Browsing by Author "Bosch, Tanja"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Restricted
    Contextualising journalism education and training in Southern Africa
    (2007) Banda, Fackson; Beukes-Amiss, Catherine M; Bosch, Tanja; Mano, Winston; McLean, Polly; Steenveld, Lynette
    In this article it is argued that journalism education in Southern Africa must contend with defining a new academic identity for itself, extricating itself from dependency on Western oriented models of journalism education and training, as this has been a perennial challenge in most of Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Restricted
    Digital journalism and online public spheres in South Africa
    (2010) Bosch, Tanja
    This article explores and evaluates the growth of digital journalism in South Africa, within the context of increased use of online social media in the field. Increasingly, local activists are using mobile and online social networking to promote their events and causes, and reach their constituencies. Similarly, journalists are using digital media to practise their craft, reach new audiences, and sometimes even to change the notion of who practises journalism, as in the case of citizen journalism. South African journalists, via community media and sometimes even tabloid newspapers, have long embraced the notion of civic or community journalism, framing news ‘in a way that facilitates people thinking about solutions, not just problems and conflict’ (Hoyt 1995). With the rise of Web 2.0 and increased access to the Internet, digital journalism in South Africa has spread to include a strong focus on user-generated content, with traditional news media using Twitter and other social media to generate reader feedback. Similarly, the Mail & Guardian ‘Thoughtleader’ blog, originally designed for socalled J-bloggers, is another example of the ‘convergence’ between journalism and social media. The article provides an overview of emerging trends and theories in the South African context, focusing particularly on the public sphere created by bloggers, the citizen journalism of MyNews24.com and journalists' engagement with online social media. Furthermore, the article reflects on the possibility that online news sites and blogs may represent a space for the creation of online public spheres in South Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    From #MenAreTrash to #MensConference: Networked masculinities in South African Twitter
    (2021) Aguera, Reneses Pablo; Bosch, Tanja
    Despite the extensive literature on men and masculinities in South Africa, researchers have largely overlooked the role of digitally mediated networked publics in the coproduction and negotiation of contemporary masculinities. This dissertation attempts to fill the gap by engaging in an exploration of networked masculinities in South African Black Twitter through the analysis of two recent case studies. The first case study looks at the hashtag #MensConference, a fictional conference organised by men in opposition to Valentine's Day. The second focuses on the #MenAreTrash movement, a digital feminist campaign against gender-based violence, and men's response through the hashtag #WomenAreTrash. Employing a small data approach, this dissertation engages in a critical thematic analysis of a selection of tweets for each of the hashtags through the theoretical lens of critical masculinity studies. The dissertation takes a decolonial approach to African digital media research by examining the digital experiences of African men as sites for knowledge creation in their own right. In accordance with the notion of masculinity as multiple, fluid and discursive, the analysis uncovered a wide range of masculinity discourses on South African Twitter across a traditional-liberal spectrum. While expressions of sexism and misogyny were common throughout the sample, men also upheld alternative and progressive models of manhood. The affordances of social media provided men with a space to express themselves, but also to police and contest each other's masculinities through in-group dynamics that worked to reinforce patriarchal hegemony. The dissertation also provides insights into the role of women in shaping online discourses of masculinity by both challenging and reinforcing vii gender power structures. The findings present similarities with previous studies on networked masculinities from the Global North, for instance, in the anti-feminist resistance strategies deployed against #MenAreTrash. However, the interactions between black South African men on Twitter were defined by their specific social, economic and cultural context, with local media and consumerist culture playing a substantial role in influencing networked masculinities. Ultimately, this research demonstrates the critical role of social media, and Black Twitter in particular, as a prominent space for both the reproduction and contestation of hegemonic masculinities in South Africa. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the value of social media for researching the relational processes of co-construction and performance of contemporary South African masculinities, as well as its potential for gender justice efforts working to promote progressive masculinities in the country.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Here / Not Here
    (2018) Tither, Mary Elizabeth ‘Emmy’; Bosch, Tanja
    This paper is a complement to the creative audio miniseries, HERE / NOT HERE. Its purpose is to analyse the concept of home from an academic perspective, both as complement and as perspective to the audio series’ autobiographical nature. Through philosophical, reflexive enquiry that analyses home’s connection to place, landscape, memory, senses and the body, this paper answers the question - ‘what does home mean to others’? In conjunction with the audio series, this paper also answers the question - ‘what do we talk about when we talk about home’? The paper starts with an introduction to the idea of home and the project as a whole, before diving into a discussion on podcasting, what it is, how podcasts are produced, and how this project fits into the existing podcasting landscape. After laying that knowledge base, the paper then turns to academic research theory, arguing that this project adds to an academic library of reflexive enquiry and subverted fieldwork. Following that, the paper discusses the academic theory of both of place and home, before deconstructing home and looking at how home interacts with other facets of the human experience, namely - the self, childhood, memory, the senses and the body. Throughout, the paper connects academic theory to the podcast’s creative elements. As such, it provides a context for the podcast’s two series - one of which looks at home through the lens of the senses, the other through the lens of the body, while also discussing other aspects of home. Previous work has failed to look at home from such a comprehensive perspective; this paper aims to tie together those threads, as well as put forth autobiographical self-reflection as fuel for both creative and academic work. In this way, this paper provides an academic backbone to the audio project’s creative enquiry. The paper itself also provides its own findings, the main one being this - when we talk about home, we talk about ourselves.