South Africa has a long history ofalternative media. During the 1980s there was a host of community and grassroots newspapers that supplied content that ran counter to the prevailing attitudes of the times. In addition, a thrivingsmall press andunderground press carried voices that would not have been heard in the mainstream, corporate media.Pirate radio projects operated byCaset were the forerunners of the country's community radio and small pamphlets andsamizdat were included in the mix.[citation needed]
Theadvocacy journalism of early activist titles was in stark contrast to the complacency of the country's large media houses. While many of thecounterculture titles associated with theapartheid struggle no longer exist, there has been a resurgence of alternative media and thesmall press after a period of decline, notable because large corporates absorbed many of the so-called "struggle" journalists and mopped up small publishing houses. These media projects involvemulti-media as well aselectronic journalism.[citation needed]
However, there are some who criticise what they call a lack of real alternative media in South Africa.[1]
Since the end of Apartheid, there has been a dearth of alternative media in South Africa as most of it got incorporated into mainstream corporate media as well as government and political party organising. Some of South Africa's largest social movements and other activist organisations have an online presence of alternative blogs and activist websites. According to the social movements, the importance of these alternative media sites are that they provide a way for 'poor people to speak for themselves'.[2] These include:
| Bylanguage | |
|---|---|
| See also | |
Political history ofSouth Africa | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defunctpolities |
| ||||||||||||
| Events |
| ||||||||||||
| Political culture | |||||||||||||
| Defunct organisations |
| ||||||||||||
| Histories of political parties | |||||||||||||
