Sandile Gumede
As someone who is passionate about the role of journalists, it pains me when a news outlet closes shop or when staff are retrenched. This is such a bitter pill to swallow.
Since I left the newsroom some 10 years ago, I have been involved in training journalists at a private college. Those in academia or who are teachers can relate to the feeling of seeing your former students doing well in the industry.
The feeling is immeasurable. There is nothing more painful than seeing your former student telling you that they are unemployed, or they work in retail with a journalism qualification.
This is not to look down upon those who work in retail, but the reality is that people would have spent three years studying journalism because they wanted to be media professionals.
The challenges brought by the stagnant economy and media house’s financial struggles have seen many of them closing down or downsizing.
At times it is a result of failing to monetise the online platforms as they used to with the traditional platform. Recently, the deputy minister in the Presidency, Kenny Morolong, made an impassioned plea for media houses to “adapt to the era to survive”.
This is so true. Media barons need to find ways continuously to adapt to survive the technological challenges. They need to make a profit in order to continue to serve the people of South Africa.
The role of the media cannot be overstated. News outlets need to have enough audiences and be able to generate enough revenue.
However, many other contributing factors hamper the growth of these platforms. When it comes to digital migration of the platforms, tech companies and the government have a big role to play as well.
There is a desperate need for rural development – which will bridge the gap between urban areas’ access to technological advancements and rural areas’ lack of development (the digital divide).
If Morolong’s government can expedite these developments, we will have more people having access to better technology. But the reality is that there are millions of South Africans who still do not have access to electricity. How does Morolong and his government expect the media to migrate and leave these scores of people behind?
As the fourth estate, the media should continue to hold the likes of Morolong to account for the lack of development, especially in the rural areas. Likewise, the media should continue to hold the government to account for its failure to alleviate poverty.
In a country with less poverty, people can afford to have data for internet access and subscribe to the online stories that these media houses have published on their online platforms. The newspapers were affordable because the entire family could buy one copy and share it.
In my previous experience, I remember how my three brothers and I used to contribute to buy one copy of a sports publication. These days, however, you need to subscribe to access these stories. It’s not only that – you need internet access, and data for gadgets is expensive in South Africa in comparison with other countries.
This is not to exempt media owners. They, too, have a significant role to play in the survival of the media, which is important in any democracy. Media trainers have a responsibility to move with the times as well in producing quality journalists.
And the government needs to play their part in ensuring that communities have been developed so they have access to the new technologies to access these stories on the online or digital platforms, as Morolong proposes.
Sandile Gumede is a PhD student in the Media Studies Department at the University of the Witwatersrand.