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    How does mainstream print media frame service delivery protests? The application of the protest paradigm and propaganda model in the South African case
    (2022) Makanda, Mfundo Xolo; Bosch, Tanja; Chuma, Wallace
    This thesis examines how the South African mainstream print media frame service delivery protests in the country. Studies in countries such as the United States (U.S.), Brazil and Canada show that media coverage of social movements conforms to the protest paradigm by depicting protesters as violent, destructive, unreasonable and a threat to the national economy. This thesis builds on existing literature on the protest paradigm, framing theory, agenda setting and the propaganda model (PM) to analyse mainstream print media coverage of service delivery protests in South Africa. The thesis examines the inclusion of the voices of protesters and women in the press, use of terminology, diversity of news content and media coverage of the underlying causes of the protests. This was done to determine how media coverage of protests in South Africa fits within the global debate on mainstream media coverage of social movements. A sample of 603 news articles from 10 different English-language mainstream newspapers were analysed longitudinally using a quantitative content analysis. The selected time, spanned over a six-year period starting on 15 January 2016 and ending on 12 August 2021. The findings showed that the media tends to marginalise protesters or groups that are challenging the status quo and thus the coverage of service delivery protests conforms to the protest paradigm. The mainstream press foregrounds episodic frames such as violence and destruction when reporting on these protests. The thesis concludes by illustrating that extensive coverage of violence associated with service delivery protests has a potential to escalate conflict instead of contributing to peaceful resolution of service delivery problems. Because of the power that the mainstream media holds in a society, the thesis proposes that the South African mainstream press could focus instead on alternatives to violence by emphasising positive action taken by both conflicting parties to solve service delivery problems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Social Media and Democracy in Africa: A Case Study of the Zimbabwe 2018 Harmonised Elections
    (2021) Ncube, Meli; Bosch, Tanja
    A political system that facilitates and encourages sincere and careful listening among its citizens will produce more democratic decisions. Yet, good listening is being almost completely ignored in that form of political conversation we know as democracy. As such, this thesis argues that due to an abundance of ‘digital citizens' owing to the proliferation of the internet and social media, a ‘democratic listening' approach to political deliberation has become urgent. However, the application of digital citizenship and democratic listening theories have been minimal in Africa's democratic framework. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to develop this neglected body of scholarship by submitting a case study of Zimbabwe's 2018 harmonised elections. In the African context, most countries principal criterion for democracy is the holding of elections and simply letting citizens' vote. Most of these African administrations also escape the demands of accountability and democratization by steadfastly manipulating legacy media – media originally distributed using a pre-internet medium i.e., print, radio and, television. With the advent of social media which has enabled citizens to access alternative sources of information, this aberrant principal criterion of democracy is now being challenged. The thesis locates itself within digital methods that incorporate qualitative research methods. It makes use of the available digital objects such as the like, share, and retweet buttons to explore societal changes and cultural conditions by investigating online data. The data for analysis is gathered from the social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp Messenger. Twitonomy which was developed precisely for Twitter research and offers detailed and visualised analytics of tweets and hashtags is used for data gathering on Twitter. For Facebook, the now defunct Netvizz is used for textually mining data off the platform and on WhatsApp Messenger, an ethnographical approach is exercised. The findings confirm that in Zimbabwe and Africa, social media have emerged as a space for mobilising resistance to authoritarianism and failed promises from elections. Although, African administrations exercise listening as a rhetorical exercise undertaken for instrumental reasons to boost their popularity when they are in a state of decline, social media are now a viable alternative public sphere that democratises political space.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The digital lifeworlds of young Nigerians – Exploring rural and urban teens’ practices with, and negotiation of, digital technology
    (2019) Uzuegbunam, Chikezie E; Bosch, Tanja
