SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESS RESTRICTIONS EFFECTS ON PRESS COVERAGE AND PUBLIC OPINION TOWARD SOUTH AFRICA

The 2 November 1985 ban on photographic and sound recordingsby the South African government provided an opportunity to investigatehypotheses concerning the effect of the ban on U.S. media coverageof South Africa and on public opinion toward South Africa. Wehypothesized that the ban would result in (1) a decrease incoverage of protest-related stories, (2) a tapering off of thevolume of coverage, and (3) a decline in the prominence of theSouth Africa story. We further hypothesized that (4) all ofthese effects would be stronger for broadcast than for printmedia, that (5) if the press ban reduced coverage of eventsin South Africa, there would be less attentiveness to the SouthAfrican problem among the general public in the United States,and that (6) sympathy for the black population would decreaseas a result of the press restrictions. We found that the press restrictions did not have the effectspredicted, either on press coverage or on United States publicopinion. Relative to levels of political violence in South Africa,coverage levels did decline. However, the decline did not occurabruptly in November, but appeared as a continuation of decreasesthat had already begun in September, prior to the press restrictions.