South African media, 1994-7: Globalizing via political economy

Trade and economic sanctions against South Africa ended following the demise of legislated apartheid after 1990. International capital had begun by 1994 to acquire interests in local media companies. Domestic black empowerment groups also made major purchases in previously white-owned media corporations. In this chapter I chart the course of these ownership changes and some of the associated ideological shifts. I also examine their significance in terms of democracy and the globalization of black-dominated capital at the end of 1996. The background to these momentous changes will be briefly discussed in terms of: • opposing historical ideologies-Afrikaner nationalism versus English-derived liberalism; • oppositional discourses deriving from black and nonracial movements; and • post-apartheid media trends in terms of the new lexicons of “nation-building�? and “empowerment.�?.