Lwanga Mwilu completed her MA thesis under my supervision in 2010. It was a complex piece of work, fusing the following issues:

* Theories of free speech and the limits
* Interrogation of hate speech and xenophobic speech (not exactly the same things)
* Online participation and moderation
* Xenophobic violence in South Africa in 2008

November’s launch of DStv mobile via DVB-H broadcasting symbolises a lot more than you being able to receive TV channels on your cellphone.

The move complements the existing DStv mobile offerings via 3G, available on Vodacom.

The difference is that users pull the content on the 3G service, whereas the new DVB-H is continuously pushed across the airwaves – i.e. the signals are broadcast.

A flurry of private newspapers emerged in Africa around 1990, in reaction to the bad effects of state control. They focused on a democratisation role as primary.

Left to the side was the idea of playing a development role. The political kingdom had to be democratised as a precondition to ending the misdevelopment of the political despots. The very notion of “development journalism” added to this emphasis. Patently, authoritarian governments and top-down messaging had failed to deliver "development".

It's long been a bother that Rhodes' J-School has not had capacity to systematically cover education in health journalism, not least of which is the tough topic of HIV-Aids. Ok, you can't do everything, but after all this is a pretty central issue for society!

Ten days ago, South Africa's political and press logics led to collision and polarisation, plus some unconvincing (at least to opposing sides) game playing. The result was high level rhetoric, intolerance, deadlock and distrust. Understanding this history helps us explain why its changing, and what the prospects are. That's my paper (draft) for a conference on Media, Politics and Public, convened by the Axess Programme on Journalism and Democracy in Stockholm, 22 October.