Innovation in Communication and Media Studies: Reflections from South African Academics

Abstract

This article discusses the possibility of a discipline of communication and media studies that is innovative, pluralistic and open in ways that conduce to development. Based on a set of in-depth interviews with a select group of South African communication and media studies scholars, the article discusses critically how, and if, communication and media studies as a field is innovative. Innovation here talks to a discipline that is imaginatively open to a myriad of different, diverse and divergent contributions relevant to the human endeavour of understanding the world in ways that better humanity. In doing this, the authors critically explore how the discipline is perceived variously by the scholars interviewed as enabling, encompassing and embodying innovation in research, teaching, curricula, theory, methodology, resourcing, and community outreach. As such the article addresses a span of issues that either support or inhibit innovation.     

Interpersonal communication and the dialogue of drama

SUMMARY

Because of the problems that people encounter in their everyday relationships there is a need for a greater understanding of interpersonal communication in the modern world. This article is a study of interpersonal communication based on the dialogical approach to communication which departs from the premise that communication is man's mode of existence. Communication is the way in which people reach an understanding of each other and at the same time, realise their potential as human beings through self-expression. Because of the difficulties involved in studying people in interpersonal communication, the dialogue of drama is used as a paradigm for dialogue in the real world. The insights gained should be of value in reaching an understanding of the communication problems that people experience in the course of their everyday lives.     

State and Majority Nationalism in Plurinational States: Responding to Challenges from Below

Abstract

While calls for self-determination and independence make headlines worldwide, an often more subtle state nationalism remains an endemic condition of the modern world. In the introductory article for this Special Issue, we define state and majority nationalism we identify three challenges in the study of these phenomena, we suggest that a focus on plurinational states helps to overcome them, and we set out the conceptual, ideational and strategic dimensions of the Special Issue. We hope that this edited collection as a whole contributes to refine our understanding of state and majority nationalism and encourages scholars to engage more actively in their study.     

Exploring the representation of xenophobia in a South African television drama series: A Zimbabwean audience's perspective

Abstract

A great deal of research has been conducted on minorities and their representation in the media in various parts of the world (Evra 2004: 67; Miller 1996; Vicsek & Markus 2008: 124). Fundamentally, the reason for this is political, as ‘the cohesion or rupture of a social world depends on relations among groups who perceive themselves as disadvantaged either as groups or as individuals’ (Staiger 2005: 13). Television programmes, as elements of the media, are a source of information that contributes to these perceptions. Many scholars are of the view that television creates, reflects and reinforces social relations and functions as a mediation of the social world (Evra 2004: 13). In South Africa relatively little research has been conducted on the representation of minorities in local media. Particularly the representation of black immigrants and their representation on South African television has been largely ignored (Kiguwa 2008: 67; Nyamnjoh 2006). The focus of this article is not on the analysis of the representation of foreigners on television, but rather on how a specific group of viewers perceives the representation of Zimbabwean immigrants in the drama series Usindiso (Redemption), broadcast on the South African Broadcasting Corporation's SABC1. The central research question posed by this article is: How does a selected group of Zimbabwean immigrants living in Hillbrow in South Africa perceive the representation of Zimbabwean immigrants in Usindiso?     

Recovering religion: practising intersectoral cooperation in a time of cholera

ABSTRACT

Due to social and historical forces resistant to predictions of religion’s waning influence in the modern world, responses to contemporary epidemics continue to involve local religious entities and global religious networks. This viewpoint draws on the history of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London to highlight how histories of cooperation between religion and public health can help focus current thinking about the potential for intersectoral cooperation in response to modern epidemics.     

Positioning independent community media: Findings from a case study of six small South African newspapers

Abstract

This article brings defining aspects of ‘community media’ – as proposed by a group of media stakeholders – into dialogue with research findings from a study on small ‘independent media’. One significant difference between the two media sectors is that the former is usually understood as being driven by commune-style ownership and community control, and the latter by private ownership and profit-driven control. We argue that perceptions constructed by this difference potentially marginalise small independent media organisations. It may compromise their access to funding as well as obscure how, and how much, they contribute to their communities. We find that the six South African small independent newspapers in this research meet defining criteria for ‘community media’. Research findings on issues such as social responsibility, participatory democracy, media diversity and the generation of skills and wealth demonstrate how the principles and practices of the two media sectors overlap. So we propose ‘independent community media’ as a more inclusive and appropriate concept and term for small community-oriented publications, irrespective of their ownership profiles or relationship to profit. Independence is also examined – particularly how the newspapers balance editorial independence with outside control: this reveals inequitable practices currently threatening some newspapers’ survival and success.     

