Rethinking the role of the media in South Africa

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to stimulate and contribute to the debate aboutthe role of the media in South Africa as a developing country. Against the backgroundof an overview of the relationship between the government of apartheid and themedia, and the similarity of this relationship to the conflict between the AfricanNational Congress (ANC) government and the media in 2000 and the early part of2001, it is argued that there is a need to rethink the role of the media in South Africa.Such rethinking could start with a revaluation of the values underlining the conceptof "freedom of expression". Both the media and the government use the concept of"freedom of expression" as a basis for their interpretation and debate about the role ofthe media in South Africa. Yet, the historical development of the concept, the valuesassociated with it, and its meaning and relevance in terms of the nature of present daysociety, including developing societies such as South Africa, are seldom investigatedand debated. In short, the concept is taken for granted and dealt with as a matter ofcourse without critical consideration of its content, the values it embodies and itsapplicability to modern democracies. From such a point of view, a starting-point fordiscussing the role of the media in South Africa could be a critical investigation ofwhether the meaning(s) and values attached to the basic concept of "freedom ofexpression" are still appropriate today. For the government, it would entail a criticalinvestigation of the compatibility of the concept of "freedom of expression" with thedevelopmental role they want the media to play. For the media, it would mean aninvestigation into whether their modes of operation, their production of content andtheir distribution of information and meaning are still in line with the original valuesassociated with the development of the concept. Tentative arguments to support thisview are presented in this article.