Vol 5, No 1 (1986)

COMMUNICATION is a social process, the goal of which is to enable people to share meaning and, hopefully, understanding. Thus any change, revolutionary or evolu. tionary, in communication technology Is In- teresting only Insofar as it affects the social exchange of meaning. This paper suggests that we are witnessing not a revolution, but the leading edge of an evolution. It seems to be process of supplementation in which the new technologies operate in concert with the old.

As voters have become used to the sophisticated presentation of messages in other spheres, they expect a similar sophistication in political communication. This has opened the way for political adver- tising In addition to traditional modes of political communication. This paper ex- amines political advertising in South Africa. It looks at political advertising In the Referendum '83 campaign, the communica- tlons disaster generally known as Rubicon and the new approach for Rubicon II. It proposes the utilisation of professionals in the communications field to assist in the formulation of a national communications policy to promote more open and more ef- fective government communication.

GUERRILLA action is Inherently political, and Its main weapon is not bullets, but publicity. Terror is simply a callous con- tinuation of this theme of embarrasment through bad publicity. One of the goals of terror is to receive maximum publicity for the activities of a political group. Because the Intent of terror is to generate maximum publicity from It, It puts the authorities, the security forces and the media before a pain- ful dilemma: when acts of terrorism are pur- posefully being suppressed, it causes unrest and unease within a democratic society. The media are continually struggl- Ing with this problem. How do you maintain credibility without contributing to symbolic and Instrumental violence?

The daily press in several Western Coun- tries is subjected to certain market, psycho- logical and economic inspired changes that threaten its very existence. This study at. tempts to analyse the crisis facing the present daily press, with a more pertinent emphasis on the daily press in South Afri- ca. From a survey of the literature and pilot Interviews, several factors were identified as having a profound influence on the daily press in Western countries. A qualitative questionnaire was constructed to assess the extent to which these factors contribute to the crisis facing the daily press in South Africa. The outcome of this investigation in- dicates that the daily press in South Africa should reconsider their functions, content and sources of income in order to adapt to the fast changing needs of the media mar- ket, the advertiser and the reader.

In this article the author poses the question of how we come to terms with television In the home and all the effects we suppose It to have. The author suggests that sociological factors play as important a rôle In the whole debate of whether television acts as a mirror or a catalyst. He suggests that censorship is not the answer to the question of the adverse effects of television, but rather that a thinking, discerning au- dience must be created. This can generate an understanding of the media based upon a reasoning perspective, and ultimately lead to the development of an audience with its own moral perspective

Die chronologiese verloop van wetenskaplike perspektiewe oor die aard van die kommunikasieproses verleen prominensie aan die gebruike- en beloningsbenadering. Van die aanvanklike veronderstellings aangaande die mag van die massamedia Is gevorder tot die erkenning van die aktiewe Jol van die bestemming en beperkings op die mag van die media. In hierdie artikel word 'n oorsig gegee van die onstaan sowel as problematiek van die gebruike- en belon- Ingsbenadering in die Kommunikasiekun- de. Die bydrae van hierdie teorie vir me dlanavorsing word beklemtoon.

WHAT should the role of communications be in a situation like the one experienced In South Africa? The recent research on Inter- group relations concluded that tension would probably always be endemic in a deeply divided society. Reform should be priority number one, but in order to be "suc- cessful" It should be the outcome of par- ticipation and joint decision making

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