There has been a lively debate about NGOs, and the role they might play in an emerging civil society. However,indications are,with the funding crisis deepening and a loss of leadership into government,that this sector may not be able to significantly support new organisational impulses.
• The research conducted into the RTV operation foregrounded the problem of measuring an audience. Against claims of900 customers per day at each of +/-200 outlets in the KwaZulu-Natal region, we found the actual number of people in the vicinity ofthe television to be about a third of that (Burton 1994: 1). The
indeterminacies of measuring the 'hit rate' ofRTV pale into insignificance against the indeterminacies of the meanings constructed by viewers. These were not
explored in much detail, as the survey method used wasillsuited to the discovery of interpretative frameworks.
• The stores themselves were extremely important nodes of interpersonal
communication. The majority of people interviewed at the stores used them for telephony and post; many people came to the store with the intention of meeting friends;many people saw the store as the place where chores could be combined with leisure. In fact a development initiative revolving around the stores has survived the demise ofRTV itself.
• The viewers ofRTV differed widely in their social characteristics and this was reflected in their identification of what they 'saw' on the television. This is particularly marked by gender,with women indicating that it was educative
information they received,while men overwhelmingly identified what they 'saw' as entertainment;
• The television was clearly privileged over radio and print as a medium of
information. This is not surprising considering literacy rates are low, but surprising in as much as radio has a very high penetration in rural areas. There was a very
strong identification of television with leisure and entertainment (particularly among men) which left the researchers with a sense that television as a medium, dominated in this instance with content purchased from the SABC,was already configured for people as leisure, luxury and entertainment.
While the research into the RTV mechanism only highlighted certain aspects of the relationship between media and everyday life in the periphery,and helped to consolidate sociological knowledge of social structure, it did point towards a view that poorer segments of an already impoverished rural sector were viewing television with a different set of expectations to those with jo bs and more educational qualifications,who tended to expect more of the television, in terms of education, news and current affairs.
This attempt at 'cultural entrepreneurship' has now failed, but some of the additional arms of the project, not all of which died with it,are interesting.
First,the linking of the circulation of pre-recorded tapes to Roadshows, which combined product promotion with cultural activities (dancing and singing in particular), provided both a support mechanism for the mass media by bringing well-known personalities from the world of radio to these shows,and promoted a form of indigenous expression more authentic than that to be found in tourist venues where tradition is 'modernised'.
Secondly,the establishment of Ladies Clubs which provided a structured environment for product promotion, but also presumably for feedback to the RTV network itself on women's views,problems and desires.
Thirdly,the Roots Television initiative,which consisted ofvideoing important events so that people would see themselves on the screens in the stores,approximates some of the video experiments elsewhere in the world,although these were vehicles for product promotions.
These all constitute attempts at binding,through media or organisation, groups, on the basis of certain fields of identity,although the overall aims were not of development as such.
However,the broader perspective is more depressing: the effort which went into the privileging oflocal culture (Martin-Barbero's 'cultural habitat')was polluted by the
appearance of'cultures' not linked to this habitat,which creates problems in communicating the value of local culture as a vehicle for the expression of a changing social existence (Martin-Barbero 1993). The peculiar mixof 'tradition' and 'modernity' delivered through this mechanism feeds into a fantasy of what the world is like and may have contributed to ideas about development itself (Francis 2002).
As indicated above,the survey methodology made it difficult to explore the construction of actors own meanings of the RTV,not simply in terms of what they saw, but in terms of its contribution to a new site of cultural resource appropriation - a new interface.
Itbecame clear that no in-depth exploration of these issues could be conducted without a more open-ended methodology,and a series of focus group discussions were planned for
1995.
In an effort to develop a framework for focus group research, 21 in-depth, open-ended interviews were conducted (in April 1995) with a wide range of people living in rural areas of Northem KwaZulu-Natal. The interviews were based on a purposive sample of young people between the ages of 16 and 25.
These interviews were conducted in order to establish what people understood by 'information' and 'knowledge'; where it comes from and what it means for them.
What emerged from these interviews was a clear recognition that people were information- disadvantaged,particularly the young,and that the scope for social advancement was
broadened by the mass media whose potential to carry educative information was perceived.
The interviews also raised the following issues:
• access to media in a domestic context is more important for younger people,with an overwhelming identification ofthe father as a gatekeeper,although at different times during the day;
• that the media content is an important source of conversation in the household,with the initiation of conversation fairly evenly spread around members of the household;
• that issues in the media are often the springboard for discussions about politics, behaviour (respect and obedience) and schoolwork, although the strongest voice (the father) is not usually the one most likely to counter argue with media items;
• that literacy is highly valued, and newspapers generally perceived as more important;
and information carried by the press is more important;
• that the most valuable information is carried by the media rather than by word of mouth, but that the search for information is channelled through educated people or the tribal authority figures. These views are counter argued by confusion about which forms of information (mass media or word of mouth) is most believable;
• a very clear recognition of the status and gender biases in the sharing of information, and an equation of institutional authority with knowledge/information resources.
On the basis of these findings,a more systematic project of investigating questions of information was undertaken.