The end of apartheid brought South Africa into the global media environment. Outside companies invested in the nations newspapers while South African conglomerates pursued lucrative tech ventures and communication markets around the world. Many observers viewed the rapid development of South African media as a roadmap from authoritarianism to global modernity.
Herman Wasserman analyses the debates surrounding South Africas new media presence against the backdrop of rapidly changing geopolitics. His exploration reveals how South African disputes regarding access to, and representation in, the media reflect the domination and inequality in the global communication sphere. Optimists see post-apartheid media as providing a vital space that encourages exchanges of opinion in a young democracy. Critics argue that the public sphere mirrors South Africas past divisions and privileges the viewpoints of the elite. Wasserman delves into the ways these simplistic narratives obscure the countrys internal tensions, conflicts and paradoxes even as he charts the diverse nature of South African entry into the global arena.
Recenzijas
"Wasserman's book would surely be deemed as one of the most powerful articulations from the Global South, urging media professionals and scholars to rethink and recontextualize global journalism in this post-West, post-order, post-truth world."--Anbin Shi, Tsinghua University
Introduction; Section 1: Transitions:
1. From Apartheid to a New
Democracy: Areas of Shift;
2. `This Time for Africa? Global Media Studies
and the View from the South;
3. A Changing Media Culture: Professional
Ideologies between Past and Present; Section 2: Local Contestations;
4. Is
This Freedom? Media Ethics, `African Culture and Universal Values;
5. Global
Genres and Local Context: What Controversies around Tabloidisation Tell Us
about South African Media and Society;
6. Rethinking Global and Local: South
African Perspectives on the `Future of Journalism; Section 3: Global Shifts;
7. BRICS and Beyond: Mediating New Geopolitical Relationships;
8. New
Pressures and Opportunities: Technology, Geopolitics and Social Change;
Conclusion.
Herman Wasserman is Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has published widely on media in post-apartheid South Africa, including more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals and more than 35 book chapters. His books include the monograph Tabloid Journalism in South Africa (Indiana University Press, and UCT Press, 2010) and the edited collection Chinese Media and Soft Power in Africa: Promotion and Perceptions (with Xiaoling Zhang and Winston Mano, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
