Vol 8, No 2 (1989)

By using events data, the Afrikaans and English press has been compared for the comprehensiveness of their news coverage of South Africa's foreign relations. Events related to South Africa both as actor and target of foreign policy behaviour have been included. The findings show in broad terms that the Afrikaans press has been more comprehensive in reporting events where South Africa has been the actor. On the other hand, the English press has been far superior in their reporting events where South Africa has been the target of behaviour (external environment). These findings confirm the pluralistic nature of the press in South Africa, although some hegemonic features have been noticeable.

This article explores a number of characteristics of the conceptual structure and teaching of classical rhetoric, and indicates that the subject contents of rhetoric were based at the outset on certain principles and con texts of public communication events in the world in which people lived. This approach to the identification of the subject contents of oral communication has not changed substantially over time, nor have the basic categories by which public communication was originally distinguished as a field of study. What has changed considerably, is the human concept of the fundamental nature and scope of communication principles and contexts, the perspectives from which it is approached and its ontological and philosophical basis. The ordering and systemisation of these are naturally expressed in a more comprehensive and scientific conceptual system than was the case in the classical era. In order to gain a thorough understanding of the complex system, however, It is necessary to study its classical rhetorical roots.

This paper looks at two temporary phenomena: Information capitalism, and public service broadcasting. The crux of the paper is the question whether the ideal of public service broadcasting can survive the new technological and economic arrangements Impinging on broadcasting; and secondly, whether the public service ethos is worth saving, In view of all the shortcomings and Inherent contradictions within the system. To answer these questions, we need to clarify what we mean by technological revolution, or, what I feel is more appropriately referred to as "information capitalism". The paper will focus on what I see to be some of the key cultural, ideological and political questions thrown up by this new order, and how these changes may affect the present and future systems of broadcasting regulations and programme content. The paper also looks at what is meant by public service broadcasting, and how the concept has been applied in the South African context. It outlines some of the main crises to have bedevilled the system internationally, and focuses particularly on the somewhat spurious claim that public service broadcasting is politically neutral and non-aligned. After reviewing the criticisms levelled at the alternative to Public Service Broadcasting: Deregulated broadcasting, the paper concludes that the former is indeed worth saving, but only as part of the broader broad casting and televisual arrangements within a "mixed economy" which would include deregulated television arrangements

Alvin Toffler from "Future Shock" (1982) fame may be regarded as the futurist who gave renewed impetus to social responsibility. Big business has marked social responsibility as a priority on their business agenda. Successful organisations, such as the Anglo-American Corporation, Barlows, Murray and Roberts, and food chains like Checkers and Pick-n-Pay realise that profits cannot be the sole aim of business anymore. The Southern African business environment is complex. It has numerous socio-economical and political problems. In order to survive in this environment, business needs a market Ing and business philosophy which Incorporates and solves these issues. People should be regarded as the most important as set of business. By practising social responsibility, business helps people to help themselves. A positive effect this has brought about is that it creates a favourable image of the organisation among external publics in society (Cutlip and Center, 1988). The question is whether the same principle can be applied to the building of positive images among employees in organisations. In other words, what about an internal form of social responsibility?

The consumer decision-making process proves to be the most comprehensive and integrated approach to explain and predict consumer behaviour. A fundamental problem, however, is that as a result of their complexity and cognitive substructure, the models which have been designed to express this approach cannot be easily verified in practice. The Indication is that the model of Overton (1981) provides a way out of this dilemma. The social and rational scales resulting from the model seems to be conceptually part of the broader classification system of field dependence and field independence. The results of the empirical investigation indicate, against the expectation that no significant correlation could be found between field dependence and a social consumer orientation. A significant negative correlation was how ever found between field dependence and a rational consumer orientation.

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