Alternative media in South Africa
Encyclopedia
South Africa has a long history of alternative media
. During the eighties there was a host of community and grassroots newspapers that supplied content that ran counter to the prevailing attitudes of the times. In addition, a thriving small press
and underground press
carried voices that would not have been heard in the mainstream, corporate media. Pirate radio
projects operated by Caset were the forerunners of the country's community radio and small pamphlets and samizdat
were included in the mix.
The advocacy journalism
of early activist titles were in stark contrast to the complacency of the country's large media houses.While many of the counterculture
titles associated with the apartheid struggle no longer exist, there has been a resurgence of alternative media and the small press
after a period of decline, notable for the fact that large corporates absorbed many of the so-called "struggle" journalists and mopped-up small publishing houses. These media projects involve multi-media as well as electronic journalism
. Only time can tell whether or not, today's alternative media
will regain some of the glory of the past.
However, there are many who criticise what they call a lack of real alternative media in South Africa.
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
. During the eighties there was a host of community and grassroots newspapers that supplied content that ran counter to the prevailing attitudes of the times. In addition, a thriving small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
and underground press
Underground press
The underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
carried voices that would not have been heard in the mainstream, corporate media. Pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
projects operated by Caset were the forerunners of the country's community radio and small pamphlets and samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
were included in the mix.
The advocacy journalism
Advocacy journalism
Advocacy journalism is a genre of journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. Because it is intended to be factual, it is distinguished from propaganda...
of early activist titles were in stark contrast to the complacency of the country's large media houses.While many of the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
titles associated with the apartheid struggle no longer exist, there has been a resurgence of alternative media and the small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
after a period of decline, notable for the fact that large corporates absorbed many of the so-called "struggle" journalists and mopped-up small publishing houses. These media projects involve multi-media as well as electronic journalism
Electronic journalism
Electronic journalism or electronic news-gathering is most associated with broadcast news where television producers, reporters and editors make use of electronic video production recording devices for gathering and presenting information in telecasts and radio transmissions reaching the public...
. Only time can tell whether or not, today's alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
will regain some of the glory of the past.
However, there are many who criticise what they call a lack of real alternative media in South Africa.
1980s
- AkalAkalAkal literally timeless, immortal, non-temporal, is a term integral to Sikh tradition and philosophy. It is extensively used in the Dasam Granth hymns by Guru Gobind Singh, who titled one of his poetic compositions Akal Ustat; i.e., In Praise of the Timeless One . However, the concept of Akal...
- Die Suid-AfrikaanDie Suid-AfrikaanDie Suid-Afrikaan was a progressive Afrikaans-language monthly published in Cape Town....
(1983-1996) - GrassrootsGrassrootsA grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
(1980-1990) - Izwe
- KagennaKagenna MagazineAn alternative magazine from South Africa. Started life as an underground zine published shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and grew into an irregular, irreverent and entertaining read at the newsstand. Published in Cape Town, the magazine carried articles by activists, anarchists,...
(1989-1993) - New Era
- New NationNew NationThis article is about the British newspaper, which is not to be confused with the Apartheid-era New Nation published in Johannesburg, South Africa or the satirical publication in Singapore....
(1980-1997) - SouthSouthSouth is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
(1987-1994) - Weekly Mail (1985-1993)
- Vrye WeekbladVrye WeekbladVrye Weekblad was a groundbreaking progressive, anti-apartheid Afrikaans national weekly newspaper that was launched in November 1988 and forced to close in February 1994. The paper was driven into bankruptcy by the legal costs of defending its charge that South African police general Lothar...
(1988-1994) - VulaVulaVula appeared in Cape Town in December 1984. Distributed to beach bathers and the like, it quickly became one of the country's top, alternative publications, before disappearing sometime in 1987.-Other SA Alternative Publications:* Kagenna...
2000
Since the end of Apartheid, there has been a dearth of alternative media in South Africa as most of it got incorporated into mainstream corporate media as well as government and political party organising. Some of South Africa's largest social movements and other activist organisations have an online presence of alternative blogs and activist websites. According to the social movements, the importance of these alternative media sites are that they provide a way for 'poor people to speak for themselves'. These include:- Abahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
, the shackdwellers movement has the following website: www.abahlali.org - The Western Cape Anti-Eviction CampaignWestern Cape Anti-Eviction CampaignThe Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa...
in Cape Town - Zabalaza, South Africa's most prominent anarchist organisation also has a presence online.
- Khayelitsha Struggles
- Mandela Park Backyarders
- South African Civil Society Information Service
- Amandla! MagazineAmandla (magazine)Amandla! is a South African bi-monthly magazine that was launched in 2007. It is published by the Alternative Information and Development Centre and provides coverage and analysis of current political, economic and social processes from a radical left perspective...
- Skawara News
Television and video
- CVET
- MediaWorks Publishing
- barefootWORKSHOPS
- [CTV capetowntv.org]