Obituary: Arnold (Arrie) Stephanus de Beer. A Man with a Plan

Abstract

Professor Arnold (Arrie) de Beer (MA RAU; MIJ Baylor; PhD Potchefstroom) was a Professor Extraordinary, Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research topics included the role of media in South African society, news flow and journalism education. Until 2019 he was a member of the executive committee and African coordinator of the Worlds of Journalism Study, the largest international research project to date. In 1980 he founded Ecquid Novi, now titled African Journalism Studies. He was the editor of Global Journalism (Pearson). A former journalist with Die Burger and Die Transvaler, he edited the Ensiklopedie van die Wêreld before moving to academia in 1974. He was head of the departments of Communication at Free State University and the University of the North-West (Potchefstroom) and acting head at the University of Johannesburg (RAU). He was a member of the early SABC Board during the transition; the SA Media Council; the SA Press Council; the Appeals Committee of the SA Press Ombudsman; and he was a journalism academic representative on the South African National Editors’ Forum. De Beer was a cofounder and president of the South African Communication Association and a Lifelong Fellow. He was a co-founder and executive committee member of the South African Public Relations Institute and an accredited public relations practitioner. He was the first recipient of the Stals Prize in the field of journalism, awarded by the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. A visiting scholar at the universities of Washington, Baylor and Indiana-Purdue, he was also a professor extraordinary at the University of the Western Cape.