This chapter focusses on how attempts were made by the ANC to hegemonise society through the construct of ‘developmental journalism’ in post-apartheid South Africa. The argument is that if you stitch the floating signifier ‘development’ to the transformation project as the ANC understood it, then developmental journalism takes on a fixed signification. This is a populist intervention, an unprogressive kind of hegemony, as in the quotation by the ANC member ‘Mthunzi’ who was ‘angry’ because the ANC was painted ‘in a bad light’ by the media, whereas it was ANC members who had sacrificed themselves for the country. In other words, because the ANC had led the liberation struggle, the media should support it in government. The dangerous implication is that the media must step out of its professional role. However, with this kind of ‘logic’ – and it is not an isolated view – the lines between party, state and the role of the media become blurred.

The four sections of this chapter deploy the concepts of hegemony, point de capiton, excess, and surplus enjoyment. I first discuss how ‘developmental journalism’ is a floating signifier but how attempts at foreclosures are made. It must be emphasised, however, that the ANC does not hold a single unified view of the media or the idea that it must be controlled. There are more nuanced positions such as that of ANC NEC and SACP member, Jeremy Cronin, from 2009 the deputy minister of transport, and also a writer and poet and an anti-apartheid activist for many years.