Vol 15, No 2 (1996)

Democratic change In South Africa has left the country reeling wrth exhiliration, but also battling with the difficulties of transfonnation. The media are no exception. The .: role of the Independent Broad· casting Authority as regulatory body becomes critical as the electronic media and radio In particular struggle through the transitional pains of deregulation, privatization and liberalization. The author brieny sketches the departure points and background for the ISA action frame, and then posits an implied warning against these objectives by using, inter alia. arguments posed in qualitative research by. in particular, Splichal (1992) and Rothenbuhler (1996) as a springboard. Parallels between media demqcratization in CentralEastern Europe and South Africa are drawn, and the danger of an overriding commercial motive in radio broadcasting is outlined.

The democratization developments in Africa during the 19905 (and not the least in South Africa) offered new opportunities for researchers in the field of news flow studies. Since the 19505, a number of studies have been undertaken internationally, but relatively few comparative studies were done in Africa since 1990. The end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall demand not only new cartographic and conceptual maps, but also new news media maps, espeially of Africa. In this article, a broad question is posed: "How does South African mass media portray South Africa and the rest of the world in the 19905 through the process of international news coverage?' This article deals with some possible answers to this question as it pertains to specific newspapers and broadcast news in the country. The general goal was to provide answers to some of the questions set out in the international project on Global NewsFlow in the 1990s for the period 3-9 and 17-23 September 1995. Aspects such as main news topics,main news events, datelines and sources of international news were, amongst others, addressed.

The existence of a general theory of public relations is pivotal to the argumentation about public relations as science. A general theory can be expected to supply a framework which includes aU the theoretical applications within a scientific domain. This article sets out to cover the theoretical applications made to the field of public relations to detennine what the domain parameters of public relations are and whether this can lead to a general theory of public relations. It proposes that public relations is an applied science, govemed by theory application at the meta theoretical, organisational and communication levels of public relations practice, and that public relations practice takes place at three strategic levels in the organisation, namely the macro, meso and micro level. The article further suggested that two normative and one positive model of public relations practice exist and that the heuristic value of the general theory is one of its most positive aspects.

Meaningful instructlona' communication. In a multicultural context is only possible if the participants on the one hand take into account similarities, and on the other hand show mutual understanding for inter alia, differences in culturally detennined habftt; of thought and communication patterns. One way of 'understanding the Innuence of different cultural orientations on Instructional communication, is to con,lder aspects of the dimensions of cultural variation. In this regard tt could be argued that the indlvidualism-coUectivlsm dichotomy can probably be regarded as the most important dimension. This article pOliti the communication implications that certain individualism- collectivism related trends and patterns haYe in a teaching context. This is achieved by virtue of a comprehensive overview of recent scientific literature, as well as the findings of a research project conducted on the campus of the UOFS.

By providing background on ca· nine olfactory, auditory and visual communication, this paper hopes to clarify common human misin· terpretations of dog behaviour. Visual displays are subdivided into displays of rank (dominant and submissive), and displays of erno· tion (aggression and fear). Tail wagging, friendly communication, greeting behaviour in dogs. compared to the human handshake, as well as attention seeking behaviour are discussed. The influence of human selection in breeding on visual displays illustrates the effect of human interference in canine communication. The paper does not aspire to be recognised as a critical academical investigation, or to provide documentation of original research. It merely attempts to provide insight through basic theoretical comments, supported in part by existing literature, and in part by the author's own experience.

None