The 2024 index was released today and the South African National Editors Forum looks at the country’s media landscape and its challenges.
In 2024, South Africa ranked 38th worldwide for press freedom, this is according to the World Press Freedom Index. This year’s ranking was informed by the increasing issue of low funding for media outlets, which has greatly impacted news production in the country.
The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is a grading of countries by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released annually on World Press Freedom Day. It is based on their assessment of each country’s press freedom records for the year prior.
These rankings paint a partial picture of the journalism landscape across the world annually; and help to identify countries with the least press freedom. In 2022, RSF altered the index methodology from what was used between 2013 to 2021. The new methodology centred on six main categories: pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.
In the continent, South Africa has ranked well, oftentimes reaching the second highest position. RSF states it is because “South Africa guarantees press freedom and has a well-established culture of investigative journalism” but is hindered by the fact that journalists are often the subject of attacks by political leaders. However, in 2024 the ranking has decreased to 38 from 25.
Speaking to Wits Vuvuzela about the state of journalism in the country,Reggy Moalusi, the executive director of the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF), believes that South Africa has a robust press environment: “Over the years [South African Journalism] has proven itself to be among the best in the world, particularly when it comes to questioning the public and private sectors.”
Moalusi notes that the landscape could be better especially “from a point of view of how journalists are treated and [the] continuous and rising bullying online of journalists, particularly female ones.” This time last year, a documentary recounting the extensive harassment towards female journalists was released entitled Section 16, which takes its name from section 16 of the constitution.
Seasoned journalist and editor, Candice Bailey, said that since 2024 is a prominent election year, electioneering may play a prominent role in our ranking in the coming year. She reflected on news reports that Moshoeshoe Monare, the group executive of SABC had been intimidated by the State Security Agency over the weekend.
Aside from social media, another avenue for the harassment and silencing of journalists is the legal system. In a secret court application, the Moti Group interdicted amaBhungane from using leaked confidential documents to expose their illicit mining ventures.
While unfortunate, Moalusi believes these instances shows the resilience of journalists as they continue to tell South African stories despite the attacks. “Media freedom embedded in journalism is our greatest tool.
“[We] need journalists to feel protected by the law”, said Bailey. She believes that the court victory by Karyn Maughan against former President Jacob Zuma will reflect positively in this year’s evaluations.
Infrastructure could potentially bring down South Africa’s ranking. South Africa is plagued by a financial crisis that does not seem to be improving. It came to a head this past year when Independent Media, the owners of publications such as The Star and The Cape Times, retrenched 128 employees, yet was still unable to pay severance packages on time. Less than a month ago, Daily Maverick shut down their entire website to highlight what they call a “state of emergency in journalism” where more than 70% of journalists have left the field.
The future is not all bleak. Moalusi shared that SANEF is launching a Journalist Sustainability Fund to “raise revenue to invest back into newsrooms.” He mentions that even though it is still in the developmental stage, “several companies and stakeholders have been receptive to the idea so we hope by the time we start raising our hands, corporate South Africa will respond.” Therefore, no matter the constraints, the passion felt by journalists will continue fueling robust, independent and thorough journalism and that will be reflected in this year’s rankings.
Daily Maverick’s ‘shut down’ successfully highlighted the dire state of journalism, but also left student journalists with fears about the future.
On April 15, 2024, tens of thousands of South Africans loaded up the Daily Maverick website to read the daily news, only to find a black screen with the words ‘Daily Maverick has shut down’ in bold white lettering.
For 24 hours, the news site was shut down to highlight what Daily Maverick calls the “global state of emergency in journalism”. This state of emergency is driven primarily by economic pressures and the rapid expansion of digital technologies. Daily Maverick plainly states there is “a market failure in journalism”, which is culling off smaller news organisations and local metro press.
Daily Maverick reiterated that the shutdown is not simply for or about them – “it’s about every legitimate newsroom in the country that needs public and corporate support” to continue functioning. Without journalism, they warned, “our democracy and economy will break down”.
A screen grab of the Daily Maverick home page on April 15, 2024.
