FES South Africa: How Does the South African Media Report on the Economy?

This question was in focus during a roundtable discussion the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) hosted in cooperation with the South African Civil Society information Service (SACSIS) earlier this year. The meeting sought to get a better understanding of how the South African media reports on the economy. Videos with excerpts from the discussion are now available online.

Given the financial crisis of 2008 and the global recession that followed, 30 million people around the world have lost their jobs, according to a co-authored International Labour Organisation report.

The impact of the crisis on South Africa has been significant too with more than a million people having lost their jobs since its onset.

As the media holds the key to shaping and informing public opinion, it became important for SACSIS and FES to determine how the media was framing the debate about South Africa’s economic development in a post-crisis world.

For the roundtable discussion they invited senior editors from some of South Africa’s major newspapers to come and share their views about how the media reports on the economy.

Besides others Nic Dawes (Editor in Chief, Mail & Guardian), Alide Dasnois (Editor, Cape Times), Mondli Makhanya (Editor in Chief, Avusa Media and Chairman of SANEF) and Reg Rumney (Head of the Centre for Economics Journalism in Africa, Rhodes University) honoured the invitation.

Watch what they think.

Nicholas Dawes (Editor in Chief of Mail and Guardian) "The media is pretty bad in covering economy, but..."

Mondli Makhanya (Editor in Chief of Avusa Media and Chairman of SANEF) "The Media Provides a Great Platform for Economic Conversations"

Reg Rumney (Head of the Centre for Economics Journalism in Africa, Rhodes University) "Focusing Only on the Social Responsibility Aspect of Journalism Can Lead You Astra"