Browsing by Author "Viney, Desiray."

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An analysis of a pre-election discussion on a Facebook newsgroup entitled Help us stop Jacob Zuma from becoming South Africa's next President, exploring issues of South Africanness and the potential of the new media for democratic expression.
(2010) Saville, Meggan.; Viney, Desiray.
South Africa, since 1994, has developed both politically and technologically resulting in an opening of communications both locally and globally. The 2009 national elections had been earmarked as a 'make or break' milestone for the political and social future of the young democracy. This election occurred amidst media analysts‘ concerns for the level of freedom of expression allowed to traditional forms of the South African media. New media, however, is not at present subject to the same regulations. Although a few cases of slander relating, for example, to Facebook have occurred, ephemeral cyber space appears to enjoy a greater degree of freedom of expression than the press and broadcast media. As a result the ability of these traditional forms of media to function effectively as a public sphere may be questioned, and some theorists claim that the Internet may offer an alternative medium for this function. This thesis looks at the potential of online communities to facilitate democratic expression by analysing a Facebook newsgroup text at the time of the election. In my exploration of the Facebook newsgroup Help us stop Jacob Zuma from becoming SA's next President I have analysed the text using two qualitative approaches. The critical discourse analysis traces competing South African discourses relating to the myths of the inherent violence of black men and the inherent racism of whites, the topics of crime and violence, Jacob Zuma and South Africanness. This approach‘s theoretical guidelines enforced a more objective view of the text, although interpretive methods in general grapple with subjectivity at a more observable level than do quantitative methods. The ethnographic hermeneutic component of the research is aimed at "making the obscure plain" (Blaikie, 1993: 28, cited in Neuman, 1997: 68) in the text, as well as documenting the inner workings of the online community and its relation to South African issues at the time of the national election. The findings are then measured against public sphere theory from Habermas' conception of the bourgeois public sphere to revisionist accounts (Fraser, 1997 and McKee, 2005)
The Daily Sun: investigating the role of the tabloid newspaper in the new South Africa.
(2008) Viney, Desiray.; Van der Hoven, Anton.
This dissertation seeks to investigate the role of the tabloid newspaper, Daily Sun, in contemporary South Africa by exploring the meanings that readers of the newspaper appropriate through their engagement with it and the uses to which they put these meanings.
An exploration of how the content and advertising in "Seventeen" magazine influences the lives of teenage girls : a Pietermaritzburg classroom case study.
(2010) Shelver, Donna-Jade.; Viney, Desiray.
This study explores the role that Seventeen magazine plays in the lives of its readers. More specifically, it investigates how the content and advertising in Seventeen influences the behaviour and identity development of Black, South African, teenage girls. This research focuses on three primary areas of study: • The role of the reader in message interpretation • The media’s role in identity development and behaviour • The socio-cultural influence of readers’ backgrounds on message interpretation and acceptance The research methodology of this study is primarily of a qualitative nature, using different methods of qualitative research to gather information. The data collected as part of the ethnographic research was linked to existing theoretical research regarding Reception Theories – including the ‘Hypodermic Needle’ model; ‘Uses and Gratifications’; and the ‘Active Audience’.
Investigating and exploring the role of community newspapers against the background of profit-driven media environment : a Pietermaritzburg based study.
(2010) Langa, Mauricio Paulo.; Viney, Desiray.
The aim of the study is to investigate and explore the role of community newspapers against the background of profit-driven media environment. The study adopted a qualitative research method. Data was collected using in-depth interviews with editors of the four community newspapers under study namely Public Eye, The Mirror, Echo and Edendale Eyethu, as well as readers of these publications. The study used focus group discussions as an additional qualitative instrument for data gathering. The SPSS software programme was used to present the data from the readers. Findings of the study The study found that media conglomerates and other businesses on the media possess both the human and financial resources to place them in a powerful position to determine the media content. However, while we know that this happens, some interventions could be considered to make sure that a more viable and sustainable balance between commerce and community is found and maintained. The study also showed that due to “market-driven journalism” embraced by the community newspapers, the right of the readers or consumers is increasingly compromised, and also that the profit-driven aspects of these publications confirm that media or journalism ethics of the community press is also at stake in that appear to benefit private and public sectors. This means the ample space allocated to advertisers as evidenced in almost every page of these newspapers, contribute to denying the readers access to relevant news or information. The study found that local content and political news are of great relevance to the readers, Community newspapers are vital in creating awareness amongst community members of different events taking place in the community hence enabling them to take an active part in different aspects of developments taking place. Community members would like to see more in-depth coverage in local news content, more coverage in events taking place locally such as community initiative projects, and more coverage on schools sports tournaments.