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This exploratory study provides an overview of prominent themes pertaining to portrayals of sign languages (SLs) and Deaf people in the South African press (2011-2019), as well as an analysis of a subset of articles to illustrate the discursive constructions of each of the prominent ideological framings. The findings of the paper suggest that many ways of representing South African Sign Language (SASL) and their users align with international trends. The two most prominent ideological framings are the medical/disability model and the linguistic minority model. Within the medical model, SLs are seen as inferior means of communication used by a disabled minority. Within the linguistic minority framework SLs are regarded as natural, legitimate languages deserving equal status to spoken languages. The paper also identifies an ideological framing that is not predicted by the international literature, coined here as 'diversity tokenism'. Diversity tokenism is when SL is mentioned only to increase perceived diversity, where diversity is a commodity that holds social capital. This portrayal of SASL seems to be increasing and holds a warning: although SASL users have received official recognition and rights through the recent declaration of SASL as an official language, it might not be the end of the battle to ensure that users of SASL can live out their linguistic citizenship.

This qualitative media study, undertaken within an interpretative research paradigm, aims to expand our knowledge of sexual violence perpetrated against learners in South African public and private schools. Due to ethical, normative and methodological barriers surrounding research on sexual violence in schools, South African English language newspapers were used as data source. The SA Media database was utilised to identify 153 relevant newspaper articles published in the period of 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Themes were identified by means of qualitative content analysis. The findings shed light on the extent of sexual violence in schools, the acceptance and normalisation of teacher-on-learner sexual violence, the exploitation of learners' academic and athletic aspirations by teachers and coaches, and the imbalance of power and consequent abuse of power in a country where hegemonic masculinity prevails. Moreover, the study found teachers, coaches, caregivers, taxi drivers and fellow learners to be perpetrators of sexual violence. The study also highlights the negative effects of sexual violence on the victims' academic, mental, physical and social wellbeing. Drawing on Galtung's typology of violence, three dimensions of violence, namely personal or direct violence, indirect or structural and cultural violence were identified. This multidimensional interpretation emphasises the need to address this scourge on direct, structural and cultural levels.

This paper provides the rationale and purpose for a critical literacy awareness strategy, implemented to 20 English second language students at a township secondary school in South Africa. This empirical study provides insight into using newspapers as a pedagogical tool to develop students' language and critical literacy skills. Using different classroom activities and class discussions, the teacher helped the students to read beyond different texts and raised their awareness of different ideologies that inform texts. Working in pairs and groups, the learners engaged with different genres of texts. In this study, special emphasis is promoting critical thinking for social justice where critical literacy is used as a tool to better understand and improve the world. Findings of the study show students engaging in critical conversations without being directed into one way of thinking, which leads to significant improvement in their critical thinking. This further shows that texts that raise questions about different discourses can create an inclusive critical curriculum. It can be concluded that students can learn best when presented with a context they can identify with and are able to tap to their everyday experiences.

In this study, the education system of the Republic of South Africa was explored. The study focused on the successes as well as problems faced by the educational system. The research questions focused on the quality of education in the country. It also explored the problems faced by students as they try to gain access to schooling at all levels of the education system. Qualitative methods were used to collect data for the study. More than 120 local newspapers were sampled for the study. The main findings from the study are that although some of the universities are highly ranked among universities in the world, the education system contains inherent problems which include poor teacher quality and outmoded curriculums.

Using Critical Realism, this article looks at articles from selected South African newspapers which reported on the #FeesMustFall protests. The study established that, arising from the protests, was a culture characteried by tensions and distrust amongst stakeholders such as students, university management and the government. This, the article argues, was a result of how each of these stakeholders perceived, and went on to exercise, their agency in an attempt to resolve the conflict arising from the protests. To avert a recurrence of negative consequences of student protests such as the destruction of property and development of toxic and adversarial relationships amongst different stakeholders, the article recommends collaborative approaches to conflict resolution in South African higher education. These approaches need to be framed differently from those in which some stakeholders seek to use their agency to achieve outright victory over other stakeholders -- a recurring mode of engagement during the #FeesMustFall protests.