Fleetingness and media-ted existence. From Kierkegaard on the newspaper to Broderick on the Internet

Abstract

Increasingly, the modern world is ‘on speed’. Technology has, since the invention of the Gutenberg press, facilitated the ever more rapid, more widespread dispersal of information. The latest in the line of the mass information media, which runs from the book and newspaper through radio and television, is the Internet, a medium for which speed is measured in milliseconds, and for which the phrase ‘virtual reality’, or, more compact, ‘virtuality’, has thus been coined. Speed, however, relates not only to the dissemination of information, but also to its endurance: the quicker the medium, the more fleeting the presence of, and the more transitory one's encounter with a message. This brevity of encounter seems to some extent to run, phenomenologically, along with the range of the particular mass medium: the wider its reach, the quicker too the departure of its contents. In this sense, bigger is faster – though not necessarily with greater meaning, truth or integrity. Invasiveness and validity are not necessary corollaries. The power of the mass media lies in scope, rather than in depth. The existential impact this has on humans living in a world increasingly dominated by such mass media, has not passed by unnoticed. Some of the analyses are highlighted in this contribution, with some continued implications for living authentically in a media-ted world indicated.     

Party politics,elections and (mis-)trust in Japan

Abstract

Trust matters profoundly for many dimensions of political life. In this article we focus on political trust: how the trust or mistrust citizens have toward the political process, politicians and government affects politics. Prior research has shown that political trust influences such crucial dimensions of politics as the basic legitimacy of government, political participation, voting behavior, compliance with government, and reform orientation. In this article, we seek to answer three major questions. First, is political trust declining in Japan? Second, we are interested in exploring the determinants of trust and distrust in politics: why do people lose trust in politics? What kinds of voters lose political trust? Third, we explore the consequences: what happens when people lose trust in government and politics.     

(Re)inventing African oral traditions and national heritage(s) through film images: The case of Keita! The Heritage of the Griot [1995] and Kare Kare Zvako: Mother's Day [2004]

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to explore how African films such as Keita! The Heritage of the Griot and Kare Kare Zvako: Mother's Day reinvent oral traditions on-screen, so that the traditions are revitalised and given new life in a contemporary world where visual and literary narratives have tended to dominate the collection and dissemination of information. The ontological and cosmological dimensions of African oral traditions provide the cultural humus that continues to feed the narrative structures of most African films. It is argued that the films' conscious refusal to be totally submerged in European modernism or their capacity to merge some traditional aspects with modern values is what constructs the multiple subjectivities that most African filmmakers strive to bring out. By using oral narrative structures embedded in songs, storytelling, myths, legends, poems, riddles, anecdotes and proverbs, the selected African films recreate traditions and heritage; they help to preserve African values that face a Western onslaught, promoted through European languages. Oral narratives carry a freight of cultural meanings infused in different modes of expression, while articulating the philosophies and beliefs of African people. It is important to recognise and [re]discover the critical role played by oral narratives in order to understand the epistemologies and ontologies that inform the construction of African films. A study of this nature is critical in that it builds on the existing indigenous knowledge systems embedded in orature (oral literature) that remain threatened by European cultural imperialism, which is promoted through the Hollywood film paradigm.     

A justice philosophy of public relations management

ABSTRACT

From a justice perspective, strategic publics may be viewed as victims who have been harmed by the organisation and now seek reparation. Long-term relationships are only formed with organisations that treat strategic publics fairly. For public relations to be viewed as just, it must incorporate all three dimensions of justice theory, viz: distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. When all three dimensions are incorporated, public relations stands a better chance of the organisation being viewed as just and trustworthy by strategic publics. Only when strategic publics experience the relationship with the organisation as trusting and dignifying will they be able to feel committed to the organisation and its decisions; feel attached to the long-term relationship; and be less hostile when outcomes of strategic decisions are unfavourable.

Justice theory provides public relations with a philosophy of how to conduct themselves with strategic publics that influence the goal attainment of organisations.     

Theorizing India–US–China strategic triangle

ABSTRACT

In this paper we build on Robert Jervis’ concept of strategic triangles, relations between three states where from the point of view of each state the others are pivotal for its security or foreign policy behavior in a given region. We argue that triangles are important in influencing state behavior in the areas of balance of power, deterrence, arms races and status competition, and consider how these dimensions might interact. In this context, this article examines the US–India–China triangle, while also addressing to a lesser extent how other related triangles interlink with it, taking into account how China’s rise and increasing economic interdependence impact these relations.     

Churnalism and Hype in Science Communication: Comparing University Press Releases and Journalistic Articles in South Africa

Abstract

Against the background of a fast-changing media environment and increasing competition in the science arena, we explored how media outlets use science- based press releases issued by research-intensive universities in South Africa. We compared 40 science-related media articles to related institutional press releases. We found that most press releases are re-published with minimal journalistic input and no crediting of the original source, with indications of hype present in a third of the media articles. This could be a reason for concern because press releases issued by research institutions are written to serve the interests of the institution and not to reflect on science. When media outlets re- publish these press releases without editorial input, it means that the critical or investigative role of the media is lost. Given concerns about the long-term implications of churnalism and hype in science media coverage, we ask whether PR-driven communication of science, as practiced by university media offices, among others, serves the long-term interests of science and society. We suggest that universities should consider the options and benefits of moving towards a new science communication paradigm focused less on reputation-building and more on constructive public engagement and helpful dialogue with society.     

