Ideology/Culture/Hegemony and Mass Media in South Africa: A Literature Survey

The South African press has been the subject of numerous books and art icles in recent years, couched within a wide range of paradigms (1). In contrast, studies of broadcasting are less p lent i fu l and much more frag-mented (2). Journalism has been taught at the University of South Africa and four Afrikaans language universit ies, the f i r s t of which launched a course in 1960, and at only one English language university since 1970. Until recently, l i t t l e progress has been made academically because most com-mentaries identif ied thei r academic principles with the dominant Nationalist interests of the time. Other than the published work of Elaine Potter (3), Les Switzer (4) and Belinda Bozzoli (5), remaining studies, which form the bulk of the work done, evidence l i t t l e or no understanding of the complexi-t ies of h is tor ica l, socia l, economic or po l i t i ca l relationships which have given rise to the existing structure of the South African press and broadcasting media. The increasing interest shown by radical social scient ists in the role of the media and i ts relationship to class formation and maintenance in South Africa has been ident i f ied in a new generation of radical journals-Critical Arts, Africa Perspective, Perspectives in Education and Work in Progress. Most of th is work has been f irmly located within the Althusserian problematic, the 1 ijni_ta.tiflns_of which have become increasingly "evident to those contributing to the debate. The present authors are seeking to broaden this approach by drawing on theoretical work emanating from sources which have hitherto been underutilized by South African analysis of the media. More specif ical ly, the realization that "neiihac-aultwalism nor structuralism " £ fV£o^(6) has led to the need to rethirifc the notion of ideology, drawing Ort uWeFcurrent material ist approaches in the process. I t would seem that; thre^major strands need to be taken account of: \\J Theories of ideology, science and epistomology associated with French- striicturaTTsf"MrxTsiir*as exempTfTTeif-fiy-toirrrTUthusser, Ettiene Bali ba