This study explores the "Cape Times"'s portrayal of school violence in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa, reporting on findings from a qualitative content analysis of 41 news articles retrieved from the SA Media database. The findings shed light on the victims and their victimisation, the perpetrators, as well as the context of the violence, identifying gangsterism, as well as school administrative and community factors as the reasons for violence in WC schools. It is argued that school violence and gangsterism are inextricably linked to the Cape Flats in particular, and that the interaction of forms of inequality and oppression such as racism, class privilege and gender oppression are structural root causes for school violence in this area of the WC. The study highlights the negative consequences of school violence on teaching and learning and on the economy. It is concluded that even if the "Cape Times" paints an exaggerated and atypical picture of violence in the gang-riddled parts of the WC, the detrimental effects thereof on the regions cannot be denied. The study therefore recommends a holistic approach to addressing the structural root causes of school violence where it takes place in the WC.

The way in which the media report on school violence influences public perceptions, gives rise to particular attitudes and can influence decisions by policy makers. The more frequently an issue is presented in a specific way, the more likely it is for readers to perceive the media's version as the truth. Although news is assumed to be reliable, comprehensive and unprejudiced, journalism can be questioned. This study explores how school violence is framed in the South African print media. A framing analysis was done of 92 articles that appeared in 21 different public newspapers during one year. I found that the way in which the public is informed encourages the perception of school violence as being an individual, rather than a societal, problem and encourages the acceptance of assumptions and stereotypes. Typical "blood-and-guts" reporting is popular, while issues such as emotional and sexual violence in schools appear largely unnoticed by journalists. I argue that the main frames provided to readers in South African newspapers fail largely to elicit social responsibility, while at the same time promoting civic indifference.

As library and information science (LIS) becomes an increasingly technology-driven profession, particularly in the academic library environment, questions arise as to the extent of information technology (IT) knowledge and skills that LIS professionals require. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain what IT knowledge and skills are needed by academic librarians in the digital library environment. Grounded in pragmatist epistemology and using ideas from sociologist Andrew Abbott's "Chaos of Disciplines", the study draws empirical evidence from LIS job advertisements and a national online survey of academic libraries in South Africa. It concludes that 70 to 75 percent of job advertisements in the academic library sector stipulate requirements for advanced IT skills. The author recommends that the LIS discipline seize the opportunity presented by what Abbott calls its "interstitial character" and its tendency toward "fractal distinctions in time" to stake an intellectual claim on this technology-driven extension of its disciplinary domain.

This article reports on a qualitative research study on the feasibility of teachers using newspaper articles in advancing a humanistic perspective of science in teaching Grade 9 natural sciences to South African learners. Two key design principles were distilled in this design-based research: Newspaper articles can serve as a viable resource for teaching topics on socioscientific issues, and teachers can be supported professionally in developing pedagogical strategies in adopting a humanistic perspective approach in their teaching. The findings show that this approach using newspapers holds much promise for targeting learning goals that prepare citizens to critically and rationally assess socioscientific issues.

Disciplines such as Geography are well placed to respond to the changing needs of society and the effective application of geographical knowledge to real-world problems. This project surveyed first year Geography undergraduates' understanding of "What is Geography?", both before and after an exercise in which geographic topics were identified within recent newspapers. The survey instrument employed was an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire, and was undertaken with first-year undergraduate Geography students at a university in South Africa. Results show that the exercise enabled students (n = 158) to more readily see the application of geographical knowledge to both environmental and social problems that they identified in the newspaper stories. Students also identified that studying Geography may be able to help them increase their skills, employment prospects and earning potential. These findings can help locate the disciplinary concerns and applicability of Geography in post-apartheid South Africa within the wider context of the twenty-first Century world.

