The future of broadcasting and the
Internet in South Africa
Prof Christo Doherty
Head of Digital Arts
WSOA
University of the Witwatersrand

Main points
• The Internet became the Web which is becoming the Net - a
broadband networked world
• On the Net - content is not king
• The significance of Google’s success - making connections between
people and information
• P2P and Web 2.0 – people developing their own connections
• Learning to live in a connected world

South Africa
and the networked world
• Internet access in South Africa has been limited due to
political and economic factors
• Behaviour of SA Net users is no different to the rest of
the world, though the audience is smaller
• This presentation looks at broad trends which will
impact on broadcasting in SA in the same way as
elsewhere

The history of the Net
• The Internet became the Web
• The Web was massively overvalued – dot.com
became dot.bomb!
• But left behind infrastructure for a broadband
networked world – the Net

NYTimes.com
the fallacy of convergence
• On the Net - content is not king
• It’s not about convergence
• The perplexing case of NewYorkTimes.com
and the failure of the USA newspaper
business

The prehistory of the Net –
there once were portals

Yahoo –
when a portal wasn’t enough

Google
The significance of SEARCH

The consequence of search –
disaggregation of content

Napster and the rise of
Peer2Peer networks
• Napster connected people to each other’s music,
bypassing the distribution systems of the record
companies
• It’s not just about free content – it’s about
escaping the control of gatekeepers
• The Net is profoundly anti-hierarchical

Facebook etc
connecting people to people
• Once people are connecting to each other, the
Net is born
• Facebook etc stimulates the proliferation of
networks

The Net as the
network of connections
• The Net is about maintaining connections
• Not about content – even User Generated
Content – but about staying connected
• Connection is life

Broadcasters tripped-up by the Net
• Reality shows and audience counter-strategies
• Broadcasters try fake amateur content – the
backlash against LonelyGirl15

Even Google are struggling …
• YouTube – the cost of bandwidth and the
problem of a sustainable business model

Lessons from a networked world
• Audience profoundly hostile to authority and
commercialism
• Electronic swarm is fickle and unpredictable
• Unlike radio & TV which are systems set-up to make a
profit, the Net has come into being in a more spontaneous
way
• Broadcasters who understand the centrality of connections
will find a way forward

Thank you
christo.doherty@wits.ac.za