    This study investigates the digital lifeworlds of rural and urban 13- to 18-year old young people in an African, specifically Nigerian, context. Children and young people’s digital lifeworlds and practices with technology in the global North is well researched and documented. By contrast, research focusing on their counterparts, particularly pre-teens’ and teenagers’ digital practices and participation in Africa is still largely limited and exploratory; and the field underdeveloped. This is more so despite the important role played by digital communication technologies in children and young people’s everyday life. Privileging the use of a mixed methods approach, this study conducted 16 focus group discussions with 175 participants and a survey of 380 respondents in public and private schools sampled across two of Nigeria’s major geopolitical zones. Supported by the child-centred approach and the domestication framework by Silverstone, Hirsch and Morley (1992), the study provides a multi-layered portrait of the ways in which Nigerian teens access, understand, work and play with and negotiate the digital technologies that are available to them. The study also broadly pays attention to how young people constitute their digital lives and the role played by contextual dynamics and community networks such as family, school and others. It was found that young people in Nigeria have a considerable access to and are predominantly using mobile phones and the Internet (via the ‘mobile internet’). However, this did not preclude the divides and marginalities between children from dissimilar social backgrounds. Teens’ significant outcomes with technology mostly centre around the need for communication and interaction with friends first, and then family. They also primarily use technology to cultivate and maintain their peer culture, for self-care, dealing with mental wellbeing, and as a critical resource for education and information-seeking. Nigerian children’s digital practices are substantially shaped and at the same time undermined by various mediators or digital gatekeepers. These include parents, teachers, guardians and older adults who are presented mostly as prohibitors and moral panic mongers. Issues such as the absence of digital literacy and skill on the part of the children, their parents and teachers also limit the teens’ agency and digital opportunities and result in unchecked risks such as access to pornography, meeting online with strangers/online grooming, distractions, identity issues/negative role modelling. Moreover, the opportunities and benefits of technology in children’s lives remain precarious, stratified and complex. This study attempts to place children’s digital lifeworlds in its wider socio-spatial context and experience, contributing an important dimension to children’s digital practices, especially as there exists a resonant paucity of and apathy towards research and scholarship in children and media studies in Africa. Techno-shaming children into silence, fear, scepticism, guilt or moral panic is a common, but flawed strategy. Instead, it is suggested that government, schools and families should reconsider the precarious subjective-subordinate and marginalised position of young people and allow them the agency to contribute to decisions relating to their digital lives. Adult decision makers must focus on expanding Nigerian teens’ digital opportunities and rights. There is equally the need to develop resources that might help empower parents, families and adults by providing knowledge of the opportunities and risks of the digital age.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Twitter: An opportunity or a curse for South African female journalists?
    (2022) Gambade, Emilie; Bosch, Tanja; Maasdorp, Liani
    The spread of cyberviolence around the globe and cyberbullying towards female journalists is growing (Mijatović, 2016); in fact, thanks to improved technology and the proliferation of bots and botnets (Barojan, 2018), it is becoming even more ubiquitous. The cruelty and frequency of the attacks prompted UN Secretary-General António Guterres to declare in March 2021: “There should be no room for misogyny and violence in journalism. Social media platforms and governments must protect women journalists from online violence” (Posetti et al, 2021.) However, social media companies, government bodies and regulators have done little to curb the toxicity of the discourse often held on social media platforms, the violence of attacks and cyberviolence in general. In South Africa, Twitter had “9.3 million users in 2021… up 4% from 2020” (Staff Writer, BusinessTech, 2021.) However, the number of intimidations and threats towards female journalists also increased, especially on Twitter (Quintal, 2019). This essay serves as research material for the short film ‘Section 16', which is also submitted for the completion of a Master's degree in Documentary Arts. It features interviews with selected female journalists working at Daily Maverick, who through personal accounts and specific experiences describe why they use Twitter, even though they are or might be subject to online violence (Anonymous, personal communication, August 2021.) They understand the dilemma many journalists face in today's connected world: on the one hand, Twitter provides leads to stories, work opportunities and global news alerts (Anonymous, personal communication, August 2021); on the other hand, it also puts the user at risk of emotional abuse, ‘loneliness and possible trauma' (Daniels & Lowe Morna, 2018.) This dissertation also studies, as a foundation for the film ‘Section 16', the extent and frequency of usage, the type of content shared and the level of engagement, and explores the impact of Twitter, from the time they started using the platform to the present day, and the feelings and emotions using the platform sparks. Findings show that “the hate machine” (Simon, 2021) and online violence directly influence and curb journalists' interactivity on the platform, even if only a little, as usage becomes more carefully controlled and at times constrained; the bigger a journalist's Twitter following, the more important the platform is within and for their work – regardless of the emotional toll that using the platform has on them (Anonymous, personal communication, August 2021.) Furthermore, an experienced journalist I spoke to who worked in a newsroom during apartheid explained that they found social media violence not dissimilar to what they experienced in the years leading to the release of Nelson Mandela and the first democratic national elections on 27 April 1994 (Anonymous, personal communication, August 2021.) This research and the findings helped considerably in further developing interview questions, structuring the storyline of the film ‘Section 16', finding the arc of the film's narrative and editing the final cut.