Drawing on online and daily newspapers, speakers' language and writing practices, official government documents and prescribed spelling systems in Southern Africa, the paper explores the challenges and possibilities of orthographic reforms allowing for mobility across language clusters, ethnicity, regional and national borders. I argue that this entails a different theorisation of language, and for orthographies that account for the translocations and diasporic nature of late modern African identities and lifestyles. I suggest an ideological shift from prescriptivism- to practice-orientated approaches to harmonisation in which orthographies are based on descriptions of observable writing practices in the mobile linguistic universe. The argument for orthographic reforms is counterbalanced with an expose on current language policies which appear designed for an increasing rare monoglot "standard" speaker, who speaks only a "tribal" language. The implications of the philosophical challenges this poses for linguists, language planners and policy makers are thereafter discussed.

This paper reports on an investigation into the representation of teachers in newspapers in five countries. An innovative methodology was used to develop a method of inquiry that supports a deeper understanding of media representations of teachers which can also be used by other researchers in comparative education. The paper explores relevant literature on teachers' work and media studies, and describes the decisions made about the selection of newspapers from the five countries and the analytical framework. Central to the project was the development of an analytic framework which we applied to our analysis of the media data collected from the five countries. The process revealed the construction of four categories of teacher identity: the caring practitioner; the transparent (un)professional; the moral and social role model; and the transformative intellectual. The aim was not to generalise categories but to offer them as they were found in newspapers during this time frame. The data analysis demonstrates the applicability of the innovative methodology while the project also contributes to locally translated understandings of teacher representations. The paper concludes with a reflection on the effectiveness of the methodology for comparative research.

In the mid- to late 1980s, the challenges facing the editors and journalists working for the South African antiapartheid newspaper, the "Weekly Mail," were formidable. In addition to the more than one hundred censorship laws already in place, the apartheid government had declared a series of states of emergency in a final and desperate attempt to maintain power. To prevent those in the South African media from reporting on the massive violence that the security forces were using to try to crush the liberation movement, the government enacted a series of emergency regulations. This article examines the tactics of indirection used by the "Weekly Mail" to convey essential information about the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The success of the newspaper was predicated precisely on the notion of "collective agency": journalists who wrote articles venturing into the gray areas of the censorship restrictions, attorneys who assisted them by developing creative legal justifications, and, finally, editors who had sufficient courage to publish these risky articles. (Contains 9 notes.)

Explores the constraints imposed by certain common discourses on the development and implementation of language policy in South Africa. Analyzes a debate in the 1870s concerning the future language of South Africa, examines a series of popular articles from a daily newspaper to reveal traps of popular discourses, and scans official policy documents to show the unintended implications of the discourses within which they are framed. (Author/VWL)

Describes four categories of censorship supported by the State of Emergency in South Africa: prior censorship and suspension of publication; restraints on information gathering; suppression of anti-apartheid views; and the growth of militarization. A comparison to traditional censorship of books is made and the possible role of librarians in challenging the censorship system is discussed. (52 references) (CLB)

Examines the relationship between (1) use of and reliance upon particular media, (2) participation in activities linked to a conflictive public issue (South Africa) and (3) knowledge about that issue among black college students in Washington, DC. Concludes reliance on a particular medium is less important than interest and motivation in predicting knowledge about issues. (SD)

This paper is a case study of newspaper mathematics courses developed by SACHED TRUST and published as part of a broader newspaper project in South Africa between 1977 and 1980. Findings are presented, culminating in some recommendations for the future use of the newspaper for motivating adults to study mathematics. (Author/PK)

Reports results of a time-series analysis of daily newspaper circulation trends in South Africa for the years 1958 through 1977; notes that the significant finding is that newspaper circulation has barely kept pace with population growth. (GT)

Examines the way in which United States journalists covered the views of the South African Black leader Steven Biko both before and after his death in prison in 1977; concludes that the coverage did not provide readers with an adequate understanding of Biko, his organizations, or his life. (GT)

Reports that the advent of television in South Africa has brought about some marked changes in newspaper readership patterns, for the most part accelerating trends that had begun before it started. Notes that the single most significant trend is toward an ever-increasing Black readership. (GT)

