ABSTRACT
Newspapers," Francis Williams has written, "are unique barometers of their age. They indicate more plainly than anything else the climate of the societies to which they belong. However much analysts of contemporary South Africa may debate the causes of its turning away from apartheid and the route the country will take to a postapartheid era, the 1970s unquestionably marked the beginning of this transition. This period of change, it is argued, is of fundamental importance to the press. South Africa's press accurately reflects the country's single most important political and economic reality: white dominance. The ownership, management, and editorial control of virtually all of South Africa's mainstream press is in white hands. Even the nation's only black daily, the Sowetan, is owned by the white-controlled Argus Company. South Africa's papers are in effect controlled by four newspaper groups. The Argus Printing and Publishing Company and Times Media Limited (TML; formerly South African Associated Newspapers, or SAAN) dominate the English press.
