Enrolment of first year students in journalism leaps up by 30% in 1979. Why?
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"Possibly because the Information scandal has made journalism seem like a glamorous profession." At least this is the opinion of Journalism staff who compare the jump in numbers with a similar phenomenon at journalism schools in the United States after Watergate.
Of course, the increase may also be linked to the growing reputation of the Rhodes department, the only one of its kind at an English-language university in South Africa.
Bulletin, 1979 (2): 3
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Theoretical Position
Evolution
Voice
The theoretical position of this department centres around topics, values and descriptors like curriculum, ideology, critical theory, alternative press and journalism education and the construction of its curriculum in response to its political context. Skinner, Gasher and Compton (2001:1) explain that "As journalism educators, we should reflect upon the extent to which the curriculum is a product of [such] larger social and political conditions."
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Themes of the evolving theoretical position(s) of the department had an interplay with the sociopolitical context, specifically the influence and permeation that the apartheid context had on the shaping of the journalism curriculum and morale of journalism education in the department. This backdrop seeped into assimilations of practice and theory, but also, paved way for ideas that "introduced a whole new dimension into the debate — the notion of ideology," explains Gavin Stewart (lecturer and acting HoD, 1980 - 1994) in interviews with du Toit (2013: 311). In Europe in the 1970s there was a resurgence of Marxist theorising. Althusser's work was published in English and Gramsci's Prison Notebooks was being read (Steenveld, 2006: 279). In the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes (JMS) these understandings were applied to the media.
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What is highlighted in the journalism department at Rhodes at this time was the influence of more radical thinkers (Gramsci and other theorists) which was central in the dialogues and developments of the department at Rhodes and was the differentiating factor between this site of knowledge production and others at the time. Steenveld (2006) explains that a staff reading group was formed to make sense of 'cultural studies', a new approach to media theory by Stuart Hall that emphasised the ideological and cultural role of the media.
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Furthermore, what is noticeable is that the progressive theoretical positions that began shaping this site of journalism education came from the initiation and sociopolitical and experiential experience of individual lecturers. Graeme Addison (lecturer 1976 - 81) emphasized the department's individualist nature but described a "mutual respect" between colleagues in the department even though they all went in different directions (Addison, from du Toit, 2013: 301). "We would agree on politics, but that was about all," explains Addison from his time in the department (in du Toit, 2013: 304), going so far as to say that the department was "anarchic" in that they felt like they didn't have to follow anybody's rules (304).
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This individuality runs throughout the historical development of the department's position and can be argued that it was this intellectual diversity and flexibility that shaped the department with the strong foundation it then flourished with to become a site of anti-apartheid activism (du Toit, 2013).
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As time went on the political ignition was less of the sole motivator within the evolution of the department and its curriculum and more aimed towards situating the academic positioning and focus of the department. As Pinnock explains, from 1983, "my impression of the people in the department was that they were retreating into an academic space which was non-controversial and comfortable," (Pinnock to du Toit, 2013: 312). Steenveld (who joined the department in the mid 1980s) explains that these different approaches to journalism education can be accounted for in the context of a changing political context (2006: 278).
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"Politically engaged members of staff, most of whom taught from within a Marxist or neo-Marxist framework posed two questions:
1) "What was/is the role of the media in helping to sustain the apartheid state?"
2) How can we use media for our own political purposes, namely to challenge apartheid?"" (Steenveld, 2006: 280)
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These questions informed the journalism courses in the 1980s to encourage students to explore the role of the media (as an agent of meaning production and political economy of the South African state) towards an anti-apartheid political position that could be used as opposition to the state.
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Interesting to note is that the divisions in the department during this time was not the divide of 'theory' and 'practice' but as political differences. "Critical media studies/cultural studies informed the video production course, but did not inform the print production courses in the same way," explains Steenveld because of the different political, and in turn, theoretical, positions of the staff (2006: 6).
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At this time, the primary role of these progressive academics was to prepare and encourage critical thinking meaning-makers who could intellectually and politically take on the oppressive state through their journalism education. This aim and identity of the department was contingent on the social and political context, as well as the politics of the academics who taught there.
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Post-1994 this changed and pressure was put on educators to prepare students for the industry. Steenveld's (2006) view is that the duality of 'theory' versus 'practice' that emerged in the mid 90s could be due to the changes in technology, where learning the complexity of the technology took precedence over understanding journalism, and has (and continues) to be an important factor in the understanding of what journalism means and what is necessary for the education of a journalist (Steenveld, 2006).
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Newspaper clipping, Rhodeo, 1978: 12
Voice
SOURCES
Du Toit, J. E. 2013. Journalism Education in Universities: The Global and Local Migration of Concepts between Practice and Discipline. Doctoral dissertation at University of Stellenbosch. Retrieved on 6 Feburary 2016 from http://scholar.sun.ac.za
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Skinner, D., Gasher M., Compton, J. Putting Theory into Practice. A Critical Approach to Journalism Studies. Journalism, 2(3), 213 - 227.
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Steenveld,L. "Journalism Education in SA? Context Context Context". In: Olorunnisola, A (eds) Media in
SA After apartheid. Edwin Mellen Press. Lewison, New York. 2006. 277-319.
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