Browsing by Author "Botha, Isabeau"

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    The commercial mainstream news media’s portrayal of the South African farmer in the 21st century: An exploratory study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Botha, Isabeau; Botma, Gabriel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The image of the South African farmer in the 21st century is arguably still rooted in a colonial construct. The portrayal of the farmer is especially relevant in relation to current media coverage surrounding fear and uncertainty about land expropriation in South Africa. The land reform crisis foregrounds issues pertaining to marginalised black farmers and stigmatised white farmers in response to the racialised hegemony of a superior colonial farmer identity. However, in a nascent democratic society still characterised by inequality and polarisation, it is inspiring that certain people’s perceptions about Others, namely farmers who do not fit the colonial farmer norm, might slowly be changing. The question is whether such transformative discourses about farmer identity are visible in South Africa’s commercial mainstream news media, who has the power to influence public perception. Academic research about the portrayal of the farmer in the mainstream media is still limited, especially in the South African context. This exploratory study aims to discover how farmers are represented in certain South African commercial mainstream news media, namely The Citizen, News24, Netwerk24, TimesLIVE, SowetanLIVE, City Press, Mail & Guardian and Independent Online (IOL). The theoretical point of departure is the conflict between stereotypical and nuanced representation, especially relating to the use of language in news selection and presentation. This study’s chosen theoretical framework is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), with the Foucaultdian concept of representation as discourse as the basis for an exploration of how the combination of power/knowledge might influence the portrayal of farmers. This exploratory study used CDA to analyse the relationship between these publications’ portrayal of farmers on the one hand, and their own ideological preferences and their perceived audiences on the other. The concept of the critical discourse moment is employed to direct the sampling of this study, with land expropriation without compensation as the chosen moment. A CDA of news media coverage of farmers in the mentioned publications during 2018 found that the discourse of fear visible in land expropriation debates is countered by a discourse of collaboration, which challenges the colonial farmer construct as well as the Othering of farmers. Although examples were found of representations of certain groups that allude to continued power struggles based on divisions and presuppositions created through colonialism and apartheid, evidence was also found of stereotypes about both white and black farmers being contested. Farmers as well as other agricultural role players can arguably be powerful actors in new knowledge construction about farmers in the commercial mainstream South African news media.