While the contemporary influenza season in South Africa is understood, its historical occurrence and dynamics are not. This study applies methods in historical geography, using archival newspaper reports to reconstruct the historical influenza season in South Africa over the past century (1904–2019) to examine changes in the seasonality of influenza in South Africa, and to compare this to contemporary records. A 20% seasonal threshold was calculated and applied to the data to return this approximate 19-week season, with the start of the influenza season ranging from week one in 1917 to week 41 of the year in 1918. On average, over the past century, the South African influenza season has started in the first week of May and ended in the last week of August, lasting 19 weeks. This outcome aligns with the contemporary influenza season described in other studies. These records reveal considerable interannual variability in length and timing with no unimodal shifts. The most linked climate phenomenon to influenza transmission rate were cold and winter conditions. This has important implications in advancing the timing of influenza vaccines to the late summer and early autumn weeks. Moreover, this shows how archival newspaper proxy records can help us reconstruct the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the main themes present in South African editorial cartoons related to Covid-19 published in 2020 to examine how they portrayed the societal discourse around the pandemic. Our data set of 1196 single-frame editorial cartoons, created by 19 cartoonists in three languages and published in 24 publications over the course of 2020, shows that Covid-19 was a pertinent topic for South African cartoonists. Thematically, "politics and government" dominated as broad themes, while other pertinent themes were "society and social consequences", "economic impacts" and "health". Politics and politicians were prominent, but science and scientists were represented only rarely. In terms of tone, the cartoons were predominantly negative, with fear as a frequently used emotional appeal. Very few cartoons contained educational messages, but most did depict the virus and face masks, which could have heightened public awareness about health-related issues. We conclude that editorial cartoons added to the media coverage of the pandemic, often adding to general media discourses of fear and anxiety, and therefore it is likely that these cartoons influenced public sentiment. Furthermore, through their focus on politicians, these cartoons added to the politicisation of the pandemic, but made only a minor contribution to public education and the combating of misinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines readers' perceptions and preferences for online and print newspapers in four South African legacy newspapers. Specifically, the study aims to: i) determine the influence of whether or not a print newspaper succeeded in the 4IR; ii) examine the challenges and opportunities that print newspapers in South Africa face; and iii) examine the influence of customer satisfaction on customer perceptions of print newspapers. The study employed a quantitative methodology, and data from readers of the Daily Maverick 168, the Mail and Guardian, Isolezwe, and Grocott's Mail were gathered and analysed using a descriptive survey method. A sample of 249 readers made up the study's participants, and the technique for gathering data was a standardised questionnaire. The findings show that readers' perceptions and preferences influenced their decision to read a particular newspaper. The study recommends that all key players in the South African newspaper sector make use of the findings to enrich strategies and policies for the adoption of news materials in the sphere of digital business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports evidence of violence related to initiation and traditional male circumcision (ITMC) in South Africa. Our study conducted a search of the newspaper databases Newsbank and News24 from January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2023, and carried out a content analysis of newspaper articles that referenced violence in South African newspapers. Our initial search yielded 1796 articles; after screening for relevance and duplicates, 41 articles published in 16 South African newspapers and one online source were included in the analysis of the data. Most articles (41%) were published in 2016. Five major types of violence were identified at three unique stages of the ITMC process: (1) bullying; (2) mental and emotional abuse; (3) neglect; (4) physical violence; and (5) gender-based violence. At the pre-initiation stage, the articles reported that boys were forced, abducted, and trafficked into the initiation schools. While at the initiation schools, various forms of bullying, beating, fighting, slapping, assaulting, torturing, burning, neglecting, and physical, mental, and emotional abuse were reported. At the post-initiation stage, physical violence and mental abuse were reported. We noted that some articles reported violence prevention efforts during ITMC. Future research should examine readers' reception of newspaper information about violence associated with ITMC and their awareness of prevention measures. Our findings have implications for public health policy, including the Customary Initiation Act, which provides for the protection of life, the prevention of injuries, and the prevention of all forms of abuse that initiates may be subjected to as a result of initiation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast territorial expansion of Portugal during the colonial era resulted in a significant global diaspora network, with one such community situated in South Africa. Multiple waves of immigration from Portugal, its autonomous regions, and former African colonies have given rise to an established diasporic community in South Africa. Acting as a vital communication