Die beeld van die ANC soos gereflekteer in Beeld en The Star, vanaf 1989 to 1993

Abstract

According to the functional approach, society consists of interdependent sub-systems. In terms of the agenda-setting hypothesis, the mass media, as a sub-system of society, can select and emphasize certain news items, and by setting the media agenda in this way, actually construct a media reality. When these assumptions are applied in terms of political organizations, it means that the media portray a specific image of a political group by emphasising certain traits of the group. After thirty years, the ANC was unbanned in 1990. This meant that the ANC had to transform itself by 1994 from a liberation movement to a democratically elected political organisation. The South African press played an important role in reflecting this change in image to society. It was the aim of this study to focus on the image of the ANC portrayed by two leading South African newspapers, Beeld and The Star, from 1989 to 1993. A content analysis of issues relating to the AN C's image was done. As it was impossible to analyse all aspects of the AN C's image, this study focused on the image of the ANC regarding the use of violence as political strategy, negotiation and political transformation, policy maldng and the image of the ANC leader Nelson Mandela and his estranged wife Winnie Mandela. Both papers emphasized that the ANC broadly denounced the use of violence as political strategy. Coinciding with that, the image was also created that the ANC, and especially Nelson Mandela, were increasingly in favour of a negotiated political settlement. In terms of agenda-setting, the ANC policy didn't become more important towards 1993, but it was significant that both Beeld and The Star portrayed a change in the policy of the ANC, specifically the economic policies of nationalization and sanctions. Nelson Mandela was increasingly portrayed as negotiator, while Winnie Mandela was dissociated from the ANC.