Talk left, act right: what constitutes transformation in Southern African media?

Abstract

The last six years in South African have witnessed the most remarkable changes in the media and in society generally. In broadcasting especially, there has been an efflorescence of new stations, and changes in ownership of existing stations. A completely new layer of community media has taken root in an extremely short space of time. The South African Broadcasting Corporation has made great strides in transforming itself from a state to a public broadcaster, and in the process it has implemented one of the most aggressive affirmative action programmes yet seen in a public entity. Important changes have taken place to print ownership as well, with foreign ownership taking root and black empowerment consortia having taken over significant sections of the media. Yet at the same time, racism and sexism persist in the media, as they continue to exist in society generally; in fact, allegations that the media are not keeping up with the general transformation of society persist. How can things be so different from the past, yet so much the same?

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