Abiodun Salawu

A survey of research foci and paradigms in media and communication Master's dissertations and doctoral theses in South Africa

ABSTRACT This study set out to evaluate the foci and paradigms of research in media and communication at Masters and doctoral levels in South Africa. A sample of 241 dissertations and theses in the communication, journalism and media studies programmes of nine universities, from 2004 to 2013, categorised into historically black, historically white Afrikaans-medium and English-medium, were obtained from the databases of the National Research Foundation and some of the universities. The findings show that the production of PhD theses is far lower than that of Masters dissertations. Qualitative design tended to be the dominant approach adopted, followed by a mixed methods approach, and the quantitative approach. The focus of most of the theses is journalism, followed by general media studies. The findings further show that historically black universities bottom the table in the production of related theses and dissertations, while white English-speaking universities top the list. Also, there is evidence of a relationship between the historical origin/language of the universities and the research designs adopted, as well as the research focus of the theses. The article recommends, among others, the need for a clear-cut statement of research methodologies and designs in such theses and dissertations, greater motivation for enrolment in PhD programmes, a strengthening of historically black universities for better performance in postgraduate research, and the incorporation of the experimental method in media research in South Africa.

Investigating the use of social networking sites and their implications for HIV/Aids communication amongst Rhodes University students

Abstract The rise and dominance of social networking sites has generated increasing interest amongst scholars, mainly to understand their nature and the activities supported by these social sites. Studies conducted on social networking sites have generated information on the potential of such sites in boosting revenue-generating businesses, with limited research on how online sites can be used to address the social challenges faced by societies today. This article maintains that online social sites, in particular HIV/Aids-related sites, can possibly be used for HIV/Aids communication. The article therefore presents and reflects on the use of social networking sites amongst Rhodes students and the implications for HIV/Aids communication. The concept ‘use’ in this article is discussed under three sub-topics: (1) extent of social network site use; (2) topics or issues discussed on social sites focusing on HIV/Aids issues; and (3) the advantages and challenges of using social sites to communicate about issues such as HIV and Aids. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the research design and methodology, the study found that social networking sites have become part of the youths everyday activities, with social sites focusing on HIV/Aids-related issues being used as platforms for learning about the disease, sharing personal experiences and even finding encouragement from peers facing similar challenges. Drug abuse and sexual debut are amongst the topics discussed on HIV/Aids sites. The study also reveals that the effectiveness of social sites in communicating about HIV/Aids can be downplayed by issues of privacy, artificiality and the nature of relationships within networks.

A political economy of sub-Saharan African language press: the case of Nigeria and South Africa

This paper attempts a typology of the models of managing local language press in sub-Saharan Africa. Two models are identified: the mainstream and the subsidiary. In the mainstream model are local language newspapers that exist as sole or main products of a media organisation. The subsidiary model consists of local language newspapers that exist as subsidiary products of a foreign (but dominant) language media organisation. The two models are essentially differentiated based on two major factors: Focus/Attention/Priority and Resources (Sharing) – Men, Materials, Machine and Marketing. Using critical political economy as a theoretical framework, the paper draws examples from local language press establishments in Africa to discuss this model. Irrespective of the model of management adopted, the survival of local language newspapers in sub-Saharan Africa remains precarious. Even though the general situation with local language press in sub-Saharan Africa is not exciting, there are however some success stories that can be situated within either of the two management models.

Accounting for youth audiences’ resistances to HIV and AIDS messages in the television drama Tsha Tsha in South Africa

Abstract Theoretical debates and literature on E-E efforts in Africa have largely focussed on understanding how and why interventions on HIV and AIDS are effective in influencing behaviour change among target communities. Very few studies have sought to investigate and understand why a substantial number of targeted audiences resist the preferred readings that are encoded into E-E interventions on HIV and AIDS. Using cultural studies as its conceptual framework and reception analysis as its methodology, this study investigated and accounted for the oppositional readings that subaltern black South African youths negotiate from Tsha Tsha, an E-E television drama on HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Results from the study show that HIV and AIDS messages in Tsha Tsha face substantial resistances from situated youth viewers whose social contexts of consumption, shared identities, quotidian experiences and subjectivities, provide critical lines along which the E-E text is often resisted and inflected. These findings do not only hold several implications for E-E practice and research, they further reflect the utility of articulating cultural studies and reception analysis into a more nuanced theoretical and methodological framework for evaluating the ‘impact’ of E-E interventions on HIV and AIDS.

Building Media Capacity for Children Sustainability in Africa: Educational and Partnership Imperatives

The “African common position” during the Special Session of United Nations (UN) General Assembly on children was that “Today’s investment in children is tomorrow’s peace, stability, security, democracy and sustainable development.” However, the African child remains the most neglected species in the continent as millions of them are still living in poverty, deprived of education, suffer from malnourishment and discrimination, abandoned and vulnerable to abuses including being used as child soldiers in warfare. This situation demands a revisitation of the world union’s call to care for the interest of the child as specified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this regard, the media is fingered as having a role to play in ensuring the realization of children’s many unfulfilled dreams, a responsibility that requires greater capacity. Unfortunately, the current African media capacity for children is very low, a situation traceable to lack of skills and inadequate knowledge base. It is in this direction that this article argues that African media requires an educational framework purposely devoted to children and instituted within the media training purview, as well as partnership to effectively cater for the interest of the child in ensuring sustainable generation for the Continent.

