Land reform in the news: An analysis of how certain South African newspapers covered land reform before and after the 2005 National Land Summit

Abstract

This thesis investigates land reform coverage at the time of the land summit through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Hard news reports, editorials and opinion pieces that appeared in the daily newspapers Beeld, Business day, Sowetan and Sunday newspapers Rapport and Sunday Times between July and September 2005 were analysed in terms of what they reported , issues that received little attention, portrayal of certain issues and sources used. The findings were used to make inference about the degree to which the newspapers in the study fulfill their societal roles.