Arnold S De Beer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4080869 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Arnold S De Beer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Arnold S |
| FAMILY NAME | De Beer |
| SIGNATURE | DE BEER A S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stellenbosch University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9254-6427 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 109 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
In Media We Trust: Journalists and institutional trust perceptions in post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries
Trust is a societal value that is difficult to gain and easy to lose. This article deals with the levels of trust that journalists working in eight post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, South Africa and Tanzania) have in various social institutions using data from the present Worlds of Journalism Study. In each country, results showed the level of trust in journalists…
Expanding Influences Research to Insecure Democracies: How violence, public insecurity, economic inequality and uneven democratic performance shape journalists’ perceived work environments
Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly considered in comparative research on journalists’ work environments, an omission that may obscure important realities of contemporary journalism. We address this gap through analysis of journalist surveys in 62 countries. We confirm the existence of insecure dem…
Preaching to the converted”: Teaching Calvinistic media ethics in the apartheid era
The purpose of this article is to shed light on a Christian Reformed version of media ethics, more particularly one that was applied for just more than half a century (1960–2014) during the apartheid era and thereafter at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PUCHE), now North-West University (NWU) in South Africa. The contribution of the two main exponents of Christian Reformed media ethics as applied at PUCHE/NWU (and con…
Binary opposites – can South African journalists be both watchdogs and developmental journalists
This article challenges the traditional role ascribed by liberal and developmental media theory that journalists should either be watchdogs or developmental journalists but not both at the same time. As part of the South African leg of the Worlds of Journalism (WJS) project this article argues that it is indeed possible that the media can fulfil both roles. Utilizing the WJS 2014 questionnaire and based on a provincial face-to-face (n=37) and a n…
Business influence on media news processing: A comparison of journalists’ perceptions in the Czech Republic and South Africa
How do journalists in two formerly authoritarian countries, the Czech Republic and South Africa, perceive the potential of media owners and other business people to infl uence their work? Multinomial ordinal regression analysis was applied to data collected in the Czech Republic and South Africa for the present 50 country-wide Worlds of Journalism (WoJ) Project. A total of 291 journalists in the Czech Republic and 371 journalists in South Africa …
Conflicts of interest?: Debating the media’s role in post-apartheid South Africa
Looking for journalism education scholarship in some unusual places: The case of Africa
It is argued in this article that due to the ‘knowledge colonialism’ that exists in the world today, Northern (especially American and British) academic publishing houses have become so prevailing that generations of journalism students in English-speaking African countries have become entrapped in the Northern ‘way of doing things’. In the field of communication studies, this is perhaps best exemplified by the way in which introductory American …
News From and in the “Dark Continent: Afro-pessimism, news flows, global journalism and media regimes
The concepts news flow, global journalism/news and media regime are under theoretical construction. News media content is becoming increasingly deterritorialized, involving complex relations and flows across national borders and continents. Consequently, it becomes more difficult to categorize news in the traditional binary context as either national or international news as was the case with news flow studies since the mid-1990s. These changes a…
Afro-optimism/Afro-pessimism and the South African media
After its first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa was often seen as an example of a peaceful democratic transition on the African continent, in which democratic institutions like the media were firmly established and safeguarded by a new constitution. Over the course of the first decade and a half, this optimistic view of South Africa has made way for a counterdiscourse of Afro-pessimism, in which clashes around the role of the media – i…
South African journalism education: Working towards the future by looking back
Not unlike elsewhere in the world, journalism studies in South Africa has gathered new impetus after decades of trying to find its niche within the university scholarly and the media industry environments. Since the South African turn to democracy in 1994, journalism and journalism education have experienced profound changes. Technologically, reporting has moved from a position where conventional printed media, radio and television dominated, to …
Obtaining “better news” through better internal news management – A survey of first-line managerial competencies in South Africa
Changes in the post-apartheid South African mainstream media landscape have far-reaching implications for human resources management. The six managerial competencies found in general management theory (communication; planning and administration; teamwork; strategic action; global awareness; and selfmanagement) were applied on a national sample of first-line news managers and reporters. The central theoretical argument was that first-line news man…
Obtaining "better news" through better internal news management A survey of first-line managerial competencies in South Africa
Journalism education finding its way into the 2000s
