South African Journalism and Mass Communication Research on Youth and News Media: A Reflection

Between 1987 and 2003 several academic works, particularly in the context of South African journalism and mass communication scholarship (JMCS), have explored the relationship between South African youth and news media in the research area of the global and the local. This thematic meta-study explores conceptual and methodological frameworks through which they have investigated this relationship. It concentrates primarily on the exploration and framing of the relationship; choice of medium of study; construction of youth identity; and preferred research methodologies and theoretical approaches. The investigation is contextualized within ontological, epistemological, and political-ideological debates in local JMCS, and in global discourses on youth and news media. The study concludes that post-1994 local studies largely adopted qualitative research methods, critical social theory, and cultural studies, rather than socialization and functionalist theories. The studies also defined youth in sociocultural, rather than in political, terms. Limitations of South African research on youth and news media are noted.