The struggle for press self-regulation in contemporary South Africa: Charting a course between an industry charade and a government doormat

Abstract

Self-regulation is widely seen as a way to balance media freedom with restraint. In South African press history, this balance has been the subject of contestation under apartheid. While the first 12 years after democracy were relatively uncontentious, concerns were raised in 2007 by proposals for statutory regulation proposals by the ruling party. The performance of the Press Council was an important component in the subsequent power-play around these proposals. This article assesses how independent performance of the system helped persuade the rulers to temporarily suspend their proposals and utilise the existing channels. However, the persistence of a narrow reactive practice of self-regulation provided space for the resumption of contestation in July 2010.     

The indirect transfer of glass fragments to a jacket and their subsequent persistence

Experiments were conducted to investigate a scenario sometimes encountered in casework, where a police officer has attended a scene and shortly afterwards arrested a suspect. The experiments involve the transfer of glass fragments from a surface scattered with broken glass to a hand, and then from the hand to the sleeve of a poorly retaining jacket. The persistence of the transferred fragments was studied by collecting the glass fragments as they fell off the jacket, whilst the wearer was walking on the spot. The recovery regime allowed the number and proportion of fragments picked up and transferred to the jacket from the hand to be determined, and the rate at which they were lost from the jacket to be monitored. The results show that large numbers of glass fragments can be picked up on a hand from a suitable surface. A subsequent firm grip to a poorly retaining jacket was found to transfer a significant proportion of the glass fragments from the hand to the jacket. In seven of nine tests performed, ten or more glass fragments were recovered from the jacket 60 minutes after the original contact between the hand and the broken glass. More than twenty fragments were recovered in three of these tests. Consequently, where possible and appropriate, the full circumstances of a case should be considered carefully before indirect transfer is ruled out as a possible explanation for recovered “matching” glass. This is the case even for poorly retaining clothing.     

Policy transfers between governments: The case of administrative reforms

Administrative reform has been a very common activity of governments in almost all industrialised democracies, including those in Western Europe. The frequent contacts among these governments, and the presence of organisations such as the OECD that are spreading the reforms, might be expected to produce widespread diffusion of administrative innovations. That diffusion is not, however, as widespread as might have been expected and there are marked differences among countries as well as among types of reform. Using Boolean algebra, this article analyses the correlates of the diffusion of reform among European countries and the implications of that diffusion for public administration in these countries.     

Who should be chef? The dynamics of valence evaluations across income groups during economic crises

In this paper, we investigate partisan rationalization in valence politics by trying to better specify the direct and indirect effects of the economy on government support. To do so, we examine how income levels moderate the influence of objective economic conditions on perceptions of which party is the best manager of the economy during a period of economic crisis, 2004–2010, in the United Kingdom. We find that low-income voters are more responsive in their assessments of the incumbent Labour government based on unemployment, as are high-income voters in terms of inflation. In addition, high-income voters tend to behave in a manner consistent with partisan rationalization, while low-income voters do not. These conclusions offer important implications for the effectiveness of electoral control of government policy, as well as the quality of representation.     

Parliamentary government in different shapes

This article focuses on the principles of parliamentary government and the implementation of these principles. Empirically, the study includes 239 cabinet formations in Europe after World War II. The results show that the party structure significantly affects the way the principles of majority, plurality and responsiveness are put into practice. In two‐party systems, institutional arrangements guarantee that the principles are implemented. In consensual multi‐party systems, the principles are largely implemented as well. However, in non‐consensual multi‐party systems, often including one dominant party, it is much more difficult to fulfil the ideals of parliamentary government. The study also shows that the majority element greatly increases government stability.     

Forces Required for a Knife to Penetrate a Variety of Clothing Types

In stabbing incidents, it is usual for the victim to be clothed and therefore a knife penetrates both clothes and skin. Clothes (other than leather) have been thought to make little difference to the penetration force. However, there is little quantitative data in the literature. In this study, a range of clothes have been tested, either singly or in layers of, for example, T‐shirt and shirt, to quantify the additional force required when clothes are present. A materials testing system has been used to test the penetration force required to stab through clothes into a foam–silicone rubber skin simulant. The results show that the force required can be significantly different, particularly when layers of clothing are penetrated. A cotton t‐shirt adds c. 8 N to the penetration force, while a T‐shirt and jacket can add an additional 21 N. The results allow a more quantitative assessment of forces required in stabbing.     

