Blogging: Investigating the role played by blogs in contemporary

South African Journalism and the Public Sphere.

Michelle Ishioma Atagana

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Art in

the School of Literary, Media Studies and Creative Arts, in the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.

Unless otherwise specified in the text, this dissertation is the author’s own
original work.
 Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to my family and friends for all their support throughout this

research, I am not the easiest person to deal with while under stress but they saw

me through. A special thank you to my father who continually encourages me to

pursue my academic dreams, to my mother who always asked how my day was and

to my little sister Chinxy for being my slave when I needed one. To my brother Hilary

for always being there, to Helga and Vivian for remembering to press play.

A special thank you to Nic Haralambous, Laurian Clemence, Vincent Maher,

Matthew Buckland, Mike Stopforth and the folks from Thought Leader for letting me

invade their blogs and lives for two years. Also a special thank you to the

contributors of the blogs and the readers for their willingness to take time out of their

day to answer my questions. To Rafiq Phillps for pointing me in the right direction.

Lastly my supervisor, Dr Nicola Jones, who encouraged me to achieve greatness

even when I changed my mind for the twentieth time. Also to my co-supervisor Dr

Lincoln Michell who stepped in for a second pair of eyes. I am forever grateful to you

both.

I dedicate this thesis to my mother who passed away before the final corrections

were completed.
 Abstract

This thesis seeks to investigate the role that blogs play in contemporary South

African journalism through examining six blogs in the South African blogosphere and

their content choices. This thesis draws on four key theoretical frameworks around

which the research questions have been formulated: New Media and Journalism,

Journalistic Blogging, Audiences and the Public Sphere. There are three key

research questions:

1. What is the role played by blogging in contemporary South African

journalism?

2. To what extent has the blogosphere become a Public Sphere?

3. How have blogs influenced/changed/impacted on the style and content of

South African journalism?

The qualitative data collected through blog observation, interviews with blog owner/

editors and concluded focus group discussions with blog readers, is designed to help

reveal the role blogs and bloggers play in contemporary South African journalism,

and through discussions with the audience and monitoring conversations online, help

explore the possibilities of a public sphere.

The conclusion of this thesis is that blogs do play a role in contemporary South

African journalism and can serve as an effective public sphere. Defining what it

means to be a journalist and recognising the differences between blogger and

journalist is an issue that needs to be effectively understood before a conclusive

agreement is to be reached in the blogger/journalist debate. However, for now the

relationship between South African news agents and South African bloggers is

promising.