Media for change?: a critical examination of the open society initiative for Southern Africa's support to the media: 1997-2007

Abstract

This study is broadly conceived within the case study format, as is exemplified by the focus on the exploration of the orientations and operational contexts of a single media-support organisation, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). Within that research approach, the thesis examines the historical and ideological designs of OSISA, the rationale for its existence, and its interlocking linkages with international and Southern African-based media civil society organisations. The study argues that OSISA was formed in response to the evolving political situations in parts of Southern Africa in the mid-1990s, which include the collapse of apartheid in South Africa, and the crumbling of many authoritarian regimes on much of the rest of the sub-continent. With all these events taking place in a relatively short space of time, the initiators of OSISA saw a window of opportunity for supporting and influencing the political and social transformation processes, as well as spreading the ideology of social ‘openness’. As such, the thesis approaches OSISA as an institution that forms a part of the movement towards democracy or Westernisation. The study therefore documents and analyses the theoretical antecedents that contributed to the evolution of open society ideals, and their transplantation to Southern Africa. Thereafter, the study explores the nexus between OSISA and local civil society groups. This exploration is done from the theoretical assumption that no financial aid is given without strings attached. The study thus concludes that although locally based civil society organisations try to negotiate their operational spaces, in the final analysis, such groups are all embedded in (and expected to play a role within) the 9 modernisation project, of which OSISA is just one of many instruments in that grand global venture. Finally, the study proposes a few areas for additional investigations which could enhance our understanding of the global forces at work in Southern Africa.