Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access A crisis communication plan for municipalities: the case of the Frances Baard district municipality(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Kunguma, Olivia; Terblanche, LydieA crisis communication plan facilitates the effective flow of information between relevant organisation(s) and a community affected by a crisis. In 2010 the Frances Baard District Municipality, situated in the Northern Cape, commissioned the development of a crisis communication plan for the municipality. It was to be developed in consultation with various stakeholders. Once developed, the plan had to be reviewed and serve as an educational document that could be used by other municipalities. The study found that drafting a crisis communication plan has to include best communication practices for each anticipated problem and effective implementation. Continuous evaluation and updating of the plan are necessary to ensure that critical business functions are not jeopardised in the event of a crisis.Item Open Access Interracial communication in South Africa: is cultural convergence possible?(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Schutte, P. J.As the media confirms the growing gap between citizens with different ethnic or racial origins in certain European countries, the lack of meaningful intercultural interaction within the Rainbow Nation in South Africa is even worse when recent occurrences are taken into consideration. Acting on erroneous perceptions and irresponsible labelling of people can pose a significant danger to tolerance and peaceful co-existence in South Africa; it could even be a threat to democracy. This article endeavours to reflect on the “climate” which would enhance or prevent interracial communication, in particular. The qualitative and post-structural approach of Iben Jensen (2008) has been applied. The aim of the model is to allow the researcher to “think through an intercultural communication process and reflect upon it from a new perspective”. The proposition can be made that the possibility of meaningful interracial communication is slim, unless the races take the different contexts within a democracy into consideration, not misuse the power or lack of power of their position, avoid stereotyping, put the past behind them, communicate in a cultural sensitive manner about “emotional topics” and ask the question: Do pronouncements and the meaning attached to them change if it is communicated by someone from another race?Item Open Access Interaction in print advertising(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Van Niekerk, Angelique; Gini, KeyserThe unrelenting initiative of copywriters manifests itself in their growing tendency to use interaction within print advertisements and in their use of interactive print advertisements. Interactive advertisements demand more time and involvement of the target market that has to participate in some way in order to grasp the marketing message. In particular, people want to satisfy their curiosity – since part of the message is often missing – by interacting with the advertisement (and thus the brand name). In the case of interactive print advertisements, the focus is on heightened involvement, which is the ultimate reward for the brand in an era of information overload. A clear distinction is made between interactive print advertisements and interaction within a print advertisement, where the objective is a more believable or authentic message. Such advertisements emphasise the use of spoken language (as opposed to written language) which is reflected in the lexical choices, sentence structure, etc. Because people are usually sceptical of advertising messages, print advertisements try to mirror word-of-mouth advertising and, in so doing, address the scepticism of their possible target market by exploiting the characteristics of normal conversation.Item Open Access The uses and gratifications of music, by personality type, of a central South African radio station's audience(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Kotzee, Rozanne; Breytenbach, H. J.While music is the main product of many radio stations, this study seeks to gain insight into the music preferences of a central South African radio station’s audience. The study into the personality psychology of music has remained mainly mute. Various questions remain regarding individual differences and different uses of music, as well as individual differences and music preference (Rentfrow & Gosling 2003). By examining the patterns of music use and the relationship between music use and audiences’ psychographic profiles, and by employing the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Uses of Music Inventory (UMI), this study might contribute to the development of a more efficient model in the construction of a radio station’s music content and diversity.Item Open Access Aspekte van narratiewe kommunikasie as retoriese strategie binne prediking(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Van der Walt, Marésa; Marais, Willemien; De Wet, Johann C.Human beings are susceptible to the rhetorical power of narrative communication. Narrative communication is an organisational element that helps people to make sense of the world they live in. Rhetoric is the application of reason to imagination to bring the human will into movement. In the world of communication within the Christian philosophy, narrative communication can be used as a rhetorical strategy. This article discusses the different aspects of the use of narrative communication as rhetorical strategy within preaching. Both narrative techniques and narrative style elements can be used to contribute to the rhetorical effectiveness of a sermon. The use of “story elements” and “style elements” qualify a text (sermon) as “narrative”. The rhetorical success of narrative communication when used in sermons was tested in traditional Afrikaans-speaking Apostolic Faith Mission congregations in Bloemfontein. Churchgoers completed questionnaires to convey their experience and opinion of the use of narrative communication in preaching during 12 sermons. The results were overwhelmingly positive.Item Open Access Participatory anchored development in South Africa as evaluated at Thusong Service Centres(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Naidoo, Lynnette; Fourie, LynnetteThis article focuses on the principles of participatory development communication. It is argued that that participation may exist only on a conceptual and ideological level in government policies in South Africa, resulting in the practice of diffusion communication. This article reports on how the communication approach of the Thusong Service Centres with their communities in Tshwane align with the normative principles of participatory development communication. A qualitative research approach was adopted to gather data, and purposive sampling was used, focusing on the six Thusong Service Centres in Tshwane, which are considered to be development communication