Bridging Theory and Practice in Entertainment Education: An Assessment of the Conceptualization and Design of Tsha Tsha in South Africa:

The entertainment–education (E-E) strategy in development communication has been widely described as the panacea to development challenges in Africa. However, despite its growing application on the continent, E-E is still argued to be inhibited from contributing meaningfully toward development efforts. E-E interventions are argued to be hamstrung by their failure to embrace theoretical advances in development communication and E-E scholarship and for remaining rooted in the modernization paradigm. Using the social change paradigm as its framework, this article assesses the notions of development, change, communication, audiences, and education that underpin the conceptualization and design of Tsha Tsha, an E-E television drama that uses a novel cultural approach to address issues surrounding HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The data informing the study were gathered through a Focused Synthesis Approach and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study’s findings show that significant efforts have been made by Tsha Tsha’s producers to bridge E-E practice and contemporary development communication and E-E scholarship. The data analyzed in the study show that Tsha Tsha’s notions of development, change, education, communication, and audience have been significantly remoored in line with the core tenets of the E-E for Social Change paradigm. The implications of the study are that more engagement and synergies need to be cultivated between E-E practitioners and development communication and E-E scholars if E-E’s full potential, in contributing to development challenges on the continent, is to be realized.

Nigerian Newspapers’ Use of Euphemism in Selection and Presentation of News Photographs of Terror Acts:

Selection of photographs is part of the complex process of creating the multimodal textual elements that news editors use to represent and interpret social reality. This article, guided by Aristotle’s golden mean and Halliday’s theoretical notion of metafunctions, used critical visual analysis to examine the nature of photographs that news editors of Nigerian newspapers selected and used to frame news stories about acts of terrorism by the Boko Haram sect. The pattern established through the visual analysis shows that, although the stories of terror act by the Boko Haram sect present deviant and negative social realities, news editors of the selected newspapers exercised ethical restraint by choosing images with nuanced configurations that are less likely to amplify moral panic or intensify horrid feelings. Using euphemistic photographs to tell stories about terror acts is a demonstration of ethical responsibility that has great implications for public peace especially in an African country like Nigeria with security concerns.

Interdisciplinarity and Indigenous Language Media: Understanding Language Choices in Zimbabwe’s Media

ABSTRACT Indigenous language media research by linguists in Zimbabwe is generally epitomised by animated arguments which disapprove of the dominance of English and marginalisation of indigenous languages in broadcast and print media. Considering the communicative and cultural imperatives for indigenous language media in post-independence African nation-states, including indigenous languages in the media is paramount. However, whilst the need to protect indigenous languages and the effects of global spread of English hegemony have attracted considerable scholarly attention, leading factors that shape language attitudes and language choices in the media are underspecified, and in some cases not specified. Applying the interdisciplinary research approach, this article maintains that an interdisciplinary approach provides the foundation for developing eclectic theory. This enhances the comprehension of historical, socio-political, economic, technological and other factors which determine language choices in broadcast and print media.

Culture of sensationalism and indigenous language press in Zimbabwe: implications on language development

ABSTRACT Indigenous language media are active spaces for the development, maintenance and renewal of indigenous languages in Africa. Juxtaposing Kwayedza and uMthunywa tabloids, which publish in Shona and Ndebele languages, alongside mainstream English language press, The Herald and The Chronicle, this study interrogates the implications of sensationalism on the structural and functional development of indigenous languages and the indigenous language press in Zimbabwe. This article is framed within the concepts of language development, diglossia and decolonial theory. This is an evaluative and comparative qualitative inquiry of headlines in 30 issues of uMthunywa and Kwayedza. Using interviews, data was gathered from a conveniently and purposively selected sample comprising of journalists, language and media academics, as well as readers and non-readers of Kwayedza and uMthunywa. The study exposes nuances of the marginalisation, folklorisation and corruption of indigenous languages in the press; and the inadvertent validation of English as the language of the media. However, this study ultimately shows that tabloidisation has ensured the survival of indigenous languages and indigenous language press in the context of the hegemony of English and competition from the English language press in Zimbabwe.

Oramedia as a Vehicle for Development in Africa: The Imperative for the Ethical Paradigm of Development

Abstract The paper attempts to study the ethical approach to development. Ethical paradigm believes there can be no genuine development unless the mind is refined and cultivated. The paradigm hinges its argument on the concept of Civilisationwhich is the cultivation of mind for the higher ideals of the society. With Civilisation, the society would not even be talking of development again, but Civilisation, which is an advanced and organised state of human social development. The equation is: Civilisation = Civilisation.The paradigm believes this is the foundation for development. For the African society, this foundational paradigm of development is rooted in its Ethics. Significantly, the paper highlights the intrinsic values of African folklores (which, in this instance, we shall refer to as Oramedia) for this Ethical Paradigm of Development. The Oramedia or Oral Arts come in various forms: myths, folktales, proverbs, music etc. These Oral Arts which, intrinsically, are Oral Ethics, however, may not just speak Ethics, they can as well be used to popularise messages bordering on social development.