Vol 29, No 2 (2010)

The purpose of this article is to propose/justify a new model for South African public service
broadcasting, namely, distributed public service broadcasting. The justification is done against
the background of a description of the changed and converged new media environment brought
about by technological developments with the concomitant new production, content and
distribution challenges and with interactivity as the new foundation of communicator-audience
relationships. It is argued that the new media environment requires new thinking about public
service broadcasting (PSB). The need for a new model is further justified against the background
of the continued governance, managerial and financial problems the South African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) has been experiencing for more than a decade, which has led to a new but
controversial Public Service Broadcasting Bill (2009/2010) in an attempt to address the problems.
It is argued that the problems will not be resolved. Instead, a new broadcasting model should rather
be considered. It should, however, be emphasised that distributed public service broadcasting as
a new model is only introduced in this article. Detail about the model is the topic of additional
research that has yet to be done. Finally, the article should be read against the background of
what were, at the time of writing in 2010, a number of serious governmental threats to freedom
of expression with government proposing, inter alia, the introduction of a controversial Bill on the
Protection of Information and also of a Media Appeals Tribunal – both of these constituting further
threats to the autonomy of the public broadcaster and which makes it even more urgent that a
new broadcasting model be considered. The above topics are addressed in separate parts of the
article dealing with context, problems besetting South African public service broadcasting, past
and present efforts to address the problems, a justification for a new model – one focusing on the
new converged and digitised media environment – new thinking about regulation, the changed
nature of social responsibility, a semiotic justification,

This article introduces a theoretical perspective on young adults’ television news-viewing choices
grounded in the synthesis of reception aesthetics, socialisation theory and qualitative research
methodology. It argues that this theoretical framework allows for a deeper contextual reading of the
reader-text relationship and for the argument that, despite post-apartheid social transformation,
young adult South Africans’ readings of locally produced television news texts are still ideologically
situated sociocultural imports traceable to their differential class, race and gender positions in the
country’s social structure. Evidence produced through focus-group interviews is used to support
the position of the introduced theoretical framework.

This study is a qualitative analysis of citizen journalists’ blog posts relating to the Gautrain Project
in South Africa, with a main focus on the Gautrain’s readiness to commence operations on 8 June
2010 for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. This article is based on sections of a current MTech
study on citizen journalism. Citizen journalism as a phenomenon is examined within the context of the blogosphere. The
gatekeeping theory is used as an approach to journalism in the online environment. So far, only a
very limited number of studies have specifically addressed gatekeeping in the online environment
where citizen journalists decide what is news and which issues need to be raised on the public
sphere agenda. In the online context this is sometimes referred to as gatewatching.
Although not professionally trained journalists, citizen journalists often perform the same
gatekeeping functions as professional journalists. As gatewatchers of mainstream media content,
press releases and other background information, citizen journalists may reintroduce debate in
the public sphere and introduce new insights previously overlooked by the mainstream media.
This article demonstrates how citizen journalists acted as editorial ‘gatewatchers’ on the topic of
the Gautrain project’s readiness for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in terms of seven categories.
It also illustrates that when functioning as editorial gatewatchers, citizen journalists have the
potential to establish new criteria for newsworthiness in the public sphere.

While much research has been conducted on consumer skepticism about advertising, limited
attention has been focused on the relationship between gender and scepticism. As the Internet
and new technologies continuously transform corporate communications, the relationship
between gender and scepticism in new media such as the blogosphere begs further research.
This article focuses on consumer scepticism of blogs that review products, services and
technologies. Demographic variables – and particularly gender – are commonly employed to
segment target audiences in an attempt to fit appeals specifically directed at males or females,
or both. This article investigates three associated relationships: first, when gender is a significant
predictor of consumer scepticism of blogs; second, when a relationship exists between scepticism
as a predictor of the frequency of blogs accessed; and lastly, when scepticism is a predictor
of the number of blogs visited. Data from Australia and South Africa provide the findings and
offer guidance to practitioners for their new media selection and gender-based communication
messages.

This paper analyses the effectiveness of the Internet as a tool for civic engagement among
youth during the 2000, 2004, and 2008 US presidential elections. In this context, youth can be
understood as the segment of the electorate comprised of individuals between the ages of 18 and
25 years. The authors apply concepts of the digital divide to address, hypothetically, the question
of whether the Internet is the cure-all for political malaise among youth. As such, without the
digital divide, would the Internet be able to resolve the issue of low political involvement among
youth? This analysis concludes that the impact of the Internet on youth political participation
has been demonstrated to be successful. The Internet has not only become a revolutionary and
promising political communication medium and campaign tool, it is also a bulwark of democracy.

Despite several attempts by the Antipiracy Foundation in South Africa, piracy and counterfeiting
of movies on DVD is still widespread. This paper explores piracy in Hanover Park, a Cape Flats
township, as an expression of a politics of resistance to racism and racial disadvantage, but more
specifically as a routine social practice deeply embedded within the lived reality of community
members. The research questions were guided by a desire to explore qualitatively the processes
by which consumers in this low-income neighbourhood practise and understand their purchase
and consumption of pirated goods, particularly films on DVD. The study found that the consumers of Hanover Park engage in a complicated process of bricolage, often recontextualising what they view to communicate new meanings, appropriating
African-American and gang films as a form of political cultural resistance. Because of group and
familial viewing practices, social networks are solidified and piracy often becomes a form of political
bricolage against a perception of racial and class marginalisation. We find that both the ‘reworking’
of community and expression of resistance unfortunately seem to occur primarily in the arena of
leisure, where the practice of piracy is routinised as an integral part of the lived experiences of
community members. ‘Globality’ is experienced through a preference for Hollywood and Bollywood
blockbusters; and a media-saturated globalised national context meets the unequal purchasing
power and economic constraints of the local context, while resulting in little moral concern over the
practice of piracy, which lends a political dimension to everyday practice.