Africa’s media plays its part
Thoko Modise
It is often said, with reason sometimes, that much of what is known about AFRICA around the world comes from narratives created and images carefully curated by the media, often global media. African media is often said to either play the role of unsuspecting facilitators of such narratives, in cases where it plays the part of ‘local partner’ for international media houses, or direct, stand-alone, purveyors of such narratives, as they seek to satisfy international news hunger for clichéd African stories by simply feeding such hunger with stories that affirm its prejudices. Read Full Article
Celebrating 25 years of media freedom
Phumla Williams
Those who were fortunate enough to live through our democratic change in the months leading up to April 1994, literally saw history unfolding before their very eyes. The birth of our democracy brought many changes and ushered in an era of free and independent media. We should, however, never forget that we come from a history of exclusion and media restrictions. Before 1994, our society was characterised by a culture of secrecy, disinformation and restrictions on press freedom. Read Full Article
South Africa can be proud of its robust media freedom
Shannon Ebrahim
We may have plenty of challenges as a country, but what few of us fully appreciate is the pivotal role our media plays, and just how free and robust the South African media is when compared to other countries. At present we may have high levels of tension between major media houses and what they represent, but South Africa scores higher in terms of media freedom than any of our BRICS partners or even the US and UK – long considered beacons of media freedom. Read Full Article