 | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
~RS~a~RS~Trust~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~22~RS~){kind=small}
|
South Africa AMDI research report | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author: Anne Taylor and Claire Milne
Politically stable, South Africa has seen accelerating economic activity, slowing population growth, rising living standards, increasing literacy and greater global integration. Overall, South Africa has a relatively vibrant media environment. The commercial sector is booming due to the popularity of sensationalised ‘tabloid’-style newspapers. Radio and television are benefiting from substantial private investment and growth in advertising revenues. Despite indirect government support, the community radio sector is the most vulnerable. The location of community stations in often poor communities generates little interest from advertisers, forcing many to fold due to inadequate financial resources. Despite great strides since democracy, more progress is needed. The primary challenge is to increase diversity in ownership. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, in particular, wants to see the rise of a black economic empowerment media group. Media development NGOs are attempting to address concerns of developmental content and journalism training. African language dominates regional radio broadcasting and local content quotas for broadcasters are rising due to popular demand. However, important issues pertaining to women and poverty alleviation are under-represented in the media. According to interviewees, the strategic priorities for media development efforts include: media management and journalism training; greater community participation in projects and increased media monitoring. Media practitioners recommended greater support and coordination of existing initiatives to further media development aims, as opposed to the establishment of a new initiative. Case study: the Association of Independent Publishers The Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) is southern Africa’s largest and most active coalition of grassroots and community newspapers. Registered as a not-for-profit organisation in South Africa, the AIP champions the interests of Southern Africa’s estimated 250 small, independent newspapers. The AIP is a member-driven ‘self-help’ association. Its aim is to improve the quality and economic sustainability of grassroots independent publications. These range from ‘traditional’ newspaper or magazine, to ‘alternative’ poster or fax formats. The research team Contact for this report Claire Milne Anne Taylor Contact for the African Media Research project About PDF documents Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Download the full report
