The media, civil society and democracy in South Africa: State of the Nation Address 2015

This article reports on an investigation into the events surrounding the State of the Nation Address in 2015 (SONA2015), during which opposition party members interrupted proceedings to raise questions about the controversial R208-million security upgrade to South African President Jacob Zuma's personal homestead, Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal, using public funds. The event raised issues about the constitutionality of the use of police in the National Assembly; the use of cell phone blocking devices; and the fact that television broadcasters were not allowed to broadcast the events as they happened. The investigation drew on a quantitative content analysis of print media coverage of SONA2015, as well as qualitative interviews with members of the Right2Know (R2 K) campaign in Cape Town and Durban. It explored their activities to “take back Parliament” and calling for a “people's Parliament”. At the core of the investigation was the role of civil society in the media-politics nexus with regard to strengthening democracy and democratic participation in South Africa, through an exploration of the case study

Print media coverage of service delivery protests in South Africa: A content analysis

In recent years South Africa has seen an increase in ‘service delivery protests’ – protests related to the inadequate provision of services – as a result of growing citizen frustration resulting from high levels of economic inequality. Unemployment, housing, water and sanitation, electricity, corruption and municipal administration, health and crime, have all been listed as reasons for the protests, often described a ‘rebellion of the poor’. Given the frustration expressed by citizens using protest as a form of communication, the question arises whether the media covered these protests in a way to contribute to democratic participation, and how they were framed in relation to the young democracy in the country. Through a combination of quantitative content and qualitative framing analysis, this article explores mainstream print newspaper coverage of the protests, which we term ‘community protests’, to include the range of different types of protest and to signal that these protests are a bottom-up engagement by citizens to demand to be listened to. Mainstream mass media often subscribe to the protest paradigm, which includes delegitimisation and demonisation, highlighting the negative consequences of protests. Given the significance of the media as sources of collective knowledge and people’s perceptions of reality, this article explores how a sample of mainstream South African newspapers portray the conflict parties, and what kind of interpretations and value judgments are offered to frame the conflict

Questioning the media-democracy link: South African’s journalists’ views

ABSTRACT It is often assumed that a robust, free and independent media will contribute to the deepening of democracy by keeping governments accountable and broadening citizen participation in deliberative democratic debates. But in new democracies such as South Africa, the deepening and broadening of democratic participation is often curtailed by challenges such as unequal access to the media, the orientation of mainstream media towards elite audiences and renewed attempts by sources of power to control the free flow of information. Despite the promise of a peaceful, equitable and democratic society after the end of apartheid, conflicts continue to erupt due to continued social polarisation, vast socio-economic inequalities and new struggles for power. In South Africa these conflicts include social protests on a daily basis, repeated outbreaks of xenophobic violence and disruptions to the parliamentary process. This paper probes the role of the media in these conflicts from the perspective of journalists who have reported on these issues. The paper explores ways in which journalists critically reflect on their abilities to perform the roles expected of them within a normative framework informed by the Habermasian ideal of deliberative democracy. The reasons they offer for not fulfilling these roles, and the conditions underpinning these failures, lead them to question the ability of the South African media to contribute to an emerging democracy

A cost effectiveness and capacity analysis for the introduction of universal rotavirus vaccination in Kenya : comparison between Rotarix and RotaTeq vaccines

Background Diarrhoea is an important cause of death in the developing world, and rotavirus is the single most important cause of diarrhoea associated mortality. Two vaccines (Rotarix and RotaTeq) are available to prevent rotavirus disease. This analysis was undertaken to aid the decision in Kenya as to which vaccine to choose when introducing rotavirus vaccination. Methods Cost-effectiveness modelling, using national and sentinel surveillance data, and an impact assessment on the cold chain. Results The median estimated incidence of rotavirus disease in Kenya was 3015 outpatient visits, 279 hospitalisations and 65 deaths per 100,000 children under five years of age per year. Cumulated over the first five years of life vaccination was predicted to prevent 34% of the outpatient visits, 31% of the hospitalizations and 42% of the deaths. The estimated prevented costs accumulated over five years totalled US$1,782,761 (direct and indirect costs) with an associated 48,585 DALYs. From a societal perspective Rotarix had a cost-effectiveness ratio of US$142 per DALY (US$5 for the full course of two doses) and RotaTeq US$288 per DALY ($10.5 for the full course of three doses). RotaTeq will have a bigger impact on the cold chain compared to Rotarix. Conclusion Vaccination against rotavirus disease is cost-effective for Kenya irrespective of the vaccine. Of the two vaccines Rotarix was the preferred choice due to a better cost-effectiveness ratio, the presence of a vaccine vial monitor, the requirement of fewer doses and less storage space, and proven thermo-stability

Tudor domain containing 7 (Tdrd7) is essential for dynamic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) remodeling of chromatoid bodies during spermatogenesis

In the male germline in mammals, chromatoid bodies, a specialized assembly of cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein (RNP), are structurally evident during meiosis and haploidgenesis, but their developmental origin and regulation remain elusive. The tudor domain containing proteins constitute a conserved class of chromatoid body components. We show that tudor domain containing 7 (Tdrd7), the deficiency of which causes male sterility and age-related cataract (as well as glaucoma), is essential for haploid spermatid development and defines, in concert with Tdrd6, key biogenesis processes of chromatoid bodies. Single and double knockouts of Tdrd7 and Tdrd6 demonstrated that these spermiogenic tudor genes orchestrate developmental programs for ordered remodeling of chromatoid bodies, including the initial establishment, subsequent RNP fusion with ubiquitous processing bodies/GW bodies and later structural maintenance. Tdrd7 suppresses LINE1 retrotransposons independently of piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) biogenesis wherein Tdrd1 and Tdrd9 operate, indicating that distinct Tdrd pathways act against retrotransposons in the male germline. Tdrd6, in contrast, does not affect retrotransposons but functions at a later stage of spermiogenesis when chromatoid bodies exhibit aggresome-like properties. Our results delineate that chromatoid bodies assemble as an integrated compartment incorporating both germline and ubiquitous features as spermatogenesis proceeds and that the conserved tudor family genes act asmaster regulators of this unique RNP remodeling,which is genetically linked to the male germline integrity in mammals

Generic names in Magnaporthales

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The order Magnaporthales comprises about 200 species and includes the economically and scientifically important rice blast fungus and the take-all pathogen of cereals, as well as saprotrophs and endophytes. Recent advances in phylogenetic analyses of these fungi resulted in taxonomic revisions. In this paper we list the 28 currently accepted genera in Magnaporthales with their type species and available gene and genome resources. The polyphyletic Magnaporthe 1972 is proposed for suppression, and Pyricularia 1880 and Nakataea 1939 are recommended for protection as the generic names for the rice blast fungus and the rice stem rot fungus, respectively. The rationale for the recommended names is also provided. These recommendations are made by the Pyricularia/Magnaporthe Working Group established under the auspices of the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF).This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation of the United States (grant number DEB 1145174 and DEB 1452971) to Ning Zhang