The Media in South Africa

The Constitution of South Africa enshrines the freedom of the press and other media, but students entering the world of media work will discover that their freedom of expression is, in practice, subject to a gridwork of constraints. Knowledge of these constraints is vitally important to anyone wanting a career in media and public communication. As such, this course maps out key regulatory, ethical and legal parameters circumscribing the freedom to speak in the public domain. The course deals with controversial issues such as those surrounding media ethics, invasions of privacy, betrayal of sources, hate speech, obscenity, incitement, blasphemy, defamation, 'political correctness', codes of conduct, building on the exploration of the ways in which media constitute public spaces initiated in FAM2003S. Students also choose from a menu of seminars that run parallel to the lecture series described above.

DP requirements: All written work must be submitted by the stipulated dates. Students who miss more than two seminars will lose their DPs.

Assessment: Seminar 50%; class essays 20%; a two-hour examination 30%.

The University of Cape Town awards credits based on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to determine course and contact hour recommendations per course. 1 NQF credit represents roughly 10 notional hours of work which includes study time, assignments and examinations. Notional hours may very per courses depending on the course level and modality therefore, CEA recommends using NQF credits as a basis to determine U.S. equivalencies (1 NQF=.222 semester credits)