Media%20in%20a%20multi-cultural%20society:%20SA

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Media in a multi-culturalsociety SAs story

• Museum Africa, 19-20 July, 2006 by Guy Berger

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Cultural separation mix

• The Africa of today is not simply the product of
  assegais and rain queens
• If I am right, therein lies my identity
• Nat Nakasa 1964
• i.e there have already been hybrid identities in
  SA for a long time

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What contributes to identity

• My peopleare South Africans. Mine is the
  history of the Great Trek, Ghandis passive
  resistance in Johannesburg, the wars of Ceteswayo
  and the dawn raids which gave us the treason
  trial in 1956 All these are South African
  things. They are a part of me
• (Nat Nakasa, Rand Daily Mail June 20, 1964)

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Media Apartheid

• FINDINGS OF TRUTH RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
• The bulk of media -- with some important
  exceptions -- either expressly promoted
  Apartheid, or implicitly complied with it, and in
  both ways contributed to a climate of gross human
  rights violations.
• Tho there were some exceptional journalists in
  the mainstream press, and also a role played by
  the resistance press.

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TRC overall verdict

• Most South African media helped maintain a public
  climate where gross human rights violations could
  continue to occur.
• Not ultimately surprising, given that the press
  as a commercial institution was owned by whites,
  controlled and staffed mainly by whites, catered
  to a market of white readers, and depended on
  white advertisers.
• Thus apartheid media mainly worked against a
  democratic and multi-cultural environment.

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Change Apartheid to Democracy

• Old Unicultural media white
• bicultural English Afrikaans,
• Plus black segregated tribal/linguistic media
• NEW Since 1994 Media freedom!
• End privilege, build nation
• cultural equity and erasing differences

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Broadcast

• TV first 10 years of democracy English
  dominance but SABC now required 80 African
  languages on two of its three channels
• SABC to get 2 new 100 African language
  channels
• Recently some multi-lingualism, subtitling
• Radio linguistic divides, but lots English on
  non-English stations
• Issue who is multi-lingual?
• Issue a common public sphere?

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Print media culture today

• NEWSPAPERS
• Afrikaans now covering two cultures
• isiZulu growing in KZN
• English lingua franca, even at mass based
  (tabloid) level.
• ONLINE English, some Afrikaans

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Religion and culture

• Anti-apartheid movement Tolerance
• Broadcast Advisory body
• Christianity pre-dominant
• Many branches, no easy dominance for one

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Race and culture

• HRC six years ago, enquiry into racism in the
  media.
• Now media acknowledges identities, without
  totalising them or fixing them as if outside of
  history.
• There to be meaningful when needed, not there at
  other points.
• Underpinned by other experiential issues
  locality, power in workplace, interpellation.

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Still a problem

• Over decade, content and experts better, not
  perfect.
• Genderlinks study in 2002
• 19 of news sources were women, and even
  worse, black women (who constitute 45 percent of
  the population) only 7 percent.
• Black men 27 of news sources,
• White men 32 .
• Small gains when research repeated in 2004.

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Folk cultures

• South Africans vs makwerekwere.
• SA internally still has diverse practises.
• Now legitimate (initiation, cuisine, health,
  medicine, musical heritages).
• Not merging, tho- some cross-over.
• Cross-cut with generational commonalities
• Eg. Teenagers finding common ground

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Media freedom

• SABC is required to build nation
• Other media free to pursue own path eg. Ethnic
  targeting even racism (as long as it does not
  become hate speech, i.e. incitement to harm)
• Class issues becoming predominant delineation
  in media, and to an extent in society.

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Flashpoints faultlines

• Clashes in the society (eg. Race-biased verdicts
  in court cartoons)
• Exploitation by interest groups
• International issues eg. Israel-Palestine
• Resource constraints eg. Limited primetimes,
  underfunding.

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Solutions

• Critique dialogue to counter inequality,
  segregation, stereotyping.
• Training and handbooks are available.
• Sanef gives good leadership.
• Industry staff profile is changing makes
  possible cultural understanding, representation,
  plus diversity and commonality.

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CONCLUSION

• Cultural identity rises and falls, changes.
• SA emerging common experiences and culture. It
  co-exists also with, and is in part also fused
  out, of diverse parts
• Sometimes one or the other level predominates in
  cultural Identity.
• Media reflects and contributes to both levels SA
  is very dynamic.