Tensions of a Free Press: South Africa After Apartheid

Abstract

A vigorous debate has developed over what should be the role of journalists within the new post-apartheid political context. Questions are raised about the media and the “national interest” as well as the impact of racial patterns of ownership and editorial make-up of newspapers on the structure and framing of news. This paper focuses on the tensions that arose out of the changes that developed after 1994, particularly in the print media, and how these changes affect the unfolding debate on the role of the press after apartheid.

To examine these issues this study adopts a case-study approach, analyzing debate over the role of the press in the case of arms sales by a South African company, Denel, to Saudi Arabia in mid-summer 1997. The conflict over government secrecy and press freedom surrounding this case clearly illustrates the overtly racial content of the tension over the role of the press in South Africa’s new democracy. It is mainly white journalists that appeal to traditional Western notions of journalism. Black editors and senior journalists are increasingly being pressured by government to defend the “gains” of April 1994 and to act in the “national interest” by supporting the current regime. Certain (black) senior editors and media also exhort their colleagues to be “patriotic” in supporting the government. The notion of ‘patriotism’ is equated with support for black political leaders. Criticism of the government from white media owners and even journalists is regarded by the ANC as reactionary. The conclusion considers the relationship between changes in ownership and control of South African mainstream newspapers and the debate within the media on press freedom.