The Craft

The free press must fight back

Waving farewell to the veteran journalist and activist

Have female station managers broken through the glass ceiling?

“Millions of South Africans rely on the public broadcaster”

My Dear Americans. So very sorry to hear about your new president and the appalling way he’s treating you. I really, really feel your pain. But be of good cheer. You’re not alone. We, here in South Africa, know what it’s like to elect a paranoid, grandiose, delusional, narcissistic, demagogic and probably sociopathic president. Our version is Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma — a corrupt, giggling, barely-educated Zulu polygamist worth some $215-million after a lifetime in various forms of politics,...

SONA in the media and the #SPHERE

Has model of neutral press been rendered inoperable?

Moving away from apartheid era stereotypes

Remembering the ‘media giant’

Re-affirming undercover journalism practices

“ensuring that the continent’s sunlight is strengthened and that information darkness becomes a thing of the past.”

Catch-22 for student journalists

Building local democracy in Upington

Local Government in South Africa: Briefing Notes for Journalists: Part 2

Tim Knight The Jimi Matthews who quit as the SABC’s acting Group Chief Executive was once a fierce and dedicated defender of freedom of the press. I knew him back around 1994 when the SABC lured me from Canada — where I’d been head of TV journalism training for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) — to coach its newsrooms in the ways of democratic journalism. My job was to lead a team of Canadian TV journalism trainers to help the SABC report professionally and honestly on the new...

Briefing Notes for Journalists: Part One

Surveillance: a threat to journalists and activists

The Con When most people think or speak about internet freedom, they are often concerned with the right, for example, to say what you want online without censorship and without being subject to the chilling effects of surveillance. These kind of freedoms are sometimes called “negative freedoms” or “freedoms from…”. They address the right not to be interfered with or obstructed in living your life. But there are also “positive freedoms” — “freedoms to…” Some constitutions – notably the US...

The Con One key measure of a country’s levels of freedom and democracy is how the government treats journalists and how free they are to do their work. Sadly, based on a range of measures, including number of deaths, detention and government control of the media, the situation for journalists has worsened in the world. Three organisations monitor press freedom across the world. They are the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House and Reporters without Borders. All use similar...

Professor of Journalism, Cardiff University

Veteran journalist, activist and Africanist Mathatha Tsedu is set to join Wits Journalism as an adjunct professor focusing on growing connections to the continent as well as tackling issues of transformation in South African media. Tsedu said that his two main priorities will be establishing exchange programmes for Wits Journalism students and academics with other journalism schools around Africa as well as transforming the curriculum by introducing “a more afro-centric and less euro-centered...

Concern over growing authoritarianism

The rise of community radio in post-apartheid South Africa

Pocket studios key in #FeesMustFall protests