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Sinergie as politiek-ekonomiese strategie by Die Burger 2004–005

The leading South African media groups are subject to challenges to their political economic interests as part of the international capitalist profit economy. These challenges coincided with the democratisation and transformation of South Africa since 1994, which heralded many changes to the national political economic context within which media companies operate. In reaction to these challenges, local media groups have formulated strategies to reposition themselves, along with tendencies such as globalisation and commercialisation, with their (often negative) implications for substantial media content and ideals of equal democratic access and contribution to the media. This raises the question whether traditional journalistic ideals and practices of independence are being put under pressure at the Western Cape Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger by the popular management strategy known as synergy. This article describes from a theoretical perspective of political economy the manifestation, nature and influence of synergy at Die Burger, its publisher, Media24, and their holding company, Naspers. Synergy was found to be a popular strategy at Die Burger in an effort to balance political economic interests in reaction to real and perceived threats to the newspaper’s survival and future growth. The study also shows that synergy has negative implications for the content of Die Burger, the organisation of coverage, as well as traditional journalistic ideals of independence.

Keywords: Afrikaans, apartheid, belange, Die Burger, etiek, kapitalisme, koerante, kunstefeeste, nasionalisme, Naspers, media, politieke ekonomie, sinergie, strategie, uitdagings