- Title
- Becoming a journalist : a study into the professional socialisation and training of entry-level journalists at the Cape Argus newspaper
- Creator
- Maughan, Karyn
- Subject
- Argus (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Subject
- Journalism -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Subject
- Journalists -- Training of -- South Africa
- Subject
- Journalists -- Selection and appointment -- South Africa
- Subject
- Journalists -- Education -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2004
- Date
- 2004
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MA
- Identifier
- vital:3507
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007553
- Identifier
- Argus (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Identifier
- Journalism -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Identifier
- Journalists -- Training of -- South Africa
- Identifier
- Journalists -- Selection and appointment -- South Africa
- Identifier
- Journalists -- Education -- South Africa
- Description
- This thesis attempts to examine the construction of 'professionalism' within the newsroom of the Cape Argus, an English-medium newspaper in post-apartheid South Africa. It is a qualitative study which tries to evaluate how a particular mainstream media discourse of 'professionalism' is enacted and struggled over in the attitudes, behaviour and perceptions of entry-level journalists and news managers at the newspaper. It asks what the process of 'becoming a journalist' requires of entry-level journalists in terms of their previous education and personal qualities - and examines the newsroom strategies employed by news managers when entry-level journalists do not meet these particular requirements. This thesis looks at how the pressures of operating a daily English-language commercial newspaper may shape both the 'professional' expectations of news managers and their ability to positively contribute to entry-level journalists' 'newsroom training'. In attempting to examine the nature of journalistic 'professionalism', this study explores the ideology of knowledge construction within mainstream South African media. Operating from a 'radical democratic' perspective of journalism, which prioritises journalism as a vehicle for diverse social, cultural and political expression, this thesis suggests that South African media education needs to enable journalism students' understanding of the ideological construction of journalistic 'professionalism'.
- Format
- 103 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Rhodes University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Maughan, Karyn
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