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The Business of Business News: South Africa's Financial Press and the Political Process

This article explores the historical development of the financial press in South Africa, and theorizes the role played by the financial news media in the political process, with particular reference to the development of economic policy. Using a new institutional approach, it traces the origins and development of the financial press from the early nineteenth century to 1996, when the ruling ANC adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) strategy as its economic policy, a decisive moment in South Africa's economic policy development. Focusing on the Financial Mail, South Africa's first financial newspaper, as a case study, the article argues that the financial media could be seen as an institution in the economic and political sphere, and that such a view aids an understanding of the political role of the financial media.