Ubuntuismas a framework for South African media practice and performance: Can it work?

Abstract

ubuntuism -ubuntu idealised values of traditional traditional of volk (nationhood) and vaderland (fatherland), ubuntuism ubuntuism ubuntuism ubuntuism -ubuntuism ubuntuism

Men's health: An analysis of representations of men's health in theSowetannewspaper

“…As a result, a multiplicity of factors impact media content: these factors, as Curran and Gurevitch (2000) indicate, include ownership, politics, economics and the personal views of individual journalist and editors. It is significant that these changes do not impact on an un-shifting society, but on one which is typified by a blending and a blurring of the difference between public and private (Fourie 2008). Even with these changes the reality is that print media provide a 'lens' into the everyday lives of individuals and communities (Lovaas 2008).…”

“…This urging of the media was a challenge to the experienced disengagement between what was expected of the media and what the media were offering. Fourie (2008) indicates that the question of the role of the media in South Africa is constantly under debate. In Fourie's (ibid,55) engagement with what he terms ubuntuism that is brought forward to Africanise the media, he identifies an important question to ponder: 'Should the media be a watchdog or a guide dog; an informant and messenger, or rather a participant and comrade?…”

“…The article therefore aims to examine whether (and how) the call for a 'cultural mixing' (Servaes and Lie 2003) or 'social responsibility' (Fourie 2008) with regard to the discourse on men and health has been heeded by the Sowetan. The focus on men's health is because until recently public discourse and academic engagement tended to focus on women's health, thereby silently implying that men's health is not significant (Khunou, forthcoming) or that masculinities are not to be problematised (Connell 1995;Morrell 2001).…”

Putting a Face on It

“…Yet, it would be remiss not to note that there are also discussions as to how Ubuntu as a normative approach has been used to present an alternative national agenda in post-colonial South Africa (as discussed by Fourie, 2008). In these situations, it may be anti-Western in sentiment and thus not necessarily envisaged as a means to advance existing practices, but rather replace them.…”

The three alternative journalisms of Africa

“…The orthodox school of ubuntuism, however, will maintain that ubuntu is deeply embedded in African philosophy and should not readily be equated with popular Western media ideology. This has led yet others to note the potentially exclusivist dimensions of ubuntuism, and the appending dilemmas for independent reporting (Fourie, 2008a(Fourie, , 2008bNdangam and Kanyegirire, 2005;Tomaselli, 2009).…”