Coverage of language-related topics, and in particular, language rights and language policy issues in the South African printed media

Abstract

The printed media is an important instrument in bringing about community mobilisation, and can make a contribution in the debate on language matters by influencing the political (ideological) orientation of policy-makers which at this stage can be characterised as internationalisation. Internationalisation leads to language hierachisation or linguicism. Linguicism entails that the resources of minority groups, which include language, are seen as handicaps. The empirical investigation reported on in this article established inter alia the percentage of topics reported on, the distribution of reporting per language medium of newspapers, the types of records on language complaints, and the sources of language rights incidents. In order to determine the validity of the conclusions
the results are compared to official complaints lodged with PanSALB. It was established that the printed media is a reliable barometer of the feelings and attitudes of its readers, and a government can benefit by ensuring that citizens’ constitutional rights are upheld, and avoid conflicts by seeking to solve problems before they escalate.