Poles apart: mapping the field of arts journalism in South Africa

Abstract

A recent research report by the Media Monitoring Project (2006) into South African arts journalism confirms worrying popular observations relating to commodification and a lack of focus, purpose and status since the demise of apartheid. Although it is a valuable 'baseline study', as the study positions itself at the start, in the final instance the MMP (2006) report displays neither a coherent theoretical approach or departure point, nor any consistent framework into which to place and in terms of which to discuss its findings. With this article I therefore have two aims. Firstly, by using the field theory of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu -especially his concept of different forms of transferable capital -I develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of changes in the field of arts journalism in South Africa. Secondly, I use the MMP report in a pilot study to evaluate the current positioning of arts journalists in the context of their historic role under apartheid. The view of changes in the field of South African arts journalism expressed in this article leads to the development of Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital to include both content in support of elite power and hegemony, and content created in opposition as part of a process of power transformation. Cultural capital therefore becomes a useful tool in the description of the changing role of arts journalism in society. In conclusion I state that while the MMP report succeeded in part to account for the fact that the field of arts journalism is currently dominated by the economic pole in South African society, it failed to provide an adequate description of the related CA 22 (1) 2008 5.indd 83 84 structural influence of the cultural/political pole. It is also suggested that while a focus on minority culture might bring back some purpose to arts journalism, some unifying globalising trends relating to both economic and cultural capital might negate the effort.

Lightning strikes twice: The 2007 Rugby World Cup and memories of a South African rainbow nation

“…From the left, critics such as Jacobs (2004) argue that the mainstream press -dominated by whites during apartheid -embraced neoliberal pluralism after 1994 because it allows them to optimise pro ts without 'real transformation' in terms of their own race and class structures and cultural values. A counter-argument seems to be that the South African media have been 'globalised' to such an extent that accompanying trends such as liberalisation and commercialisation are unavoidable (Botma 2006). Following Foucault (1972), it is argued that discourse theory enables the researcher to view the work of journalists as 'constructivist' -in other words, as part of the process of constructing reality (and not merely re ecting it, as a positivist approach would have it).…”

“…This ties in with the central theoretical assumption of this article that, through their discourses, journalists are (key) manufacturers of cultural capital (both supporting and challenging existing forces/ elds/structures/agents of power) in society. (See Botma [2008] for an in-depth motivation of the theoretical extension of the concept of cultural capital in relation to the work of arts and culture journalists in particular. I argue here that the argument also holds true for journalism in general.…”

Cultural journalism—Journalism about culture

“…Few single country studies of production cultures have focused on the role perceptions and professional norms of cultural editors and journalists, especially in Northern‐European contexts (Harries & Wahl‐Jorgensen, ; Hovden & Knapskog, ; Riegert et al, ; Sarrimo, ; see Botma for the South‐African context, , ), though a broad, global comparison has also been made (Hovden & Kristensen, ). As indicated, these studies show that the cultural journalism production culture differs from other types of journalism cultures, but also that media systemic contexts matter.…”