The inauguration of the first South African university journalism (perswetenskap) course in 1959 at Potchefstroom University was only the beginning of a long road that still meanders more than four decades later between the prerequisites of academe and the needs of industry - let alone the needs of society and the watchful eye of government
A Fragile Affair: The Relationship Between the Mainstream Media and Government in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Which public? Whose interest? The South African Media and its role during the first ten years of democracy
A number of salient issues arose in the South African media landscape during the first ten years of its democracy. This article outlines the significant changes brought about by democratisation, such as the shift from governmental control to self-regulation and ownership changes. The focus is on conflicts between the mainstream media sector and the new democratic government, especially as these conflicts relate to the difference in understanding …
(Mass) Communication research: Building bridges, burning fences
(2004). (Mass) Communication research: Building bridges, burning fences. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 362-372
The level of journalism skills in South African media: A reason for concern within a developing democracy
This article draws on results of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) journalism skills audit conducted in 2002. The research purpose was to conduct a national situation analysis of journalism skills among reporters. The research followed Sanef's continuing efforts to re‐position journalism skills training at tertiary level. Results reveal a lack of reporting, writing and accuracy skills among reporters, highlighted both by reporters…
Ecquid Novi – the search for a definition
News people, researchers and the public alike have addressed the issue of news over centuries. Still, this fleeting, elusive, but essential feature of journalism defies practical definition, let alone scientific specification. A literature and historical study was undertaken in which the origins and concepts of news were analysed, while the underlying paradigmatic assumption was that of a functionalist approach to media and society. The purpose o…
Sanef's ‘2002 South African National Journalism Skills Audit’
This article presents the media section of the Sanef 2002 skills audit. The purpose of the research was to conduct a situation analysis of reporting, writing, and accuracy skills among reporters with 2–5 years experience. It was conducted amongst 112 reporters working at a stratified sample of 32 media institutions in South Africa. Some of the recommendations include that reporting, writing and accuracy skills were areas that needed urgent attent…
Die Burger se Penvegter - 'n Persoonlike blik op 'n merkwaardige mens
The Roots of Academic News Research: Tobias Peucer's "De relationibus novellis" (1690)
Probably the first graduate study of news reporting was a doctoral dissertation, "De relationibus novellis" (On news reporting), written in Germany in 1690. A history and analysis of seventeenth-century news reporting, it anticipated major themes of news research not fully explored until the latter half of the twentieth century. Written in Latin, Peucer's short dissertation of approximately 6000 words, divided into 29 statements, presented a hist…
The internet in Africa — A new road to developmental opportunities or a digital highway leading to nowhere
This article deals with the issue of censorship and access restrictions to the Internet in sub-Saharan Africa as part of a general discussion on sustainable social development. Formal aspects of media censorship are discussed. The article then deals with what could be called ‘informal censorship’ issues that adversely restrict the free flow of information through the Internet, namely infrastructure and certain socio-cultural aspects. It is argued…
In search of truth: The TRC and the South African press –a case study
The demise of apartheid and the first free democratic elections in 1994 ushered in a new epoch making era in South African history. This article deals with one element of these changes in the form of a case study: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's media hearings, and more specifically, the issue of the Afrikaans press and its activities during the apartheid years (1948–1993). Die algemene verkiesing in 1994 het 'n nuwe demokratiese era in…
Leipzig: From Tobias Peucer's De Relationibus Novellis (1690) to Ecquid Novi (2000)
This article deals with a discussion and analysis of the first English translation of the first doctoral dissertation on journalism, ‘De relationibus novellis’, presented by Tobias Peucer to the University of Leipzig in 1690. The dissertation, consisting of 29 statements, offers an analysis of news and news flow in general, and presents surprising insights for present‐day and future media research. The following issues are discussed inter alia: d…
South African Journalism and Mass Communication Scholarship: Negotiating ideological schisms
The history of South African journalism and mass communication (JMC) scholarship at university level stretches back to the 1960s. Five primary paradigms could be distinguished between 1960 and 1990. These were the German and Netherlands tradition (Zeitungswissenschaft and Perswetenschap, i.e. media history, law, ethics), positivist, functionalist, interpretative and Marxist. The last four approaches corresponded broadly to three sociological para…
Which public? Whose interest? The South African Media and its role during the first ten years of democracy
A number of salient issues arose in the South African media landscape during the first ten years of its democracy. This article outlines the significant changes brought about by democratisation, such as the shift from governmental control to self-regulation and ownership changes. The focus is on conflicts between the mainstream media sector and the new democratic government, especially as these conflicts relate to the difference in understanding …
Expanding Influences Research to Insecure Democracies: How violence, public insecurity, economic inequality and uneven democratic performance shape journalists’ perceived work environments
Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly considered in comparative research on journalists’ work environments, an omission that may obscure important realities of contemporary journalism. We address this gap through analysis of journalist surveys in 62 countries. We confirm the existence of insecure dem…
Looking for journalism education scholarship in some unusual places: The case of Africa
It is argued in this article that due to the ‘knowledge colonialism’ that exists in the world today, Northern (especially American and British) academic publishing houses have become so prevailing that generations of journalism students in English-speaking African countries have become entrapped in the Northern ‘way of doing things’. In the field of communication studies, this is perhaps best exemplified by the way in which introductory American …
News From and in the “Dark Continent: Afro-pessimism, news flows, global journalism and media regimes
The concepts news flow, global journalism/news and media regime are under theoretical construction. News media content is becoming increasingly deterritorialized, involving complex relations and flows across national borders and continents. Consequently, it becomes more difficult to categorize news in the traditional binary context as either national or international news as was the case with news flow studies since the mid-1990s. These changes a…
The Professional Teaching of Journalism as a Science approach - an introduction
Journalism education in South Africa is, as elsewhere in the world, at the crossroads. This is due to a number of factors, namely: changing socioeconomic, political and technological circumstances, as well as changes in education, journalism and the media system itself. Despite the number of university journalism programs in South Africa, and despite the apparent need for better trained people in the New South Africa, journalism education at univ…
Binary opposites – can South African journalists be both watchdogs and developmental journalists
This article challenges the traditional role ascribed by liberal and developmental media theory that journalists should either be watchdogs or developmental journalists but not both at the same time. As part of the South African leg of the Worlds of Journalism (WJS) project this article argues that it is indeed possible that the media can fulfil both roles. Utilizing the WJS 2014 questionnaire and based on a provincial face-to-face (n=37) and a n…
In Media We Trust: Journalists and institutional trust perceptions in post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries
Trust is a societal value that is difficult to gain and easy to lose. This article deals with the levels of trust that journalists working in eight post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, South Africa and Tanzania) have in various social institutions using data from the present Worlds of Journalism Study. In each country, results showed the level of trust in journalists…
Business influence on media news processing: A comparison of journalists’ perceptions in the Czech Republic and South Africa
How do journalists in two formerly authoritarian countries, the Czech Republic and South Africa, perceive the potential of media owners and other business people to infl uence their work? Multinomial ordinal regression analysis was applied to data collected in the Czech Republic and South Africa for the present 50 country-wide Worlds of Journalism (WoJ) Project. A total of 291 journalists in the Czech Republic and 371 journalists in South Africa …
A Fragile Affair: The Relationship Between the Mainstream Media and Government in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Ecquid Novi – the search for a definition
News people, researchers and the public alike have addressed the issue of news over centuries. Still, this fleeting, elusive, but essential feature of journalism defies practical definition, let alone scientific specification. A literature and historical study was undertaken in which the origins and concepts of news were analysed, while the underlying paradigmatic assumption was that of a functionalist approach to media and society. The purpose o…
The quest for media ethics: An Introduction
This Ecquid Novi is the first issue in the ‘new South Africa’. Therefore, it was thought worthwhile to focus on media ethics. The previous special edition of Ecquid Novi (1989) dealt with press freedom in South Africa - or rather the lack thereof. Five years later the country has its first fully democratically elected government; media restrictions imposed under the Emergency Regulations of the mid-1980s have been removed, and media deregulation …
Afro-optimism/Afro-pessimism and the South African media
After its first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa was often seen as an example of a peaceful democratic transition on the African continent, in which democratic institutions like the media were firmly established and safeguarded by a new constitution. Over the course of the first decade and a half, this optimistic view of South Africa has made way for a counterdiscourse of Afro-pessimism, in which clashes around the role of the media – i…
South African journalism education: Working towards the future by looking back
Not unlike elsewhere in the world, journalism studies in South Africa has gathered new impetus after decades of trying to find its niche within the university scholarly and the media industry environments. Since the South African turn to democracy in 1994, journalism and journalism education have experienced profound changes. Technologically, reporting has moved from a position where conventional printed media, radio and television dominated, to …
South African Journalism and Mass Communication Scholarship: Negotiating ideological schisms
The history of South African journalism and mass communication (JMC) scholarship at university level stretches back to the 1960s. Five primary paradigms could be distinguished between 1960 and 1990. These were the German and Netherlands tradition (Zeitungswissenschaft and Perswetenschap, i.e. media history, law, ethics), positivist, functionalist, interpretative and Marxist. The last four approaches corresponded broadly to three sociological para…
