Masters Degrees (Centre for Communication, Media and Society)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7771

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Advertising as culture : a study of how television advertisements represent work in South Africa.
(2004) Kankuzi, Sydney Friendly.; Caldwell, Marc Anthony.
The present study investigates how television advertising represents work in South Africa. It uses the 1998 Employment Equity Act as an index of analysis. Using the contructionist approach to media representations and a re-examination of George Gerbner's cultivation hypothesis as its point of departure the study examines fifty-four television advertisements that were randomly selected over a four week period SABC 1, 2 and 3, and e.tv. Overall the study points out that images of work that are portrayed by television adverting in South Africa tend to marginalise certain demographic groups in certain types of occupational categories and work roles. However, it hesitates to apply ideals of the 1998 Employment Equity Act on this observation to conclude that advertising representations discriminate against the respective demographic groups in the occupational categories and work roles. The study justifies this hesitation in two ways. Firstly, it raises theoretical problems that would arise if one applied ideals of the 1996 Employment Equity Act wholesale on advertising representations of work. Secondly, it points out important weaknesses of quantitative content analysis which incapacitates it from grasping subtle tendencies which may help give a more comprehensive picture of advertising representations.
Discourse in the South African English-language press : past, Polokwane and prospect.
(2012) Nothling, David Andrew.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.; Caldwell, Marc Anthony.
The African National Congress (ANC) has effected a shift in political discourse since the succession by President Jacob Zuma from Thabo Mbeki following the 2007 National Elective Conference in Polokwane. Subsequent political re-alignments have led to a strengthening of the tripartite alliance, and a perceived policy shift. However the current state of political play has made evident the tensions within the alliance, fronted by the trade unions on the left, and the elitist culture that has developed within the upper echelons of the ANC. This research examines how the political and economic discourses represented by different ruling factions of the ANC-led alliance transcend into assumptions regarding the role and function of the media. It plots policy developments and shifting ANC elite discourse on the media at various conjunctures since the early 1990s. Developments in the South African media are primarily studied from a political economy approach to ownership, control and transformation, as informed by the economic policies of the ANC. Specific focus is given to the economics of the five press houses, Independent Newspapers, Media 24, Caxton, Avusa and M&G Media. A critical content analysis, informed by a critical approach on discourse theory, is undertaken on various editorials and exposition pieces in five newspapers, Daily News, Witness, Citizen, Sunday Times and Mail and Guardian during the ANC elective conference in Polokwane, December 2007. This sample represents the five press houses under study. This study will offer insight into the English-language press" response to the power struggle and succession debate, represented by Zuma on the one hand and Mbeki on the other, and therefore engage Zuma's critique of the media being politically out-of-synch with society. This content analysis in context with the examination into the political economic transformation of the press, as well as personal representation of the ANC elites in the press, will be used to analyse the general discourse of English-language press at this time.
Participatory communication for social change : normative validity and descriptive accuracy of stakeholder theory.
(2011) Musara, Lubombo.; Caldwell, Marc Anthony.; Tomaselli, Keyan Gray.;
There is consensus in the development communication field about community participation being a holistic approach required to address social development challenges. Participatory development, also known as another development, is considered invaluable in the social change process. While participatory principles have enjoyed increasing influence over the work of development organisations, there is still confusion as to what participation really is and how it must be applied as an approach to social change. As a result, development in (marginalized) communities has remained what I would call a Sisyphean task despite tremendous funding and effort that is being put towards development. This study is motivated by three factors relating to the practical and theoretical issues characterising participation. First is the acknowledged lack of a consistent definition as well as inconsistencies characterising the application of participation. The second factor is the contention that participation has remained under theorised and the third is what can be arguably conceived as the influence of stakeholder theory on development communication discourse. The focus of this study is how a theory commonly used in the strategic communication field, the stakeholder theory, applies to deliberate development communication efforts, particularly how the theory sheds light on the concept of participation. It introduces and examines the relevance of Edward Freeman‘s (1984) stakeholder theory in defining and applying participation in social change initiatives. Three development agents namely OneVoice South Africa (OVSA), The Valley Trust (TVT) and Drama for Aids Education (DramAidE) are used as a case study of the concept of participation. The study begins with a critical exploration of the complex participatory communication for social change narrative discussing key ontological and epistemological assumptions as well as a pastiche of approaches often reified as participation. It goes on to present a comprehensive review of the stakeholder theory and its critique, followed by an exploration of how the three development agents develop, implement and manage their respective participatory programmes. It concludes by applying stakeholder theory to the analysis of these programmes to determine whether the theory can be conceived as an accurate descriptive tool of the participation process and if its normative tenets are valid to the process.

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Centre for Communication, Media and Society) by Author "Caldwell, Marc Anthony."