Rhodes Journalism Review

The Eastern Cape Socio-economic Consultative Council (ECSECC) has adopted the acronym VUCA to succinctly describe the sociopolitical landscape of the province. According to the council, the setting in which our provincial leaders, civil society organisations and media houses operate is challenging, not only because it is Volatile and holds much Uncertainty, but also because it has problems that are Complex and Ambiguous. The Eastern Cape is a province with a strong storytelling and oratory historical tradition. There are therefore many institutions and organisations that use this asset to facilitate inclusive communication spaces that address the VUCA environment. The province has a vibrant community and local media sector, civil society organisations (CSOs) like the Eastern Cape Communication Forum (ECCF) and state actors like the Government Communication Information System (GCIS), working together to facilitate inclusive communication spaces where citizens can discuss key development issues and hold their local government to account.

The business models of legacy media organisations are under immense pressure from the corrosive power of online media. Business models lay out the preconditions for journalism organisations to survive and succeed and these in turn have implications for the skills and capabilities that are seen as essential for the practice of journalism and therefore for the training of students who will be a good fit and be able to work in such (market-driven) environments. But several scholars have expressed dissatisfaction with this approach to journalism education.

"South Africa has developed an alarming momentum for inequality," says top poverty researcher Murray Leibbrandt; yet poverty and inequality remain underreported in our mainstream media. UCT's print journalism students collaborated with a top poverty think tank to produce Cape Connect, a newspaper devoted solely to South Africa's most pressing concerns. Here's how events unfolded.