While no journalism student in the country is unaware of the issues in the field, the shutdown was still alarming and rather fear-inducing for some of us. A media communique from Daily Maverick pointed out that 70% of local journalists have left the field in the last 15 years due to this crisis.
A study by Glenda Daniels notes that the number of community newspapers countrywide has fallen from 575 to just over 250 in the last ten years, as small papers fold and their journalists leave the field. Most young people are already anxious about the job market and their prospects, but as a student journalist I feel an almost indomitable fear for my future.
Associate business editor for Daily Maverick, Neesa Moodley, speaks to the deterioration of journalism and its effect on young journalists. We no longer have the privilege to specialise in just one aspect of media like before. “In my youth, you could decide if you wanted to be a news photographer, a broadcast journalist, or a print journalist. In today’s newsrooms, you need to be able to do all three” if you want to make the cut, she says.
Even if you can conquer all these skills and enter the workforce, retrenchments and slim budgets mean mentors for young journalists are few and far between. Many experienced journalists are opting to freelance, write press releases or work as ghost writers in the corporate field. As such, “eager graduates are thrown in the deep end with little to no guidance,” says Moodley.
Spelling and grammar issues abound, and Moodley highlights the “increasing incidence of press releases used verbatim” as news articles by inexperienced and overworked juniors.
This is all part of what she calls the “juniorisation” of the newsroom – a frightening concept for us student journalists who are without established sources or intimate knowledge of the playing field. It feels rather like being made captain of a sinking ship.
But with resounding positivity, Moodley is unwilling to accept this as the new status quo. “Daily Maverick dearly hopes that the bold move we made in the last week will have kickstarted the public awareness and conversation around the funding of journalism” she says. No journalists, especially young ones without expertise, deserve to provide such an important public service with so little help.
Going forward, hopefully individuals and companies come to see the massive value difference between shoddy citizen journalism and real journalism produced by journalists with what Moodley calls a “bullshit” filter, and fierce commitment to the dogged pursuit of the truth. Journalism students can lead the charge here – we can scream from the rooftops about the crisis in journalism, and make friends, family, and peers aware of how our democracy rides on the back of quality, well-funded journalism.
Educators and mentors can be a part of this fight too. As Trish Audette-Longo and Christianna Alexiou note, it is essential to talk students through crises in the field and to encourage young journalists to “[imagine] different journalism futures” instead of simply accepting the job as it is. If we fight now for our future, then maybe by the time it becomes our present reality, the crisis will be a thing of the past.
‘When I get into something, I don’t let it go, regardless of how difficult it is,’ says the newly minted PhD holder.
Lecturer at the Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ), Dr. Enoch Sithole recently obtained his PhD on his extensive research into media coverage of climate change in South Africa.
Sithole was born in the old mining town of Barberton in Mpumalanga, in 1965 to a Swazi mother and a Tsonga father. He left Barberton at the age of 12 and went to Mozambique with his dad, spending nine years in the country. Sithole attributes the move to his multilingualism, he is proficient in Tsonga, Swati, English and Portuguese.
He returned to the country in 1983 and followed his father’s footsteps by working at the same mine in Baberton. “My interest in journalism came under anti-apartheid activism when I joined a workers’ union and became a heavy consumer of news,” shared Sithole. Consequently, he was recruited at an anti-apartheid newspaper in 1988 called New Nation, he joined permanently as a reporter after three months of training.
“When I was thinking about my PhD, I tried to find something that would be unique. I could have done my PhD on a purely journalism subject because that is my background.” Sithole decided to research on climate change for his doctorate, noting that the media only covers the topic during conferences or when there are disastrous events.
His research emphasized that climate change should not be looked at as only existing in the physical science space because solutions to the global issue are also found in social spaces. “If we’re going to involve everybody in fighting climate change we need to communicate. I want to take a subject such as climate change to the masses through journalism and other communication methods,” said Sithole.
