Grocott

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Grocotts Mail Media Policy

• Class and Poverty

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Research By

• Heather Knott
• Sarah-Leigh Paul
• Jamie Alexander
• Claire Reddie
• Marisa Steyn

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Research Aims

• Define class and poverty from a sociological
  point of view
• Look at existing policies on class and poverty
  Grocott's and other media institutions
• Conduct a content analysis of Grocotts Mail to
  determine what audience is catered for and what
  issues, if any, concerning class and poverty were
  covered and to what degree
• Propose a draft policy for Grocotts Mail on
  class and poverty

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Relevance of a Policy on Class and Poverty

• Large percentage of Grahamstown community lives
  below the poverty line
• Broad diversity of class within a relatively
  small area
• Lack of coverage by both Grocotts and the Media
  Industry as a whole on issues concerning class
  and poverty
• We do report poverty, but a lot is missing (Guy
  Berger)

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Research Methods

• Mostly qualitative research was conducted
• Questionnaires to general public
• Sociological perspectives and definitions from
  academic literature
• ISER Valerie Møller
• CSD Di Hornby
• Grocotts Mail Louise Vale
• Content Analysis of Grocotts Archive

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Definitions

• Class A social stratum whose members share
  certain economic, social, or cultural
  characteristics
• Poverty The state of being poor, lack of the
  means of providing material needs or comforts

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Definitions continued....

• In contemporary South Africa, class and poverty
  have become concepts that are not independent of
  each other
• They are intertwined
• Nowadays, class is defined along economic terms
  (Valerie Møller, ISER)

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What does this definition mean to our policy ?

• Poorest people in Grahamstown live in Grahamstown
  East
• Thus, using our definition of class, these people
  are also the lower class of Grahamstown
• The first language of most of these people living
  in Grahamstown East is Xhosa, not English or
  Afrikaans

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Thus...
Definition of poverty
Poorer people in Gtown East
Mostly Xhosa speakers
Class defined by economics
Definition of class
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Policy Proposal

• Editorial Policy
• Attempt to include Xhosa content on a regular
  basis
• Use of language should be accessible to all
  sectors of the Grahamstown community
• Address issues that concern all sectors of the
  community
• Any positive action made against poverty within
  Grahamstown should be highlighted and given
  priority

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Policy Proposal cont

• Management Policy
• Increase visibility of Grocotts in the poorer
  areas e.g. taxis, walls, packaging, shebeens etc.
• Teach basic Xhosa to journalists e.g. CSD,
  discussion groups etc.

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Any questions?