The world paper famine and the South African press 1938–1955

From the late 1930s the appearance of most of South Africa's newspapers underwent a dramatic transformation. Where previously the front page of a newspaper was only advertising, now news stories and photographs predominated. The style, design and content of local papers, from headline sizes and article lengths to the frequency of feature articles, comic strips and crossword puzzles, were all to change in the space of a few years. Writing styles became more concise, a greater variety of stories were used while photographs became widespread and of a far superior quality

The South African Newspaper and Printing Industry and its Impact on the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924

First paragraph: Various theoretical approaches to evaluating the impact of the media on society have been drawn on over the past decades, ranging from Marxist media critiques, a culturalist approach and discourse analysis, to media effects and political culture theory. The divergent frameworks and their frequently contradictory findings have resulted in "see-sawing estimates of media power" which have characterized the field over the years. This article adopts an approach that attempts to consider questions of the power of the press in terms of a "concrete analysis of economic relations and the ways in which they structure both the processes and results of cultural production." In media scholarship, this approach would ordinarily be described as part of the Marxian political economy paradigm, as it deliberately focuses on the economic decisions and relations that underpin the industry, rather than on the textual, cultural or symbolic attributes of the newspapers themselves. There naturally is a considerable overlap between a political economy methodology when applied to a media product and traditional studies in institutional labour history. Both delve into matters of class, power, capital and the labour process. Both consider the political and social context. Both attempt to understand history by examining underlying and complex patterns of ownership, control and economic location

Shooting the messenger: Mediating the public and the role of the media in South Africa's xenophobic violence

In the wake of the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa in May 2008, in which sixty people died and tens of thousands were displaced, a fierce debate erupted on the role of the media. The focus of the criticism was South Africa's newly-established tabloid press which is accused of fomenting violence and exacerbating tension by publishing inflammatory headlines and posters. But to what extent can the tabloid press really be blamed for aggravating the conflict? The scholarly literature on media effects suggests that direct causality is hard to prove. The accusation says much, however, about media-statesociety relations in post-apartheid South Africa; it also raises questions about the state of the public sphere and the role of the media within it. Field work conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council in four South African informal settlement areas affected by the recent violence indicates that the tabloids certainly cannot be blamed directly for fanning the violence. But it does seem to confirm what thousands of protests in the past year have strongly hinted at: there has been a communications breakdown in South Africa at a local level between communities and the state, as well as within communities, which lies at the root of much of the anger and violence. By failing to respond to this breakdown and act on its liberal imperative of providing a "voice for the voiceless", the media may be more complicit than it, or the literature, is willing to acknowledge

Great Firewall of China tasked with keeping Hong Kong conflagration in check

First paragraph: From 1997, when Hong Kong was officially “returned” to China after Britain’s long lease, the tiny island was bound to remain something of an anomaly. Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/great-firewall-of-china-tasked-with-keeping-hong-kong-conflagration-in-check-3228

The gender crisis in professional photojournalism: demise of the female gaze?

To date there has been very little research or data available concerning the interests, work patterns or challenges facing women photojournalists, in spite of the profound impact women have had on photography since its inception. As the digital era places professional photojournalists as a whole under more pressure than ever, this study seeks to unravel the particular challenges facing women in the business of visual storytelling. Based on data from 545 women photojournalists from 71 countries collected between 2015 and 2016, this article finds that women photojournalists face even more demanding circumstances than their male counterparts, in spite of the fact that they are generally better educated and have more often received a higher level of training in photog-raphy. The data, collected in partnership with the World Press Photo Foundation, suggests the his-torical underrepresentation of women in photography is ongoing. Structural biases will likely con-tinue to prevent women taking up full-time employment in this area in the future with widespread self-employment among them in the sector, meaning an even smaller proportion of women news photographers presenting visual stories on the world’s most pressing issues and the further decline of the female gaze

