South Africa's Press Restrictions Effects on Press Coverage and Public Opinion Toward South Africa

The 2 November 1985 ban on photographic and sound recordings by the South African government provided an opportunity to investigate hypotheses concerning the effect of the ban on U.S. media coverage of South Africa and on public opinion toward South Africa. We hypothesized that the ban would result in (1) a decrease in coverage of protest-related stories, (2) a tapering off of the volume of coverage, and (3) a decline in the prominence of the South Africa story. We further hypothesized that (4) all of these effects would be stronger for broadcast than for print media, that (5) if the press ban reduced coverage of events in South Africa, there would be less attentiveness to the South African problem among the general public in the United States, and that (6) sympathy for the black population would decrease as a result of the press restrictions. We found that the press restrictions did not have the effects predicted, either on press coverage or on United States public opinion. Relative to levels of political violence in South Africa, coverage levels did decline. However, the decline did not occur abruptly in November, but appeared as a continuation of decreases that had already begun in September, prior to the press restrictions.