Popular art,the image,the subject and subverting hegemony

ABSTRACT

One of the most disturbing paradoxes of modern times is that an acute sense of expanding moral responsibility goes hand in hand with a growing inability to bear such responsibility. This article demonstrates how modern technology, in particular information technology, has contributed to both the expansion of moral responsibility and the development of the responsibility gap. In order to deal adequately with the challenges modern technology poses in respect of moral responsibility, it has become necessary to supplement the classical notion of retrospective moral responsibility with the new notion of prospective moral responsibility. In the case of retrospective responsibility some or other negative outcome of the past is ascribed to a particular person or persons. In the case of prospective responsibility, the responsibility of preventing humans and nature from being actively harmed or to realise desirable future conditions by taking the necessary measures in the present, is ascribed to a particular person or persons, or, more likely, to a particular institution or institutions.     

Communication with communities: a South African experience

ABSTRACT

In spite of the conventional wisdom stated by various authors that ‘we are living in the information age’ – a communication era characterised by a global expansion in the reach of mass media and electronic information ‘superhighways’ that span the globe – it is clear that there is growing realisation that it is still difficult to reach and communicate with rural communities in South Africa. The main aim of this article is therefore to examine the application of development communication theories in practice when communicating with communities in the Third World. In this article I argue that the viability of and prospects for effective communication with communities depend on three interrelated aspects. Firstly, the viability and prospects depend on current theoretical trends or approaches in development communication, because at the root of development communication – regardless of how this concept is defined – lies the issues of a structured and theoretical approach to community communication which are determined by current trends. Secondly, and crucial to the viability and prospects of community communication, is the question of which development communication methods or media to apply at the various stages of communication to reach the different target audiences. Thirdly, the viability and prospects for successful community communication will be influenced by an integrated approach to the application of development communication methods and media in development communication programmes or strategies.     

Global media/local meanings

ABSTRACT

In this article the author argues that qualitative investigations into the consumption practices of local audiences provide an important counter to the pessimistic claims of the media imperialism theorists, limited as they are primarily to institutional and textual analysis. In particular, the author argues that qualitative studies of how local audiences interact with global media provide an important corrective to the assumption that cultural homogenisation and synchronisation (Schiller 1976; Hamelink 1993) is following in the wake of the spread of global (primarily American) media and that this is necessarily something to be deplored.

This article first outlines some of the main tenets of the media imperialism thesis. Next it considers some of the more important critiques of this thesis. Finally, it draws on an interview the author conducted with a student at Rhodes University in order to clarify some of the important theoretical considerations we need to take into account when trying to assess the impact of global media on local audiences.

Indeed after years of anti-apartheid sanctions … South African is a country awash in American consumer goods, colonised by American pop culture, and obsessed with American celebrities. (Bill Keller, New York Times, September 25, 1993:5)

Choices [pertaining to media consumption] are constantly being made … But the questions of what those choices might mean, and how they work their way into the lives of those who make them, separating those lives from others perhaps just down the street, and linking them perhaps with others who share everything but locality; these questions remain. (Roger Silverstone 1990:186)     

Covering HIV/AIDS: Towards a heuristic comparison between communitarian and utilitarian ethics

Abstract

This article considers two approaches to ethical decision-making on the issue of reporting on human immunodeficiency virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS)-related deaths in the popular media. The conflict between cultural values and the public interest is explored via the ethical approaches of communitarianism and utilitarianism. The death of a former South African presidential spokesperson, is taken as an illustration of how these approaches might lead to different ethical decisions.     

The Nato enlargement debate in the media and civil‐military relations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

This article links the NATO enlargement debate to the course of civil‐military relations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. After a general analysis of civil‐military relations and the media, it looks at the NATO membership issues discussed across seven dimensions and their impact on relations between civil society and the military. It concludes that a gap existed between the governing elite and the public in both countries.     

Preface

ABSTRACT

Although first explicitly coined in Renaissance Italy, the notion of a ‘balance of power’ – the conduct of state actors to meet the logics of power balancing – goes back to pre-modern times. Traditionally, scholars have looked to the Punic Wars and the early modern period as early evidence for the balance. However, the ancient Near East during the second-millennium BC has received far less attention. Yet Western Asia existed as an international arena of states fully integrated in a system based on interdependence and power balancing. In the field of International Relations, systematic analyses of this phase in world history remain under-developed. Accordingly, the question of when a systemic environment for the balancing behaviour existed for the first time has been addressed less in International Relations theory where the literature leans primarily on the European experience.     

Mythological representation in popular culture today

Abstract

Mythologies that reside and operate within popular culture representations and the mass communications media reveal valuable insights into the way in which audiences are conditioned to interact with the social world. These myths require critical attention, and an understanding of contemporary myths should be established, as myths (being residents of the popular mass media) are decoded on a near constant basis by audiences.

This article addresses selected mythological representations in popular culture mass media, in order to examine the nature and societal functions of myths. Part of the importance of deconstructing contemporary myths is constituted by the myth's fictional content. While myths function to inform individuals of acceptable societal behaviour and contribute to an ordered social environment, they can also function negatively to represent negative connotative meanings about certain social groups or issues.

The importance of myth is therefore paramount, but the wealth of mythical nuances that could potentially receive critical attention is multitudinous. This article aims simply to uncover some insights into mass media mythological functionalities as a starting point for investigation.