The father of two children and three grandchildren graduated with honours in 2017, a master’s in 2018 and recently a doctorate on April 24, 2023, whilst working as a lecturer at the WCJ. Sithole said the field of journalism is demanding especially when one is trying to complete their studies while working. “One needs to plan their life accordingly, even your family will understand that it’s work, it’s not something you can avoid,” said Sithole.
Sithole is currently working on a proposal to “determine empirically, not speculatively” why media rarely covers climate change and why people find climate change an elusive subject. This is in addition to a report he wrote for Fojo Media Institute about the inadequacy of climate change reportage in South Africa between 2021 and 2022.
Programme coordinator at Fojo Media Institute, Jean Mujati described Sithole as a very humble and professional person. She further mentioned that he was recommended by the former WCJ director Professor Franz Kruger. “We [the institute] needed an expert who understood the South African media landscape, [which is] something that we found in Dr Sithole,” Mujati said.
While Kruger said he worked with Sithole at New Nation in the 1980s. “I appreciate Enoch for his experience in the media, and his insightful way of thinking about issues in journalism. His focus on climate change reporting is timely, and I am very happy that he completed his PhD in the area.”
“I have my PhD, now it’s a matter of making it work” said Sithole. He further noted that he would love to continue teaching journalism and increasingly combine it with climate change.
His final words were, “One thing I would like people to know about me is that I tend to commit to what I want to do, I grab hard. When I get into something, I don’t let it go, regardless of how difficult it is”.
FEATURED IMAGE: Dr. Enoch Sithole posiing for a picture at his office at the Wits Centre for Journalism. Photo: Sfundo Parakozov
The 18th edition of the African Investigative Journalism Conference wrapped up on November 2, 2022, have a look at some of the highlights captured by the Wits Vuvuzela team.
The world of journalism is awash with endless possibilities, and after entering it with the aim of ending up in broadcast journalism – a year’s worth of training has unveiled many other interests I never imagined I had.
Looking back to my high school days, I had often watched e-News and fell deeply in love with broadcast journalism after seeing anchor Nikiwe Bikitsha doing a live crossing during the funeral of the late great Nelson Mandela and testing prominent South Africans with tough questions.
As I took in her work on a daily basis, I admired the way she articulated herself, put corrupt officials in the hot seat by asking them tough questions live on air and how she moved effortlessly between television and radio.
Bikitsha certainly inspired me to pursue journalism with the hopes of one day being a senior news anchor on one of the world’s respected news channels. And so, with this in mind, I started my honours in journalism and media studies degree at Wits University in 2018.
After getting admitted to the journalism honours programme, I chose to major in television/videography with the aim of learning how to speak with confidence and poise in front of the camera before I finished my degree.
Little did I know that I would end up learning how to operate a camera, to be the one interviewing people from behind the camera and editing the footage into an entire news or lifestyle package.
I have basically learned how to produce videos that have more than just talking heads, but include sequences, cutaways and whatever else is needed to make a great video even fit for television. This was certainly way more than I had bargained for and I fell in love with the craft more and more as the year progressed.
The scope of experience I gained in the Wits journalism department proved that videography was not the only aspect of the course that became my ‘thing’. Investigating and writing ‘spicy’ stories, as my peers would call them, became one of my favourite things to do as a young journalist.
The excitement that came with hearing the rumours about a certain professor being dismissed from the university for nondisclosure of a relationship with his student was exciting enough, but it didn’t match the thrill of digging deeper,proving the story was actually true, and getting to interview all the people involved.
Beyond those spicy stories though, I also admired feature writing from a distance. After having to work on a feature article for the 2018 in depth project, I learned how difficult it is to find the right words to describe one’s surroundings in the form of showing instead of telling. Although I have not perfected the art of feature writing as yet, I certainly know a thing or two about such articles, all thanks to my mentors.
Now that I am a qualified journalist, I have come to appreciate the multifaceted field of journalism and certainly look forward to using each and every one of my skills to expand my horizons as opposed to only heading to the one thing that brought me to Wits Journalism, broadcast journalism.
A book launch that ended day one of the African Investigative Journalism Conference brought together some of the major contributors to a new collection of investigative articles.(more…)
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