The level of journalism skills in South African media: A reason for concern within a developing democracy
This article draws on results of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) journalism skills audit conducted in 2002. The research purpose was to conduct a national situation analysis of journalism skills among reporters. The research followed Sanef's continuing efforts to re‐position journalism skills training at tertiary level. Results reveal a lack of reporting, writing and accuracy skills among reporters, highlighted both by reporters…
The internet in Africa — A new road to developmental opportunities or a digital highway leading to nowhere
This article deals with the issue of censorship and access restrictions to the Internet in sub-Saharan Africa as part of a general discussion on sustainable social development. Formal aspects of media censorship are discussed. The article then deals with what could be called ‘informal censorship’ issues that adversely restrict the free flow of information through the Internet, namely infrastructure and certain socio-cultural aspects. It is argued…
Press responsibility based on professionalizm - a typology of attributes
The Press often maintains that it performs its task in a professional manner and outside bodies insist that the Press must become increasingly professional to guarantee responsible, professional conduct. Three professionalization dimensions (knowledge, orientation and structure-organisation) are discussed. Responsible, professional conduct posits that the Press will give its attention to each of the professionalization elements. The purpose of th…
The challenge of the age of electronic newspapers
A constant source of discussion in newspaper management and among journalists over the last few years concerns the effect of electronic developments in the field of journalism. In the process much has been written and spoken about the possible outcome of delivering printed information electronically to television screens. At this stage in time there seems to be concensus amongst management, journalists and electronic experts that this innovation …
Mass media coverage of developing countries: A Functional Approach
This article raises the question of whether Western media norms and expectations should form the basis for international media coverage of Third World countries, as well as countries such as South Africa with First and Third World components. In considering this question the point is made that no discussion of the media in society can be meaningful without considering the composition of the societal structure itself. The functional approach deriv…
Terreursensuur: Enkele teoretiese uitgangspunte en 'n blik op die Suid-Afrikaanse situasie
In this article on the ‘Censorship of terror: some theoretical points of departure and a view of the South African situation’ it is argued that political groups making use of violence (such as terrorist groups) traditionally sought as much media coverage possible in order to spread fear and mayhem. Certain theoretical assumptions about terrorism, terror, and the media are discussed within this context. It is further argued that a ‘censorship of t…
Censorship of Terror and the Struggle for Freedom: A South African Case Study
Coming in from the cold: South African media coverage of the 1992 Olympic Games
After an absence of 32 years due to its apartheid policies, South Africa could again participate in the Olympic Games in 1992. The 1992 ‘friendship’ Games were not only a first for many athletes, but also for media coverage of a major international sporting event in which a non-apartheid South African team could participate. This article does not deal with the devastating effects of apartheid per se. Its main concern is to focus, in a qualitative…
The quest for media ethics: An Introduction
This Ecquid Novi is the first issue in the ‘new South Africa’. Therefore, it was thought worthwhile to focus on media ethics. The previous special edition of Ecquid Novi (1989) dealt with press freedom in South Africa - or rather the lack thereof. Five years later the country has its first fully democratically elected government; media restrictions imposed under the Emergency Regulations of the mid-1980s have been removed, and media deregulation …
The Professional Teaching of Journalism as a Science approach - an introduction
Journalism education in South Africa is, as elsewhere in the world, at the crossroads. This is due to a number of factors, namely: changing socioeconomic, political and technological circumstances, as well as changes in education, journalism and the media system itself. Despite the number of university journalism programs in South Africa, and despite the apparent need for better trained people in the New South Africa, journalism education at univ…
Media policy development: Some trends in post-communist societies and post-apartheid South Africa
Though the concept of national or centralized media or communication policies became increasingly unpopular in the West during the post-Cold War era, democratic countries still need to plan and execute policies regarding communication/ media issues. This is not only true in Western Europe and the USA where a new discussion regarding especially telecommunication is being conducted, but even more so in countries moving away from authoritarianism su…
Russia - the quest for democratic media
This article illustrates some of the transitions in the Russian media from authoritarianism to democracy within a new information order. The goal is to outline the general trends in mass media transitions across the media industry in Russia. The outcomes of perestroika and glasnost policies and the changes in media policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union are examined. As it is much easier to discuss the elements of Soviet control that have …
US network evening news portrayal of the new South Africa
This study sought to understand how political changes in South Africa have affected coverage by the US network evening news programs between 1990 and 1996. A content analysis of abstracts from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive was done, continuing earlier work by Giffard & Cohen (1990) on coverage of South Africa from 1982–1987. The concern with lack of representation of international stories and with negative presentation of developing coun…
