Prof Pieter Fourie

Qualifications

• D Litt et Phil Communication (Unisa, 1982)

NRF Rating

Fields of academic interests

• Mass communication
• Media and meaning production (media semiotics)
• Political economy of the media

Field of Specialisation

• Communication Science
• Media Studies
• Semiotics

Books

Book chapters:

• 2015     Milton, v.c. & Fourie, P.J. 2014. South Africa: A free media still in the making, in Mapping BRICS media, edited by K. Nordenstreng and D. K. Thussu. London: Routledge. pp 181-201.

• 2016     Functionalism, in The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, edited by Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Robert T Craig. Hoboken, NJ.:  Wiley-Blackwell. (pp. 2360- 2368.)

• 2017     Social media and mediated communication in postmodern society, in Media Studies Volume 4: Social (new) media and mediated communication today, edited by Pieter J Fourie. Lansdowne, Cape Town: Juta. (pp 1-41)

Journal articles

• 2015     Functionalism, in International Encyclopaedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, edited by Klaus Bruhn Jensen. 2014. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ .

• 2015     Fourie, P.J. 2015. Die media se “beeld”van die samelewing: ʼn Semiologiese perspektief (The media’s “image” of society: A semiotic perspective). Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, Vol. 55(4), pp 570-583.

• 2017     Fourie, P.J. Normative media theory, the digital media landscape and late-modern society: The need to move from media ethics to ethical communication. Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, Vol 43(2).

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

• 1970 – 1975 Journalist/ 1975 – 1982 Lecturer
• 1983 – Professor in Communication Science
• Lifelong Fellow South African Communication Science/ Fellow of the Institute of Communicology (USA) / Stals Award,  South African Academy of Science and Arts/ National Research Foundation Rated Researcher 

Projects

• The media sphere of mediated communication
• Normative media theory
• Media culture

Other

Pieter J. Fourie is an Emeritus Professor and Research Fellow in Communication Science at the University of South Africa. He is the author of a number of books on media studies, the editor-in-chief of the accredited journal Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, a former president of the South African Communication Association, and a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher. He serves on a number of national and international editorial boards and scientific committees. He has published various accredited research articles, contributions to books, and conference papers on topics ranging from media semiotics and pictorial communication to normative media theory and philosophy, media and society, and the political economy of the media. He was awarded the South African Academy of Science and Arts’ Stals Prize for his contribution to the development of Communication Science in South Africa, Lifelong Fellowship of the South African Communication Association, and Fellowship of the USA Institute for Communicology. He was a previous head of Unisa’s Department of Communication Science (1987-2004), lectured media studies, and supervised numerous doctoral students.