South Africa and the international media, 1972-1979

"During the 1970s, the South African Department of Information attempted to manipulate and neutralise the international media treatment of South Africa. This programme was later exposed in what became known as the 'Information' scandal." "Foreign correspondents in South Africa numbered little more than a dozen in 1972. By the end of the decade, however, they had become a formidable force. This was directly related to the events on the ground: the Angolan war and the Soweto uprising. In general, American journalists tended to represent South Africa as a metaphor for the racial problems of the United States, whereas British commentators discussed the country in the context of a decolonisation story that had somehow gone wrong."--Jacket.