In search of truth: The TRC and the South African press –a case study
The demise of apartheid and the first free democratic elections in 1994 ushered in a new epoch making era in South African history. This article deals with one element of these changes in the form of a case study: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's media hearings, and more specifically, the issue of the Afrikaans press and its activities during the apartheid years (1948–1993). Die algemene verkiesing in 1994 het 'n nuwe demokratiese era in…
Leipzig: From Tobias Peucer's De Relationibus Novellis (1690) to Ecquid Novi (2000)
This article deals with a discussion and analysis of the first English translation of the first doctoral dissertation on journalism, ‘De relationibus novellis’, presented by Tobias Peucer to the University of Leipzig in 1690. The dissertation, consisting of 29 statements, offers an analysis of news and news flow in general, and presents surprising insights for present‐day and future media research. The following issues are discussed inter alia: d…
South African Journalism and Mass Communication Scholarship: Negotiating ideological schisms
The history of South African journalism and mass communication (JMC) scholarship at university level stretches back to the 1960s. Five primary paradigms could be distinguished between 1960 and 1990. These were the German and Netherlands tradition (Zeitungswissenschaft and Perswetenschap, i.e. media history, law, ethics), positivist, functionalist, interpretative and Marxist. The last four approaches corresponded broadly to three sociological para…
The Roots of Academic News Research: Tobias Peucer's "De relationibus novellis" (1690)
Probably the first graduate study of news reporting was a doctoral dissertation, "De relationibus novellis" (On news reporting), written in Germany in 1690. A history and analysis of seventeenth-century news reporting, it anticipated major themes of news research not fully explored until the latter half of the twentieth century. Written in Latin, Peucer's short dissertation of approximately 6000 words, divided into 29 statements, presented a hist…
The internet in Africa — A new road to developmental opportunities or a digital highway leading to nowhere
This article deals with the issue of censorship and access restrictions to the Internet in sub-Saharan Africa as part of a general discussion on sustainable social development. Formal aspects of media censorship are discussed. The article then deals with what could be called ‘informal censorship’ issues that adversely restrict the free flow of information through the Internet, namely infrastructure and certain socio-cultural aspects. It is argued…
Sanef's ‘2002 South African National Journalism Skills Audit’
This article presents the media section of the Sanef 2002 skills audit. The purpose of the research was to conduct a situation analysis of reporting, writing, and accuracy skills among reporters with 2–5 years experience. It was conducted amongst 112 reporters working at a stratified sample of 32 media institutions in South Africa. Some of the recommendations include that reporting, writing and accuracy skills were areas that needed urgent attent…
Die Burger se Penvegter - 'n Persoonlike blik op 'n merkwaardige mens
(Mass) Communication research: Building bridges, burning fences
(2004). (Mass) Communication research: Building bridges, burning fences. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 362-372
The level of journalism skills in South African media: A reason for concern within a developing democracy
This article draws on results of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) journalism skills audit conducted in 2002. The research purpose was to conduct a national situation analysis of journalism skills among reporters. The research followed Sanef's continuing efforts to re‐position journalism skills training at tertiary level. Results reveal a lack of reporting, writing and accuracy skills among reporters, highlighted both by reporters…
Ecquid Novi – the search for a definition
News people, researchers and the public alike have addressed the issue of news over centuries. Still, this fleeting, elusive, but essential feature of journalism defies practical definition, let alone scientific specification. A literature and historical study was undertaken in which the origins and concepts of news were analysed, while the underlying paradigmatic assumption was that of a functionalist approach to media and society. The purpose o…
Obtaining “better news” through better internal news management – A survey of first-line managerial competencies in South Africa
Changes in the post-apartheid South African mainstream media landscape have far-reaching implications for human resources management. The six managerial competencies found in general management theory (communication; planning and administration; teamwork; strategic action; global awareness; and selfmanagement) were applied on a national sample of first-line news managers and reporters. The central theoretical argument was that first-line news man…
Obtaining "better news" through better internal news management A survey of first-line managerial competencies in South Africa
Journalism education finding its way into the 2000s
The inauguration of the first South African university journalism (perswetenskap) course in 1959 at Potchefstroom University was only the beginning of a long road that still meanders more than four decades later between the prerequisites of academe and the needs of industry - let alone the needs of society and the watchful eye of government
A Fragile Affair: The Relationship Between the Mainstream Media and Government in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Political science (34 works) · Sociology (30 works) · Media studies (24 works) · Law (22 works) · Media Studies and Communication (21 works) · Law (19 works) · Journalism (17 works) · Politics (15 works) · Social science (12 works) · Democracy (9 works)