Journalism: A static profession in an evolved world

Imagine five South African media bigwigs standing over journalism’s cadaver.

Blood splattered all over the place like an alleged Hermanus suicide scene in March 2024.

The Daily Maverick’s ever-adversarial Styli Charalambous and Branko Brkic solemnly proffer: “This is the government's fault. The business community and policy makers cannot be ruled out as well! They provided no support at all!”

“And the public!” sobs outgoing Media24 CEO, Ishmet Davidson.

“Google and Meta have starved us of OUR advertising revenue! These two gobble up 81% of this pie alone. Utter anti-competitive behaviour!” pules Pule Molebeledi, senior executive at Arena Holdings.

As we observe World News Day this Saturday, 28 September 2024 we really ought to reflect, honestly, as media practitioners.

The media is said to be in dire straits.

As I type this there are big restructuring processes underway in certain newsrooms. Numbers, or let me rather say human beings, are being cut out, when the inverse should apply.

I largely blame media owners and their senior executives for being unable to innovate and understand that they are no longer in the business of selling news and being watchdogs.

Anyone running a media company or a newsroom today should treat each and every aspect of what they produce and their journalists' time as commodities.

When you are no longer a peddler of news, consider the alternative of using your perceived ink-might for the ability to effect change. For 'the public' you serve, the media must be a solutions platform. Be dependable and effect changes. And do not forget to bill someone for these efforts; bill Bill Gates or any philanthropist but what you will not do is step out of the newsroom for free.

Pivot. Pivot. Pivot. If Antarctica was once a scorching hot desert and you thrived on selling ice and cold drinks there, would you continue selling ice-cold products if Antarctica suddenly became what it is today? The coldest iciest continent. Well, our dear media would still try to sell ice there.

As far back as 2002 the (Select-few) South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) launched a skills audit which concluded that the general standard of journalism in South Africa was "low". This was attributed to the media’s hyper-adversarial stance towards government / power (read 'basic advertisers'), the post-1994 talent flight or journalists going for higher paying corporate/state jobs and the much-loved cliche “juniorisation” of newsrooms.

The hyper-adversarial nature of media in South Africa fuels cynicism in audiences which in turn fuels political apathy instead of stimulating public debate.

And advertiser-flight.

Watch watchdog aspirations dissipate the day it dawns on media practitioners that in the information age, where everyone knows everything and anyone can afford an audience, you simply cannot pride yourself in being the exclusive purveyor of thought leadership and news.

What the media needs to do as a matter of urgency is to commodify everything under its belt; bill the government or companies for attending their events and press briefings, bill search engines and social media sites for your content. Legislate for policies that will work to your advantage on this billing-for-everything.

Above all, give nothing away for free. Absolutely nothing.

Study the internet-of-things and copy your perceived threats (AI, Mark, Elon, etc). Elon is building a digital bank or trading space with that X. He has been at it since March 1999 with X. Watch him closely, he understands what is for sale. You, as media, do not.

Thereafter understand that these threats are all platform-based. Create and sell your own platforms. Content alone won't take you far in terms of revenue, your public is busy volunteering right next to you.

If digital fascinates a media owner so much, then one should not be employing less than 150 people for a digital newsroom. They should be shadowing the New York Times digital strategy to the t. NYT employs well-over 5900 people to service their +10-million subscribers. Invite their CEO, Meredith Kopit Levien, or even better poach one of his senior executives or bring them down to South Africa to remodel your newsrooms for digital.

And whatever you do with digital, understand that your news website must have games and highly interactive content. What you print, is not what you post online.

News websites, as a basic norm, should have their own hyperlocalised Wordles, Solitaires, Tik-Tokking tools and employ software/game developers by the truckload.

Overall, the media needs to understand that in a population of 60-million South Africans how is print media is fighting for a measly million readers only.

How do media companies settle for 1.667% of their potential market? Instead of downscaling they should be upcaling and introducing new media products every single week.

This Sekunjalo-did-this-and-that, Media24-is-an-apartheid toddler, Daily-Maverick-is-funded-by-xyz bickering does absolutely nothing for the media in this country. It has to stop. Or at the very least the public must not see it. Work together. Close rank. Be content authorities and conspire on who publishes what and where. What are +30-million South Africans consuming if they are not on one of your platforms or buying your services?

We, as media practitioners, are far too conservative in our approach and afraid to launch new brands. Africa needs way more brands. South Africa alone should have way more television channels, radio stations, newspapers, magazines and digital content platforms.

Media houses must up the ante; upskill staff, have dress-codes (suit your journalists up), return to the office and ensure journalists actually attend everything in person.

Open in-house journalism academies. Think school fees. The journalism / media studies curriculum being taught at universities and colleges is paper-thin bunkum.

What is taught over three years, can be taught in six months. And I say this with a Masters in Media Studies from one of these universities. Imagination fails them and forget about innovation at journalism schools; the trend is to observe and follow international fads.

To get into journalism should not be easy at all. Your undergraduate qualification must include Statistics, Mathematics, History, Philosophy and two languages at the very least.

Doctors, lawyers, town planers, accountants must be encouraged to take up postgraduate journalism studies where they are inducted and trained to write for the media.

It is no longer enough to tell people “this happened!” or "X, Y, Z stole W amounts. We are no longer selling "Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How?"

“So?” must be added.

We need a highly intelligent, well-rounded breed of people in newsrooms. There are, afterall, social engineers tasked with crafting our day-to-day discourse.

Lastly, to borrow from Linda Martindale’s Masters Dissertation at Stellenbosch University: “South African journalism needs to redefine itself in its new socio-political environment. A healthy relationship between the government and the press is crucial - not a 'pat on the back' kind of relationship, but a critical and balanced look from both parties."

How can this change be done? And what is a healthy and credible relationship between the state/power and the press?

The fifth media owner I omitted in my opening lines was someone unnecessarily considered a persona non-grata in the media space, Dr Iqbal Surve. Standing at a distance, imagine him saying: “Journalism's autopsy report is likely to reveal self-immolation. We have indulged in imaginary rifts and competitive behaviour for no reason. We could've worked together. We do not have to like one another dear Styli! But work together, we can!”

Cape Times