A Critical Political Economy of the Media Analysis of Ownership and Content Diversity in South Africa's Print Media
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Token transformation? A critical political economy of the media analysis of ownership and content diversity in South Africa's print media By PRINOLA GOVENDEN A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Media Studies University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg May 2019 Page 1 of 304 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own original unaided work and it has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other university. Where other people’s works have been used, this has been fully acknowledged. This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Signed ……………………………………………………… Prinola Govenden Student number: 0413234A Date: 28 May 2019 Page 2 of 304 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the generations before me that were not born in privilege, but who worked extremely hard and persevered successfully in a system that prejudiced them. To my grandparents - Andhra Andrew (1935-2009) & Loyce Andrew (1939-2017) - Paul Govender (1937 -1999) & Grace Govender To my parents - Larry Govenden & Ruth Govenden I appreciate all your sacrifices and the privileges I have access to because of each of you. To my granny Loyce Andrew who passed away during my PhD research, who valued education and worked overtime at her factory job to pay for my mother’s University fees. It is strong women like you who are the pillars and unsung heroes of our families and society. Thank you! Page 3 of 304 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first and foremost thank God for His wisdom and all sufficient grace that enabled me to to complete this PhD. I extend a special thank you to my supervisor Prof. Sarah Chiumbu for her unwavering support, critical guidance and vast input into my PhD, and for not giving up on me. I consider it to have been an honour and privilege to have been supervised by an academic of your intellectual ablity and talent. I have grown in academic leaps and bounds because of working with you. You are the best! Special gratitude goes to the NIHSS-SAHUDA Doctoral Scholarship for funding my PhD, thank you for this important contribution. Thank you to the HOD of the Wits Media Studies department, Prof. Dina Ligaga, for her support and kindness during my memorable time working for the department whilst completing my PhD studies, which marked the start of my academic career. Thank you to Anesu Kuhudzai and Joshua Govenden for doing a sterling job of the statistics and data analysis of the study. Sincere gratitude to the panellists of the SLLM Media Transformation seminar: Lumko Mtimde, Prof. Jane Duncan, Dr Mashilo Boloka, Prof. Glenda Daniels and Sekoatlane Phamodi. Thank you for taking the time to contribute your valuable input into my research. A heartfelt thank you to my people who are my pillars and rays of sunshine: Aaisha Dadi Patel, Merle Govind, Saaliha Ahmed, Vidhya Sana, Justin Jegels, Reshma Lakha-Singh, Shirona Patel, Pontsho Pilane, Sylvia Nomsa Skhosana, Charmaine Panganai, Najma Desai, Anisa Desai, and Viraj Suparsad. To the academics that I admire and aspire to be like: Prof. Pumla Gqola, Dr Ufuoma Akpojivi, Prof. Tommaso Milani, and Dr Cobus Van Staden. Thank you for believing in me, always making time for me, and impacting my academic career with your greatness and “fabulousness”. Thank you to Dr Anne Dou, Dr Dimitris Kitis, Dr Kate Skinner and Nadia Bulbulia for imparting your wisdom, for the many memorable conversations, and enriching my PhD journey. I would like to thank Dr Libby Meintjes, Prof. Ruksana Osman, Prof. Jackie Dugard, and Rejane Williams for their support during a very difficult time in my PhD journey. I thank my family for their support and understanding: my parents Larry Govenden and Ruth Govenden, my siblings Joshua Govenden and Bernadette Govenden. Special mention to my sister bestie Jasmine Govenden for her support, love and care. I also thank my cousins Leo and Selina Naidoo, and Chrystall Vallen for being my people through thick and thin. Page 4 of 304 My visit to Norway as a Visiting Scholar in 2017 was a memorable part of my PhD journey and was a useful information exchange experience. I was hosted by The Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at the University of Oslo through the INTPART partnership. A heartfelt thank you to MutliLing’s staff for their hospitality, inclusion, and kindness: Prof. Elizabeth Lanza, Prof. Unn Røyneland, Mari Otnes, Elisabeth F. Neuhaus, Malene Bøyum, André Nilsson Nannevig, Mina Finstad Berg, and Kristin Myklestu. Page 5 of 304 ABSTRACT Print media transformation in South Africa has been an ongoing area of debate and contention in the first twenty years of democracy. Especially given the country’s history of colonialism and apartheid, where racism was institutionalised and impacted the character and functioning of the print media. The attainment of true transformation in the press is critical to reverse the injustices of the past and to ensure today’s print media is reflective of South African society and its many axes of diversity. This study critically analyses the extent of print media transformation in the first twenty years of democracy to decipher whether it amounts to true transformation or token transformation. The study understands true transformation of the media as holistic and deep transformation, where the ownership, content and staffing of the media reflects the diversity of South African society in terms of race, socio-economic status (class), gender, religion, sexual orientation, region, and language (Boloka and Krabill 2000). In the South African context, ownership diversity and content diversity are the key measures of transformation. This research contributes a holistic and empirical study to the transformation debate by analysing transformation across a long time period of the first twenty years of democracy, and focusing on both ownership and content diversity, as well as exploring the relationship between the two. Previously, the print media transformation debate and scholarship has focused narrowly on the ownership aspect. In this regard, the study conducts a systemic critique of the broad transformation agenda from the vantage points of ownership, control and power. The study also explores the extent of print media diversity by analysing the coverage of three issues that have framed post-apartheid South Africa. Namely: socio-economics issues, labour issues and protests, government vs. big business. The study adopts four theoretical frameworks – the revised role of the media in a liberal democracy; the public interest role of the media; critical political economy of the media; and theories of power. The research design of the study consisted of a triangulation of research methods with qualitative and quantitative paradigms. The research methods used are document analysis, expert opinions of a Media Transformation seminar panel and content analysis of a large sample of articles spanning in the first twenty years of democracy. The historically Page 6 of 304 English print media companies are the focus of analysis: Tiso Blackstar Group (formerly Times Media), Independent Media, as well as M&G Media. The major findings of this thesis demonstrate that press transformation in the first twenty years of democracy to a great extent resembles token transformation. Tokenism in the regard that black people have replaced white people in some ownership and staffing aspects, but not in a meaningful way that disrupts elite class continuities, “inferential racism” of negative stereotypes of the black race, and white racial power at the top of the hierarchy of press institutions. Print media transformation is also significantly tainted by the overly neo-liberal nature of the press in a number of areas found by the study. The study also finds that transformation is a point of politization of the press. The content findings of the study demonstrate that ownership matters to some extent. Apart from ownership, the following components also matter to print media transformation and need to be addressed: the media system as a whole; the neo-liberal architecture; journalism training; and a print media specific transformation policy. Thus, the broad agenda of press transformation requires a normative re-think. The study recommends that the press consider adopting the principles of developmental journalism that is based on the redeeming nature of the concept, to substantially address the content diversity and transformation shortcomings uncovered by the study. This requires a paradigm shift that would take a long time period to realize, in addition a review needs to be conducted to consider the feasibility of such a change. A feasible short term solution to solve the fundamental issue of media diversity in both ownership and content, is the return of alternative media to the post-apartheid media terrain to play a developmental role. Page 7 of 304 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Introducing the study ............................................................................................................................ 17 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 17 1.2 A background of press