Farming of the San people by the Namibian print media
This largely qualitative and partly quantitative study is a critical analysis of the representation of San people of Namibia in selected stories published in The Namibian, New Era, Informanté, The Southern Times, The Villager, The Windhoek Observer and Namibian Sun newspapers over two years from January 2012 to December 2013. The aim was to evaluate the economic, socio-cultural and political situation of the San people as reported by the seven newspapers. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the stories. Content analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA) were used to analyse data and point out binaries and dichotomies inherent in selected articles. The framing theory and CDA informed the study. Recurrent themes from the literature review were compared and contrasted with media stories. The study found that media coverage of San people and issues that affected them was grossly inadequate, and that San people were a peripheral ethnic group when it came to access to health, media rights, education, land, self-identity and dignity. It also found that the media glossed over San-related issues. It concludes that there was a disconnection between non-journalistic writers and the media on San issues. San people were heterogeneous yet the media treated them as homogenous. Balanced reportage of issues that affect San people was conspicuously absent. Much of the reportage was event-driven, lacking analysis and balance. The study recommends a revision of the intermediary role of the media, journalistic ethics and a shift from symptoms to causes and viable solutions. It further recommends new media discourses that shift from stereotyping to a discourse that restores and upholds the identity of San people.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations