Abstract

This article is an extended review essay that maps recent titles written by practising journalists and journalists turned academics in South Africa. The analysis focuses on Gawie Botma’s Race Talk in the South African Media; Lizette Rabe’s A Luta Continua: A History of Media Freedom in South Africa; Glenda Daniels’ Power and Loss in South African Journalism: News in the Age of Social Media; and Anton Harber’s So, for the Record – behind the Headlines in an Era of State Capture. These studies follow earlier analyses, namely: Herman Wasserman’s Media, Geopolitics and Power: A View from the Global South; and Sean Jacobs’ Media in Postapartheid South Africa: Postcolonial Politics in the Age of Globalization. An intersecting track is the journalists’ exposés, such as: Paper Tiger: Iqbal Survé and the Downfall of Independent Newspapers by Alide Dasnois and Chris Whitfield; SABC 1936–1995: Still a Key Player … or an Endangered Species? by Wynand Harmse; The SABC 8 by Foeta Krige; and Behind the Scenes at Gupta TV by Rajesh Sundaram. How each study frames history, the researcher/s’ position and their respective writing styles are discussed. The author argues that academic studies should be read in concert with works written by journalists because abstract frames of reference tend to bracket out the daily nitty-gritty struggles within newsrooms, especially within the current conjecture. In conclusion, the author suggests that whatever the alleged flaws of the “mainstream media” may be, individual journalists (and others) are the ones telling the story behind the story in the slew of books that have been published recently on state and private sector corruption.

摘要

这篇文章是一篇扩展的评论文章，描绘了由在南非执业的记者和记者转为学者所撰写的最新标题。分析重点是南非媒体上 Gawie Botma 的种族谈话；Lizette Rabe 的A Luta Continua：南非媒体自由的历史；格伦达·丹尼尔斯在南非新闻业中的权力与损失：社交媒体时代的新闻；和安东哈伯的所以，记录在案 - 在状态捕获时代的头条新闻。这些研究遵循早期的分析，即： Herman Wasserman 的媒体、地缘政治和权力：来自全球南方的观点；和肖恩·雅各布斯后种族隔离南非的媒体：全球化时代的后殖民政治。一个交叉的轨道是记者的曝光，例如：纸老虎：伊克巴尔生存和独立报纸的垮台，由 Alide Dasnois 和 Chris Whitfield 撰写；SABC 1936–1995：仍然是关键参与者……还是濒临灭绝的物种？作者：Wynand Harmse；Foeta Krige的 SABC 8；以及Gupta TV 的幕后花絮拉杰什·桑达拉姆 讨论了每项研究如何构建历史、研究人员的立场及其各自的写作风格。作者认为，学术研究应与记者撰写的作品一起阅读，因为抽象的参考框架往往会排除新闻编辑部内的日常琐碎斗争，尤其是在当前的猜想中。总之，作者认为，无论“主流媒体”所谓的缺陷是什么，在最近出版的关于国有和私营部门的大量书籍中，个人记者（和其他人）是讲述故事背后故事的人。腐败。