When formal apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, several policies were introduced to address the racial and economic segregation of the past. One such policy was Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), designed mainly to facilitate an increase in black ownership across sectors.
The media was one of the sectors BEE legislation aimed to transform. Media ownership has notably transformed from no black owned media companies prior to 1994 to now substantial black ownership of South Africa’s commercial media. Four of the biggest operators are black controlled and smaller operators have substantial black shareholding.
