ideology in south africa iii

8/14/2019 Ideology in South Africa III

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Questions of media

representation


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The media plays a significant role insociety.

It is often the source of knowledge of whatwe know about the world.

However, what views of the world doesthe media represent?


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Bias and stereotype

The idea of bias partiality Groups complain about how they are

represented or reported The media can lack accuracy or fairness Normally, bias is used to refer to factual

representations such as in the news,current affairs and documentaries


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In fictional representations, people talk aboutstereotypes.

These are representations that are misleading,incomplete or negative of a group of people insociety

The media have been criticized for instance, for its stereotypical rep of women, gays andlesbians, and other minority groups in simplisticand derogatory ways


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In many ways, the media can adopt theideology of dominant groups in their representation of minority groups throughbiased reporting or stereotypicalrepresentations


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Media, ideology and power in SA

In todays class- interested in the media,ideology and power in South Africa

We will look at how the media in 2002legitimated the neo-liberal economic policies of post-apartheid SA.

Neo-liberal economic policies embrace ideas of the free market, globalization, flexibility and theprivatization of the economy

This was read against the ANC economicrestructuring policy that promised to use asocialist approach to solve the countrys povertyand economic imbalances.


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Thus we will look at the war between the ANC(government) and Cosatu, the trade unionmovement in SA

In 1994, one of the economic premises of theANC was to embrace a socialist approach tosolving the countrys economic imbalances.

This meant using its position of power toempower the people of SA who had been

previously disadvantaged by the apartheidgovernment However, the ANC backed out of this plan.


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Cosatu on the other hand, was definedthrough its communist endevours.

It was committed to ensuring that blackpeople got a chance to be a part of thegrowing SA economy.

Thus they were disappointed when the

ANC backed out of the plan to focus their energies on the poor and previouslydisadvantaged.


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The plan that the ANC promised to stick towas called the Reconstruction andDevelopment Programme (RDP) strategy

It was meant for the majority poor This was redirected. A new market guided

economy that endorsed neo-liberalism

guided by financial and monetary forces created an environment that wasconducive for economic growth.


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This shift from the RDP approach createda rift between the ANC and Cosatu.

Cosatu and its supporters felt that thegovernment was being hypocriticalbecause they retained the RDP policies intheir official policy framework.

It is from this standpoint that we look atthe discontent of trade union Cosatu in2002.


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The argument is that the government (power)embraced the policy of neo-liberalism whichemphasized free-market trading as opposed to

the closed economy indicated through the RDP,hence marginalizing the latter

Cosatu, together with the SACP (communistparty) showed discontent and there wasspeculation that the two could even form anopposition party against the ANC.


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We are interested therefore in how the mediareported this unfolding relationship betweenCosatu and ANC

We will cite specific phrases that were used innewspaper reports about the Cosatu strike toshow how the dominant group (ANC) influencedhow the strike and Cosatus actions werereported.

This will illustrate how the media work at anideological level. They both justified the neo-liberal approach of ANC while discrediting theCosatu


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Conceptualizing dominantdiscourses in media texts

Thus we need to re-cap some of the theories wehave already learnt in class.

First, the notion of social contruction of texts.

Stuart Hall observed that there is a perennialhegemonic struggle for meanings andrepresentations in all media texts.

He argued that things and events do not contain

or propose their own meaning independent of language. Rather, meaning is a socialproduction and language is the medium in whichmeanings are produced.


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However, for one meaning to be regularlyproduced, it has to win a kind of credibility,legitimacy or taken-or-grantedness

Such messages are signified their meaning isfounded on shared assumptions or conventions

Meanings vary, necessitating the interventions of codes, shared assumptions, is a single meaningis to be produced from a particular text.


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In the case of dominant discourses, society isconstructed as consensual by nature where societyappears to have members who have the same interestand an equal share of power.

In the absense of a universal consensus of what thingsmean, the more important events get signified inideologically powerful ways.

The media do not just simply reflect or sustain socialconsensus rather they help to produce consensus or manufacture consent

Such consensus is constructed around definitions thatfavour the hegemony of the powerful.


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Thus if we look at the Cosatu-ANC example, wecan attempt to see how the media operated inrelation to the strike

The media legitimized the restructuring and therescaling of unrestrained global capitalism.Through production and reproduction usinglanguage of everyday, ie by making discoursecommon place, the logic of a contemporaryneoliberal global economy prevailed.


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The government was placed as dominant toCosatu, where Cosatu was presented as errantand disruptive

Compare those reports to how Tuesdays thetaxi strike was reported by the media

In the same way, the shortcomings of the tradeunion were highlighted, while in the process,privatization was legitimized through the mediaslack of engagement with it


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Taxi drivers riot.-what is being reported Disruptive Inconsiderate

Wasteful businesses closed RBT what is not being asked

Who owns it Why has there not been a conversation with the taxi

drivers and the public Why is it being authorized and what does it mean for

the taxi industry


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Media reports

The media openly supported globalization globalization supports free trade,benefits only a few, however, it is

normalized by the media This normalization enables politicians to

propose economic and socialadjustments, by naturalizing globalizationthat makes change appear inevitable andnecessary

Nothing is questioned


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In the Cosatu example, dominant globalizationdiscourses in the press were critical

1. They emphasized how the strike would harmSAs reputation think of how the taxi strikecould have been framed along 2010 world-cup.

Such reports liken the country to a picture thatcan be harmed by the strikes

In one article, the strike could potentially spook

foreign investors from SA, and only serve toreinforce SAs image abroad as a strike crazybanana republic.


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2. Media texts also question Cosatusstrike in an era of economic globalization.They depict Cosatu as ignorant withstatements such as those calling for thestrike do not understand the realities of globalization

The ANC is seen to plead with Cosatu toabandon strike


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3. The media show privatization as the macro-economic policy of choice around the world.

They compare SA to Pakistan, China and other

communist countries that are embracingprivatization. These media texts fail to interrogate the

philosophy underpinning the ANC neoliberal

policies They go on to use global trends and practices asexamples of increased success.


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They legitimize neo-liberalism. The texts argue that countries like SA

whose goal is poverty reduction andequitable wealth distribution can onlyattain this through the creation of wealth.

The state must stand back and allowmarket forces to develop organically


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Legitimation

Such media texts show authority establishingand cultivating belief in its legitimacy.

In the case of Cosatu, there was need to show

that the ANC was in charge. Several reportsargued that no amount of pressure wouldchange the governments position.

It is clear from these examples how the mediasupports the governments position on neo-liberalism


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End

Enjoy the break!!!!

ideology in south africa iii

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