channel, the O Século de Joanesburgo newspaper played a crucial role in keeping the South African Portuguese diaspora informed about the broader Portuguese community both locally and abroad, thereby fostering connections between the community and their homeland. Throughout the years, the newspaper extensively featured travel-related content, employing various strategies to encourage travel to the homeland. This paper investigates how travel was depicted and promoted to the South African Portuguese diaspora through the newspaper. Using archival material from the newspaper, significant themes can be identified related to travel within the community. These encompass journeys to the homeland, encouragement for seaside property investments in Portugal, and indications of domestic tourism within South Africa. Overall, this research contributes to the broader discourse on the development of diasporic communities and emphasizes the integral role of travel in their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how a southern African society commemorated colonial genocide by auguring alternative futures. Drawing on the concept of "prophetic memory," it illustrates how the Herero combined vernacular ideas about freedom and land, Christian eschatology, as well as pan-Africanist ideology to reflect on the Herero and Nama genocide of 1904-1908 between the final years of German colonial rule (until 1915) and Namibia's subsequent occupation by South Africa. Based on the analysis of the Otjiherero mission newspaper "Omahungi" ("Conversation" or "Stories") and prophecies by Herero Christians made between 1946-1948, the article shows that pastors, evangelists, and ordinary believers articulated emancipatory, but often diverging, visions of redemption by combining invocations of pioneering Herero converts and biblical as well as indigenous prophets with long-standing notions of slavery and land as well as the rhetoric of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The resulting disagreements over how to achieve self-determination contributed to growing opposition to white supremacy and encouraged the founding of independent African churches after 1945. The article shows the lasting impact of the first genocide of the twentieth century as well as the breadth of the registers through which survivors and their descendants remembered its violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many scholars identify the first newspaper in South Africa as The Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser / Kaapsche Stads Courant en Afrikaansche Berighter (1800), it often does not receive in-depth or prolonged attention. In this article various reasons are suggested as part of a critical review of the historiography of the first newspaper, from (contemporary) critics of the early nineteenth century to latter-day seminal historians. The selected contributions are discussed as a first step to revisit the role and legacy of the newspaper. In the process the article identifies gaps in the field of research and suggests avenues and approaches for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of records management and the provision of government services in many African countries are poor and have devastating consequences. The consequences of poor records management have far-reaching implications for service delivery, which affects citizens of a country, including infringements of basic human rights such as identity, property ownership, health, and social grants, to mention just a few. Despite these consequences, in South Africa, many governmental bodies do not manage their records properly, resulting in poor service delivery, which leads to community protests, corruption, loss of credibility or loss of heritage, among other factors. This study aimed to investigate the nature and patterns of newspaper coverage regarding poor records management and its impact on the provision of government services in South Africa. The paper used the qualitative content analysis approach to analyse the newspaper (clippings) reports extracted from the South African Media Database, hosted by the South African Bibliographic and Information Network (SABINET). The study established that the paper-based system is unable to manage records effectively and efficiently. The study also found that a lack of skills and knowledge about records management as a profession impacts negatively on the management of records. Based on these findings, the implementation of an electronic records management system is recommended. The study also recommends government-wide training to conscientise government officials about the significance of records management as an enabler of service delivery and for sound decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside the successes of the international sports boycott against apartheid South Africa (1948-1994), numerous countries circumvented it, including Israel. An examination of the reasons that led Israeli sports institutions and athletes to evade the sports sanctions against the apartheid regime reveals that Israelis did not join the boycott because of professional, Zionist, and national interests. Particularly, South African Jews played a crucial role in connecting Israel to South Africa due to their wealthy status and Zionist sentiments. Jewish owners of sports clubs encouraged the migration of Israeli footballers to South Africa, South African Jews attracted Israelis for fund-raising purposes and to encourage immigration to Israel, and Israel nurtured sporting relations with South Africa to overcome its own growing international isolation. Israeli newspapers, Israel State Archives, memoirs, and academic scholarship on the sports links between Israel and apartheid South Africa provide a novel perspective regarding the wider historical links between the two countries. The examination of such connections between Israel and South Africa demonstrates that similar to the diplomatic sphere, economic and national interests played a more central role than moral considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim was to assess the quality of newspaper reporting of university student suicides in South Africa, using the World Health Organisation guidelines. Suicide among university students is a growing public health problem. The media has an important role to play in preventing student suicides by adhering to international best practice guidelines on ethical reporting of suicides. