School for Geospatial Studies and Information Systems

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Browsing School for Geospatial Studies and Information Systems by browse.metadata.advisor "Monama, Fankie"

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    From Paratus to SA Soldier : a reflection on the primary magazine of the SA military 1990-2010
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Warden, Herman; Liebenberg, Ian; Monama, Fankie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Science. Dept. of Military Geography. School for Geospatial Studies and Information Systems.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The nature of media has changed and evolved over the years with rapidly increasing changes observed after the Cold War period. The nature of media, both civilian and military in South Africa, was no exception. Within the military environment, four distinctive periods can be identified between 1912 and 2010. During the World Wars, the Nonkay magazine existed for security forces. During the middle 1950’s the Kommando magazine came into existence. During the time of the Cold War Paratus was the magazine for the South African military. Salut magazine came into existence during 1994 after the end of the Cold War and, in South Africa, the transition from apartheid state to a democratic state. In order to reflect the agenda of the new incumbent government and the changed interests of stakeholders, the magazine changed in 2001 from Salut to the SA Soldier. The changes included content, layout and the messages conveyed. These changes were undertaken in order to adapt to the changed economic, political and military environments or settings in which South Africa found itself. The study that I undertook entailed qualitative descriptive research; an exploration into the evolving world of the military media between 1990 and 2010 and a slice of life from the military media over two decades. A content analysis of the Paratus, Salut and the SA Soldier magazine was undertaken, followed by a literature review that explored this field and confirmed that little or no prior studies existed relating to South African military magazines. An in-depth study of the content of the magazines revealed several dominant themes. This study examines those themes and provides reasons how these themes were identified, selected and analysed. Reasons for their inclusion is elaborated upon and discussed in each chapter. The last chapter provides an overall view of the chapters, mentioning the overall findings of the study and effectively brings the study to an end by suggesting a number of research gaps in need of future exploration.