite private and public sectors. The manufactured, one-dimensional, pro-market world view that results restricts both freedom and democracy. As South Africa enters its second decade of democracy, with new freedoms and civil liberties, further evaluation of this relationship between the media, the state, and the market becomes increasingly vital. The ‘Propaganda Model’ as laid out by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, in their book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988, updated 2002) represents a significant analysis of media performance in a democracy. The authors question basic premises of democracy and the free press. According to Herman and Chomsky, the US media “serve, and propagandise on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them.” This qualitative and quantitative study demonstrates that propaganda and media control continues today within South African English daily newspapers. To prove this argument, this paper examines how three South African newspapers cover forestry, terrorism, and the New African Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) over a two-year period. The quantitative study surveyed 1797 articles and examined the use of sources quoted and revealed censorship of alternative voices. The qualitative analysis examined the vested interests and various players have in a pro-market, censored representation of NEPAD, the forestry industry, and terrorism. The study revealed that capitalism and the resulting interlocking capital of board members, newspaper owners, advertisers, and the government, cause newspapers to engage in self-censorship and exclusion of threatening voices to advance the interests of the elite. Lovaas 8 Lovaas 9 Manufacturing Consent in democratic South Africa: An introduction The media has a transcendent quality to it. Its immenseness and ability to rouse, elicit, and change behaviours of individuals, communities, and even nations, is astonishing.1 In democracies, virtually all public, political, economic, and social decisions go through the media. It is so powerful and so vital in political life that its utilization requires careful regulation and monitoring. This is not a new concept by any means.2 Leaders, politicians, and corporations have long recognized that control over the media is indispensable. This has often led to undemocratic use and misuse of the media in both repressive regimes and democracies. While the emotionally charged issues of propaganda and media control may seem to run contrary to notions of individual freedom and proclaimed principles of democracy, control of the media and use of propaganda tactics are arguably just as common in many of today’s democracies as they were in past regimes.3 Yet propaganda, mind control, indoctrination, and the ‘duping of the masses’ continue to be associated primarily with repressive societies. South Africans, however familiar they are with these practices, often view them as tactics of the apartheid regime, and any remains are vestiges of days gone by. However, the quest to influence, manipulate, peddle, and ultimately win over the ‘hearts and minds’ of fellow citizens has been with humanity from the beginning of time and does not require a repressive regime. The ‘propaganda model’ that Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky lay out in their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988, updated 2002) represents a significant analysis of media performance in a democracy. The authors question basic premises of democracy and the free press. According to Herman and Chomsky, the US media “serve, and propagandise on behalf of the powerful societal interests that control and finance them.”4 Expanding Herman and Chomsky’s focus to outside of the US, I will similarly argue that the craft of trying to influence the minds and behaviours of others through the media is not limited to repressive state regimes. Quite contrarily, I will argue that in the case of South Africa, propaganda and media control continues today, under the auspices of a new democracy, within South African English
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