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted a content analysis of print medium newspaper articles in the 13 most widely read English language South African newspapers from the period of January 2017 to January 2020. Findings: The initial search yielded a total of 28 news reports, of which 19 met this study's inclusion criteria and were analysed using content analysis. The quality of reporting showed both potentially harmful and helpful characteristics. Poor adherence to international reporting guidelines were found in the description of method and location of suicide, sensational headlines, publishing photos of the deceased, linking suicide to criminality, simplistic narration of the life events leading to the suicide and use of sensational and potentially triggering language. No reports adhered to all reporting guidelines. Findings suggests that there are widespread potentially unhelpful practices in the reporting of student suicides and a need for suicide prevention experts to work with journalists to promote critical reflexivity and ethical reasoning when writing about student suicides. Research limitations/implications: This study only included news reports published in English in the most widely read newspapers. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to systematically examine media reporting on suicide in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During food-borne disease outbreaks, people get most of their information about food safety and risk from the news media. Best practice in risk messaging requires the rapid sharing of information to minimise harm, while expressing empathy, accountability, and commitment. The journalistic processes through which news is shaped can prioritise information differently, potentially limiting informed decision-making. The South African listeriosis outbreak (2017–2018) was the biggest in global history and generated considerable media attention. Using 'social attenuation of risk theory' and 'gatekeeping theory', combined with 'crisis and emergency risk communication best practices' as guiding principles, in this study we aimed to analyse which components of risk message content and which news factors were prioritised by news media during the outbreak. Content analysis of 91 listeriosis-related newspaper articles revealed that the most common risk messaging practices included were information about 'what is known' and 'which foods to avoid'. News factor analysis indicated 'relevance' was omnipresent, and 'controversy' was the second most frequently encountered factor. Overall, our findings suggest that only some best practices featured in the risk message media content, while others were mostly absent. This should be considered when developing future risk communication strategies related to food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using textual analysis, this study compares and contrasts how newspapers from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa—countries at the centre of the September 2019 xenophobic attacks in South Africa—under different ownership patterns defined the problem of xenophobia, its causes and solutions. Understanding how xenophobia was framed is important, for it has implications on policy formulations in dealing with immigration. The study finds that although there were common frames across the newspapers, there were also significant differences between newspapers from sending and receiving countries. Privately controlled newspapers also framed the crisis differently as compared to government or publicly controlled newspapers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manner by which power is reified through newspaper reporting can assist community psychologists in getting a handle on the complex, often contradictory, ways by which ideology and power are constituted in relation to particular communities. Accordingly, the present study draws on discursive psychology to analyse how 377 newspaper articles construct the community of Thembelihle (a low‐income community in South Africa) and how these constructions can inform counter‐hegemonic strategy. Two discourses were identified in the analysis, Signifying Legitimacy and Containing the Protest Community. Where the Signifying Legitimacy discourse established a Statist legitimacy‐illegitimacy binary against which Thembelihle was to be assessed, the Containing the Protest Community discourse constructed Thembelihle as a monolithic entity that enacted a wholly violent, and often directionless, mode of protest violence which was concerned with little more than 'service delivery'. Together, these discourses suggest to us the manner by which low‐income communities are engaged by the State as well as how Statist representations function materially. Certainly, most newspaper articles relied on an interpretive frame whose hermeneutics were characterised primarily by violence and homogenously experienced suffering. Such representation, we argue, signifies the dominant discursive field and ideology against which counter‐hegemonic strategy and (re)presentation must act. Highlights: Fleshes out a means of analyzing dominant discourse.Offers considerations for the development of counter‐hegemony.Demonstrates the use of critical media studies for community psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paralympic Games is the largest sporting competition for athletes with an impairment. This competition has, however, had limited news