“More Than Just TV”: Educational Broadcasting and Popular Culture in South Africa

This chapter discusses an innovative approach to educational broadcasting developed in post-apartheid South Africa, in a broader context of media globalization, international policy transfer, and socio-economic and cultural transformation. I argue that the reorganization of the spatial scales at which media economies and regulatory regimes operate requires the rethinking of established understandings of the relationships between media, children, and citizenship. ‘Globalization’ does not spell the end of national-level public policy, but it does require an adjustment in the objectives of media policies. And in certain respects, contemporary developments open up opportunities for innovation.