Clinically Detectable Dental Identifiers Observed in Intra‐oral Photographs and Extra‐oral Radiographs,Validated for Human Identification Purposes

Screening the prevalence and pattern of dental identifiers contributes toward the process of human identification. This research investigated the uniqueness of clinical dental identifiers in photographs and radiographs. Panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs and five intra‐oral photographs of 1727 subjects were used. In a target set, two observers examined different subjects. In a subset, both observers examined the same subjects (source set). The distance between source and target subjects was quantified for each identifier. The percentage of subjects in the target set being at least as close as the correct subject was assessed. The number of molars (34.6%), missing teeth (42%), and displaced teeth (59.9%) were the most unique identifiers in photographs and panoramic and lateral cephalometric radiographs, respectively. The pattern of rotated teeth (14.9%) was the most unique in photographs, while displaced teeth was in panoramic (37.6%) and lateral cephalometric (54.8%) radiographs. Morphological identifiers were the most unique, highlighting their importance for human identifications.     

Creativity techniques to enhance knowledge transfer within global virtual teams in the context of knowledge-intensive enterprises

This conceptual paper investigates the common concern among managers that the physical separation of workers within a global virtual team may hinder the transfer of knowledge amongst the team members that is required to carry out their work efficiently, especially in the context of knowledge-intensive enterprises. Workers and work teams in knowledge-intensive enterprises are often involved in creative tasks that are carried out jointly and involve team members with diversified competencies exchanging knowledge related to their projects and assignments to create innovative outcomes. We investigate some popular creativity-enhancing techniques in the perspective of their use as catalysts for knowledge transfer in this context. We assess whether the use of these techniques may alleviate the limitations imposed on global virtual team members by their use of telecommunications and collaborative work tools that might otherwise adversely affect the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer. These techniques are designed to be used individually, by groups or within a virtual community. The physical and temporal separation of the global virtual team members does not hinder the knowledge-intensive dimension of these enterprises when aided by creativity-stimulating techniques. Therefore, we suggest that global virtual teams making use of creativity-enhancing techniques may be more efficient in transferring complex knowledge.     

Risk avoidance and missed opportunities in mental health reform: the case of Israel

Passage of the National Health Insurance Law (NHI) [National Health Insurance Law (NHI) (1994). Israel Law Code, 1469, 156 (Hebrew).] provided a window of opportunity for mental health reform in Israel. The reform called for transfer, within a period of 3 years, of responsibility for psychiatric services formerly provided mostly by the Ministry of Health, to Israel's four major healthcare providers. Planners of mental health reform in Israel saw in the NHI Law an opportunity to bring about far-reaching structural changes in mental health policy and service provision, shifting the locus of care from psychiatric hospitals to the community. This paper reports results of a case study assessing factors that hindered or promoted the planned reform. The theoretical and conceptual framework of the study was derived from public policy theories and in particular on those related to public agenda and agenda setting processes. The study was also informed by organizational and interorganizational theories and exchange theory. Data was gathered from documents and interviews of key informants. Sources of data included official reports, proceedings of Knesset's Labor and Social Affairs (LSA) Committee, Ministry of Health documents, healthcare providers' reports, budget documents, newspaper analysis, and about 60 interviews with persons who played important roles in the process of the negotiations regarding the reform efforts. Analysis identified the major stakeholders and their concerns, distinguishing between the key stakeholders involved directly in the negotiations and secondary or additional stakeholders outside the main circle, some of whom were very involved and influential in the process. The study identified the major issues and the problems that emerged during the process of negotiations. Analysis of the failure of the attempt to implement the reform reveals a combination of obstacles emanating from the process of negotiation, on the one hand, and from the larger political, economic and social context, on the other. Findings show that conflict of interests and risk avoidance of the major stakeholders were major obstacles to reaching agreement on a formula for implementation. The major risks were related to the inability to predict future demand for ambulatory services, uncertainty regarding future costs, and disagreements regarding the reliability and validity of data. Contextual factors that undermined the chances for successful implementation of the reform included lack of a strong political commitment and a coalition supporting the reform, a financial crisis in the health system resulting from early stages of implementation of the National Health Insurance Law, and social turmoil created by the Rabin government's attempts to implement the Oslo agreements. This turmoil ultimately culminated in the assassination of the Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, creating a climate far from conducive to generating public interest in mental health reform and facilitating the planned change. As a result the mental health system remained virtually unchanged.     

Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature I: Revisiting the Meaning of the Term <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dhāraṇī</Emphasis>

The Mahāyāna Buddhist term dhāraṇī has been understood to be problematic since the mid-nineteenth century, when it was often translated as “magical phrase” or “magical formula” and was considered to be emblematic of tantric Buddhism. The situation improved in contributions by Bernhard, Lamotte and Braarvig, and the latter two suggested the translation be “memory,” but this remained difficult in many environments. This paper argues that dhāraṇī is a function term denoting “codes/coding,” so that the category dhāraṇī is polysemic and context-sensitive. After reviewing Western scholarship, the article discusses dhāraṇī semantic values and issues of synonymy, the early applications of mantras, the sonic/graphic background of coding in India extended into Buddhist applications, and the soteriological ideology of dhāraṇīs along with some of its many varieties.