The origin of ideas in the 'Paper for the People': research into how the Sunday Times chooses topics and commentators for its opinion pages

摘要

AbstractudThe topics in the opinion pages of newspapers are the substance of much public debate anduddiscussion. This research report focuses on the Sunday Times, one of South Africa's mostudinfluential newspapers, and seeks to understand how columnists and issues are chosen for itsudopinion and analysis pages. The research was conducted by interviewing decision-makers at theudSunday Times, observing them during their meetings and conducting a content analysis of theudnewspaper. The findings identify journalistic professional practice as a key element in theudselection process, along with an awareness of, and to some extent, identification with, a nationaludproject of transformation in a post-repressive regime. The findings also point to how issues ofudtransformation in South Africa affect how media decision-makers consider their own jobs andudmotivates them to make conscious efforts to push the media agenda forward in a wayudconstructive to public discourse.