The Self-Regulation Of Media In South Africa

An identifiable characteristic of all state propaganda is its ability, as an ideology, to present itself as legitimate and valid (Hadland, 2007:31). The media plays a very important role as an actor within the state to inform and educate citizens in a state. This essay will look at how the self-media regulation system evolved in South Africa from 1980 to the present. It will address the state of media in South Africa by considering the historical factors driving it, the governance model, and its composition.

The operative structure of the National Party government was the first basis of control of society and policy formation. Media thus, as a tool for policy, reiterated authoritarian objects by due to restrictions and control. By the 1980’s,

The relationship between the ruling government, African National Congress (ANC), and print media has always been unsteady. This is heavily rooted in the historical distrust of the ANC government towards print media’s role in apartheid. Late former-president, Nelson Mandela (1992), notes the importance of press freedom, however, frequently raises concerns of mainstream media’s “alarming degree of conformism” and more especially how freedom is threatened by the lack of transformation in South African

South Africa’s Constitution safeguarded and promoted both freedom of speech and the right to human dignity. Following the relationship between the ruling government and the media soon made it clear that the two constitutionally ratified rights were at tension. Many viewed this tension as a way for the ruling government and politicians to be exempt from being criticised by the media. On the other hand, it is argued that, because the media is regulates themselves, the councils which regulate the media may be lenient to the media. Because the media are ultimately corporations, they are expected to be self-serving rather that self-critical. Other criticisms were raised relating to the alleged inherit complacent assimilation, which will lead it to, one way or the other, in the end be complicit with governmental interference. The Council itself, then, becomes a tool for