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- Description:
- This is an analytical appraisal of the making of a vibrant media industry in South Africa. The author commends the government effort to repeal oppressive legal regimes that served the defunct apartheid system in stifling press freedom and fundamental human rights. While extolling the virtues of the new democratic culture in the country, the paper also underscores the centrality of the press, especially the media, in nurturing and safeguarding the new plural political system. The author argues strongly that the formation of a more media friendly communication policy, to create a final and rapid break with the divisive past, is imperative. The paper enjoins the new government of national unity to devise comprehensive communication policy and profound training packages for journalists to strengthen and professionalize the media industry, as an instrument of national development. It contends that democratic growth requires a free and authoritative press to provide a forum for national debate, where people can exchange critical and competitive views, to enable them to make rational or informed choices on various matters critical to national cohesion. This, the author says, is only possible if the new communication policy establishes efficient information feedback mechanisms. The paper also highlights various legislations put in place to ensure that national interest is catered for in programming in a liberalised broadcast media. The issues of ownership and media accessibility to the poor are discussed.
- Date Issued:
- 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Description:
- South Africa's general elections of 1994 was a unique occurrence in the country's history, having for the first time enfranchised the majority of the country's citizens. The 1999 elections advanced this process of democratizing the South African policy. This article examines the electoral systems that were applied to two elections, as well as the role of the Independent Electoral Commission in connection with those two elections. It argues that the legal and institutional frameworks established by the relevant laws ensured free and fair elections; but above all they advanced the democratization process.
- Date Issued:
- 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science