The State of News Photography 2018

First paragraph: In 2015 the World Press Photo Foundation, the University of Stirling, and Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism launched the State of News Photography survey to document the hopes, fears, practices and changes in the work lives of those who make a living from taking photographs in the digital age. Over the last four years, these annual surveys produced an unrivalled database of insights. Along with the reports published by the World Press Photo Foundation (see Hadland, Campbell and Lambert 2015, Hadland Lambert and Barnett 2016), the data has enabled scholars to publish more detailed research on issues such as gender within photojournalism (Hadland and Barnett 2018), the state of sports photojournalism (Haynes, Hadland and Lambert 2016), as well as to further investigate the high degree of risk to which so many photographers are frequently exposed (Hadland, Lambert and Campbell 2016). While a survey of photographers who have entered the annual World Press Photo Contest between 2015 and 2018 provides detailed insights into the lives of working photographers, many photographers do not enter the competition for a variety of reasons. As a result, we do not claim that this data represents all photographers or the industry as a whole. However, detailed responses from 5,202 photographers from more than 100 countries over four years does capture many of the key issues facing people who choose to make a living from photography. This report will summarise some of our key findings over the last four years, identify new areas of interest, and reflect, in particular, on issues of gender and diversity and their impact on the industry going forward

The State of News Photography 2016

First paragraph: The power of the image to draw public attention and generate debate was evident in the news photography of 2016. To understand who and what is behind the production and publication of those images, this report describes the results of a survey of 1,991 photojournalists from more than 100 countries and territories

The State Of Sport Photojournalism: Concepts, practice and challenges

Based on a global survey of photojournalism and case studies of recent transformations in the use of photography in sport, this paper critically analyses current professional practices of sport photojournalists focusing on the contemporary challenges faced by this industry. Rhetoric proclaiming the death of the photographer in the age of video technology and self-mass communication of digital photographs has presented a major challenge to the survival of photographers and photography as a professional practice in news media. In the specific field of sport photojournalism, photographers have faced added challenges of accreditation to sport with the selective access to sporting venues or events through commercial licensing of “preferred media partners” and increasing management of “image rights” and anti-piracy measures. This has occurred at a time when sport images and the digital distribution of sporting images are greater than ever. The data for this article are taken from a World Press Photo Foundation–University of Stirling longitudinal project on photojournalism and represents the views and experiences of over 700 photographers who are engaged in sports photojournalism

The South African print media, 1994-2004 : an application and critique of comparative media systems theory

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-237)Daniel C Hallin and Paolo Mancini's Comparing Media Systems (2004) has been hailed as an important contribution to understanding the inter-relationship between the media and political systems. The work was, however, based on a study of 18 stable, mature and highly developed democracies either in Europe or in North America. As an emerging democracy that has recently undergone dramatic change in both its political system and its media, South Africa's inclusion poses particular challenges to Hallin and Mancini's Three Models paradigm. This thesis focuses on the South African print media and tests both the paradigm's theoretical underpinnings as well as its four principle dimensions of analysis: political parallelism, state intervention, development of a mass market and journalistic professionalisation. A range of insights and a number of modifications are proposed. This thesis is based on interviews with South Africa's most senior media executives and editors, a comprehensive study of the relevant literature and 15 years of personal experience as a political analyst, columnist and parliamentary correspondent covering South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. The thesis sheds new light on the functioning and applicability of the Three Models comparative paradigm as well as on the development and future trajectory of South African print media journalism

The Future of Professional Photojournalism: Perceptions of Risk

The work practices of the professional photojournalist are currently undergoing rapid change in the digital era. New technologies, new platforms and new methods of visual storytelling are exerting a range of pressures and influences that require photojournalists to adapt and respond in different ways. The changes provoke a number of questions that are critical to the future of professional photojournalism: What are the new risks being faced by photojournalists? How are the transformations in the media economy affecting photojournalists’ employment? What does this mean for image quality? How do photojournalists think about the manipulation of images or the staging of events? Given the rise of citizen journalism, digital technology and social media, will there even be professional photojournalists in the future? This paper presents some of the results and new analysis from the first international study into the current state and future of professional photojournalism, with a specific focus on risk and on perceptions of risk among photographers. The results indicate a high degree of risk is experienced among professional photographers with a very strong correlation to the country in which they are based