Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa (Communication, Society and Politics)

✍ Scribed by Robert B. Horwitz

• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 431
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The book examines the reform of the communications sector in South Africa as a detailed and extended case study in the transition from apartheid to democracy. The reform of broadcasting, telecommunications, the state information agency, and the print press from apartheid-aligned apparatuses to accountable democratic institutions took place via a complex political process in which civil society activism, embodying a post-social democratic ideal, largely won out over the powerful forces of formal market capitalism and older models of state control.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Tables......Page 12
Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 13
Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 20
CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Overview......Page 23
CHAPTER 2 The Ancien Régime in the South African Communications Sector......Page 48
THE PRESS AND ETHNIC POWER STRUGGLES......Page 58
SABC: THE EARLY HISTORY OF A MOST PECULIAR PUBLIC BROADCASTER......Page 77
THE SOUTH AFRICAN INFORMATION BUREAU......Page 94
THE SOUTH AFRICAN POST OFFICE AND THE "ANCIEN TELECOMMUNICATIONS RÉGIME"......Page 97
CHAPTER 3 "Sharing Power without Losing Control": Reform Apartheid and the New Politics of Resistance......Page 109
THE RISE OF BLACK CIVIL SOCIETY RESISTANCE......Page 120
THE ECONOMY......Page 126
THE DE VILLIERS INVESTIGATIONS......Page 131
CHAPTER 4 "Control Will Not Pass to Us": The Reform Process in Broadcasting......Page 142
THE VILJOEN TASK GROUP AND ITS OPPONENTS......Page 149
EXCURSUS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ANC AND THE UDF/MDM......Page 156
BROADCAST REFORM ENTERS CODESA......Page 159
CIB AND THE SABC BOARD......Page 165
THE INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING AUTHORITY ACT AND THE TRIPLE INQUIRY......Page 167
EXCURSUS: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BROADCASTING......Page 172
THE STRUGGLE OF VISIONS: SABC AND ANC COMMANDISTS VERSUS CIVIL SOCIETY MEDIA GROUPS......Page 175
RADIO......Page 183
TELEVISION......Page 184
SENTECH......Page 185
FREE-TO-AIR TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION......Page 186
INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION......Page 187
THE IBA: TOO WEAK OR TOO INDEPENDENT?......Page 192
CONCLUSION......Page 196
CHAPTER 5 "All Shall Call": The Telecommunications Reform Process......Page 200
THE 1991 POST OFFICE AMENDMENT ACT AND ITS AFTERMATH......Page 212
TELKOM'S FIRST YEARS: LITTLE GROWTH, LOOMING COMPETITION, AND POLICY INACTION......Page 226
THE 1994 ELECTION AND THE NEW POLICY INITIATIVE......Page 230
THE GREEN PAPER AND WHITE PAPER PROCESS......Page 234
TENSIONS WITHIN THE ANC ALLIANCE OVER PRIVATIZATION AND GENERAL ECONOMIC POLICY......Page 237
INTERNAL STRUGGLES OVER PRIVATIZATION POLICY......Page 248
EXTERNAL PRESSURES......Page 254
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESSURES JOIN IN A BACKDOOR PLAY......Page 258
MOVING TOWARD THE WHITE PAPER......Page 259
THE PRIVATIZATION CONFLICT, AGAIN......Page 265
THE EMINENT PERSONS GROUP AND THE DRAFTING OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS WHITE PAPER......Page 268
ELEMENTS OF THE WHITE PAPER......Page 274
THE PROVISIONAL EVALUATION......Page 277
FROM WHITE PAPER TO LEGISLATION IN THE CONTEXT OF BROADER POLITICAL EVENTS AND PRESSURES......Page 280
THE PROCESS IN JEOPARDY......Page 286
PARLIAMENTARY HEARINGS......Page 292
THE PROCESS CONCLUDES......Page 299
CHAPTER 6 Free but "Responsible": The Battle over the Press and the Reform of the South African Communication Service......Page 304
SACS......Page 309
THE ARNISTON CONFERENCE AND MBEKI'S CHARGE TO COMTASK......Page 311
THE COMTASK INQUIRY......Page 320
THE QUESTION OF MEDIA BIAS......Page 323
OWNERSHIP REDUX......Page 332
THE COMTASK FINAL REPORT AND ITS RECEPTION......Page 338
CONCLUSION: THE CITIZENSHIP MODEL OF GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS......Page 342
CHAPTER 7 Conclusion: Black Economic Empowerment and Transformation......Page 345
FROM TRANSITION TO CONSOLIDATION: THE DECLINE OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY......Page 362
FINAL REFLECTIONS: TRANSFORMATION, STATE, SOCIETY, AND THE MEANING OF BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT......Page 366
Appendix......Page 379
References......Page 381
Index......Page 417