vehicles. It was found that Thusong Service Centres do not fully meet the required principles of participatory development communication, which was used as the theoretical framework in this research. This inadequate alignment with the principles of participatory development communication implies that authentic development is not being realised.Item Open Access Sustaining school-community partnership through effective communication(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Myende, Phumlani ErasmusThis article investigates the impact of effective communication towards sustaining school-community partnerships. Motivating the study is the argument that studies on school-community partnerships within a South African context have been limited to parental involvement only. Moreover, those who have broadened this concept have seldom focused on the role of effective communication. The results revealed a direct relationship between success in sustaining school-community partnerships and effective communication. Two partnerships were studied and the results revealed a lack of effective communication. This has negatively affected the partners’ commitment in the partnerships’ activities, empowerment of partners, mapping of assets and perceptions of partners about partnerships. However, in some instances effective communication was identified and it contributed positively in ensuring support for teams and individuals in the partnerships. It is concluded that effective communication is the pillar in ensuring that different partners’ interests and capabilities are understood and utilised in these partnerships. The study further recommends strategies to improve communication in schoolcommunity partnerships.Item Open Access The rise and fall of the public service broadcasting in South Africa: a motivation for a new broadcasting model (television)(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Fourie, P. J.In the article it is argued that South Africa needs a new broadcasting model. Such a model should go beyond the present three-tier system and the Reithian model. A single level with distributed or wider-dissemination public service broadcasting is suggested. The motivation is set against the background of the present (July 2013) (systemic) governance and managerial problems of the South African public service broadcaster (the SABC), the changed nature of public service broadcasting in the new media environment and a discussion of the changed thinking underlying broadcasting policy and public service broadcasting research related to, inter alia, the changed and changing nature of “public service”, “social responsibility” and the changed political economy of public service broadcasting.Item Open Access Enkele indrukke oor aspekte van Suid-Afrikaanse joernalistieke opleiding(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Diederichs, PedroEleven years ago the South African journalism fraternity got a huge wake-up call following a damning journalism skills audit report in which some serious shortcomings concerning professionalism in newsrooms were highlighted. Naval-gazing by the majority of the media role players (educators and industry) agreed with most of the findings of the South African National Editors’ Forum’s first skills report published in May 2002 (Sanef 2002a). This was followed by a second audit in 2004 focusing on the state of middle management skills in the same environment with much the same conclusion concerning skills gaps that needed urgent attention (Sanef 2004). In this article answers to the research questions give an overview of some of the impressions of leading South African educators and trainers around an age-old question of what could be the answer to the “correct” way of training newcomers to the profession and what is perceived as the biggest stumbling block in teaching entry-level journalists. This is certainly nothing new, but the answers received are presented and deliberated on against the background of the author’s personal experience as a practising journalist and journalism educator over a period of 40 years. It may be that in certain areas of journalism practice and journalism education opportunities have gone begging and lessons could have been learnt. At the same time acknowledgement should be given for efforts made to counter the sometimes wild and opportunistic claims that the quality of journalism practice and education in South Africa leaves much to be desired.Item Open Access A measuring instrument for the active consumer stakeholder concept among South African brand leaders(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Shapiro, Benjamin. J. N.; Overton-de Klerk, Nina.This study argues that consumers no longer take the actions of brand leaders for granted. Instead, they challenge and are inherently active. Although consumers have long been recognised as stakeholders by brand leaders, the question remains as to what extent their voices are heard and to what extent brand leaders recognise them as active stakeholders. The research problem was addressed by linking aspects of corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness, stakeholder theory, stakeholder communication and accountability to develop a reliable measuring instrument for brand leaders to evaluate to what extent they are attuned to the active consumer stakeholder concept and, through further rankings and qualitative analyses, obtain some indication as to what extent awareness of the active consumer stakeholder concept has taken root among a sample of 51 brand leaders. Through reliability and cluster analyses, the research succeeded in developing a reliable measuring instrument which reflected most of the theoretical tenets of the active consumer stakeholder concept. Further findings, albeit of a limited scope, suggest an interesting dichotomy between recognition of the active consumer stakeholder concept on the one hand, and a strong profit maximisation view on the other, which could become a platform for further research.Item Open Access Exploring participatory video journalism in the classroom and the community(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Schoon, Alette JeanThis article describes a journalism education project in which television students worked collaboratively with teenagers in a community media club to make short videos about issues that directly affected the teenagers. An analysis of this project using action research methods draws on debates around media and community participation from several theoretical “moments”. These include current debates on online citizen media and participation, “civic media” and public news agendas from the public journalism movement originating in the nineties in America, and much older debates on participatory video production from the 1960s. The author set out how various theoretical concepts from these debates are manifest practically in the project. A key concept is the difference in the roles that the “professional” journalism students and the amateur teenagers adopt in shaping the story.