coverage in the past particularly compared to the Olympic Games. This study analyzes newspaper coverage of the 2016 Paralympic Games by two newspapers in 11 countries (China, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom). The coverage period spanned 7-19 September 2016. Text and pictures were coded according to page number, content, gender, sport, and nationality of person. Media content analysis was used to extract coverage of themes. Results are presented using descriptive statistics and frequency counts. Of the 623 articles and 541 photographs analysed, a small percentage (7.3%) were on the front pages of newspapers. Most articles and photographs (78.7%) were about athletes or teams. There was more coverage of male athletes (53.2%) and local athletes (71.6%). The Paralympic Games has historically received less newspaper coverage than the Olympic Games. This study examined newspaper coverage of the 2016 Paralympic Games from 11 countries. For the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, newspaper coverage in most countries was good, lasting nearly the whole duration, and this also included a number of front page reports. The type of coverage and number of reports differ between countries. Generally, the highest medal winning countries gave more media attention to the Games. The news reports focused primarily on their local athletes and teams. Moreover, males had more news coverage than females overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The 2014 Ebola outbreak in three African states transformed the virus into a social reality in which media representations contributed to globalised hysteria and had rhetorical effects. This study investigated representations of the Ebola virus/disease in South African news reports (March 2014–June 2015). Four discourses were found to operate within the globalised social context: threat to humanity, predation, invasion, and conspiracy. The South African reportage framed Ebola as a predator and criminal rather than using stock warfare imagery. Representations indicated alignment with phobic high-income countries and colonial hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During each of the five elections held in post-apartheid South Africa, from 1994 to 2014, the African National Congress (ANC) accused the mainstream media of being racially biased against the predominantly black political party. The newspapers and the other media were condemned for being privately owned and monopolised by white capital and dominated by white editorial staff, who allegedly reported negatively and critically on the party's electoral policies--thus alienating it from the voters. Despite such criticism, the ANC gained a majority of votes at each election. This article examines: i) the presumed powerful influence of the press on electoral support for the ANC; ii) the extent that newspaper reporting on elections were racially biased against, and hostile to the ANC; and iii) the racial composition of the editorial staff. Five influential South African newspapers were analysed: three daily newspapers, Beeld, The Star, and Sowetan; and two weekly publications, The City Press and The Sunday Times. A total of 111 170 newspaper articles and editorial pieces relating to the elections were content-analysed to establish their manifest positive, negative, or neutral tonality. It was found that mainstream newspapers' reporting did not negatively influence voters' support for the ANC, that reports on elections were predominantly objective with a slight positive bias in favour of the ANC, and that the racial composition of editorial staff changed from being predominantly white to more representative of black personnel, which in turn introduced more visible anti-white bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, South African university student protests drew critical attention to the state of higher education in the country. Newspaper reports of the student protests were pervasive. Reports of the violence that characterised parts of the protests dominated the news despite the students’ impact on the positive changes in higher education. Using a thematic analysis, this article interrogates student representation in newspapers from the inception of the protests to the end of the 2015 academic year. Four themes were identified: students as destructive vandals, violators of the rights of others, law-breakers, and agents of transformation. Results indicate that newspaper reports of the violence overshadowed reports of the positive changes that the student protestors catalysed, and in so doing, newspaper reports during this time delegitimised the students as agents of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African elections often reveal low levels of political accountability. We assess different forms of voter education during an election in Mozambique. Three interventions providing information to voters and calling for their participation were randomized: an information campaign using SMS, an SMS hotline for electoral misconduct, and the distribution of a free newspaper. To measure impact, we look at official electoral results, reports by electoral observers, and behavioral and survey data. We find positive effects of all treatments on voter turnout. However, only the distribution of the free newspaper led to more accountability-based participation and to a decrease in electoral problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for newspapers to obtain advertising revenue can create significant pressures to engage in self-censorship. TheWeekly Mailin apartheid South Africa, in addition to contending with the extensive system of censorship created by the government, also had to contend with the challenge of obtaining revenue without compromising its core journalistic principles. Based on interviews conducted with the editors and journalists at this newspaper, as well as an examination of every edition between 1985‒1990, I examine the innovative ways in which those who worked for this newspaper were able to read the complex economic and political dynamics, domestically and internationally, in order to obtain the necessary revenue to survive. Moreover, extensive evidence reveals that those at theWeekly Mailobtained this revenue without engaging in self-censorship. This case study of theWeekly Mailnot only highlights a compelling story of anti-apartheid resistance but also has implications for journalists in other countries who face similar pressures due to financial constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of Community Survey 2016 by Statistics South Africa was presented as a newsworthy event in order to publicise the results and demonstrate their relevance to the citizenry. The collection and analysis of population statistics by the government is an expensive and intrusive process requiring the cooperation of the public in order to obtain accurate and comprehensive data. The results are therefore presented as part of a national cooperative effort, emphasising issues considered of interest to the public. In this process the mass of figures are simplified and categorised for intelligibility. Here the media, including the print newspapers, play a significant role in disseminating the information widely by selecting and publishing those aspects that journalists consider to be particularly of interest to their readers. The release of the results of Community Survey 2016 encountered several problems with the intended dissemination of information, particularly when compared with the situation accompanying the earlier Census 2011. These were related to the timing of the event, the contents and graphics of the statistical press release as well as competition with other statistical publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa tends to focus on quantitative evaluation to measure the progress made in the implementation of EPWP projects. The number of employment opportunities created by EPWP, demographic profiling, skills acquired by beneficiaries and training opportunities related to the Programme form the basis of typical statistical evaluations of it, but exclude comment by the workers who participate in its projects. Based on primary sources, including in-depth interviews, newspaper reports and internet sources, this article seeks to provide a qualitative review of the EPWP from the perspective of the beneficiaries of municipal EPWP projects. Various South African government sectors hire EPWP workers to provide local services such as cleaning and maintaining infrastructure, but the employment of these workers can still be regarded as precarious, in the sense that they have no job security, earn low wages and have no benefits such as medical aid or pension fund. The interviewees indicated that, although they appreciate the temporary employment opportunities provided by the EPWP, they also experience health and safety risks and lack the advantages of organised labour groupings. Their main disadvantage, however, is that they cannot access permanent employment, which offers better wages and concomitant benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although discourse analysis is a well-established qualitative research methodology, little attention has been paid to how discourse analysis may be enhanced through careful supplementation with the quantification allowed in content analysis. In this article, we report on a research study that involved the use of both Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA) and directed content analysis based on social constructionist theory and our qualitative research findings. The research focused on the discourses deployed, and the ways in which women were discursively positioned, in relation to abortion in 300 newspaper articles, published in 25 national and regional South African newspapers over 28 years, from 1978 to 2005. While the FDA was able to illuminate the constitutive network of power relations constructing women as subjects of a particular kind, questions emerged that were beyond the scope of the FDA. These questions concerned understanding the relative weightings of various discourses and tracing historical changes in the deployment of these discourses. In this article, we show how the decision to combine FDA and content analysis affected our sampling methodology. Using specific examples, we illustrate the contribution of the FDA to the study. Then, we indicate how subject positioning formed the link between the FDA and the content analysis. Drawing on the same examples, we demonstrate how the content analysis supplemented the FDA through tracking changes over time and providing empirical evidence of the extent to which subject positionings were deployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synopsis Democratisation and abortion legislation transformation in South Africa provided a unique opportunity to reflect on the descriptive and substantive representation of women regarding abortion in the newsprint media. Using Celis and Childs' (2012) inductive approach, we conducted a content analysis of newspaper articles on abortion from 1978 to 2005 answering: ‘Who is called upon to comment on abortion issues?’; ‘From what position do these commentators contribute to the discussion?’; ‘What changes emerged around the transition to democracy?’ Our analysis revealed the distinctly gendered nature of substantive representation of abortion in the newsprint media, including: a bifurcation of positions taken by male and female commentators, with around two-thirds of women commentators substantively representing women through a pro-choice position; a consistency in the percentage of female commentators taking this position both before and after democratisation; and the socio-political changes shifting male commentators' perspectives from neutral or unstated positions to, mostly, a pro-life position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]