News:

events, new publications and upcoming engagements

Upcoming events

African Journalism Educators Network (Ajen) Round table

The African Journalism Educators Network will be hosting a round table themed Sustainable Journalism and hosted by AKU Graduate School of Media and Communications in Nairobi Kenya. The event will bring together journalism educators from the continent’s journalism schools to discuss sustainable journalism education.

The Roundtable & Adenauer Media Lecture will feature an insightful panel discussion on ‘Reporting and Teaching Climate Change’, where they will look at the challenges and strategies for effectively communicating the complexities of climate change in journalism.

News

2024 NRF Research Excellence Award for Early Career/Emerging Researchers

2024 DSI Distinguished Young Woman Researcher in the Humanities and Social Sciences category - First Runner Up

I was chosen as the first runner up in the South African women in Science Awards: Distinguished Young Women Researchers - Humanities and Social Sciences category. Here is a link to read the profiles of all of the finalists: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/1054032489/26/

NRF Y2 Rating

Exciting news! I am thrilled to announce that I have been rated by The National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) as a young researcher who has the potential to establish herself in my field! It is not lost to me that at the time of applying to be rated I had only had my PhD qualification for 9 months. This milestone, therefore, bears testament to all of the hard work and support.

Latest publication and events

I wrote something with the amazing Adelina Mbinjama on some of Shonda Rhimes's speeches🤩. This is featured in a timely book on women in the film and media industry. In the chapter we use an intersectional lense to undertake a discourse analysis on Shonda's use of bragging as a communicative act that pushes back on knowledge traditions where it's acceptable (and expected) for man to brag about their work, but not women.

Ahead of international women's day on 8 March 2024, having this piece of research out is meaningful for me in my quest to foreground the particular communicative contribution of Black women when it comes to rhetoric and discourse. The first was a chapter on Lesego TlhabiTlhabi's use of satire as a rhetorical strategy to challenge race thinking. The second was drew on Prof Pumla Gqola's notion of the Female Fear Factor to critique TV news reportage on 16 days of violence. This chapter on Shonda is the third.

Here is a link: https://lnkd.in/dYu_jzjj

Past events

Keynote: International Media, Migration and eLearning in Africa Conference

I represented the African Journalism Education Network, which exists to serve journalism educators around the continent, and delivered a keynote address titled "Embracing Innovation in Higher Education in Africa". The conference focused on innovation and cooperative forms of engagement between learners and educators while promoting high-quality academic content in journalism education

African Media Councils Conference

I was privileged to attend the inaugural African Media Councils Conference, host by the Press Council of South Africa, in Cape Town. This was an important occasion as media regulators from across the continent deliberated on how to keep African media independent and sustainable.

Graduation keynote address

I spent a wonderful morning with the colleagues at the IIIE Rosebank in Cape Town celebrating with them on the successful graduation of their students. I had the privilege of delivering a speech titled "Do not dare not to dare"

World Press Freedom Day webinar

The Press Council’s Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for print and online journalists is now available in seven of South Africa’s 12 official languages. This was boosted by recent translations of the Press Code into isiZulu; isiXhosa; Sepedi; Tsonga and Tshivenda and underscores the ongoing pursuit of linguistic inclusivity within the South African media landscape. True inclusivity necessitates empowering indigenous voices to tell their own stories in their languages. The translations of the Press Code will enable inclusive engagement by South Africans to hold the media to account.World Press Freedom Day provides the perfect platform to celebrate progress and forge deeper collaboration to achieve the goal of a Free Press that values linguistic diversity.

Breaking Barriers - International Women's Day Seminar with Crystal Ordeson

This seminar focused on the influence of gender in newsrooms. Titled "Breaking Barriers: Women in Media and Journalism" this hybrid session aimed to address the challenges and opportunities faced by women in the male-dominated space of media and journalism in South Africa. Through insightful discussions, practical engagement, and the sharing of experiences, the goal was to empower and inspire the next generation of female media professionals. The keynote address was delivered by renowned South African broadcasting professional Crystal Orderson, with various female media professionals in attendence to share their insights and experiences to equip the student attendees on what the expect in newsrooms.

Media capture seminar with the South African National Editors' Forum and Code for Africa - 5 March 2024

The focus of the seminar was on Media Capture: How Lobbyists and Propagandists Hijack the Opinion and Analysis sections in news media. The aim was to provide a platform for introspection and discussion on the impact of media capture in newsrooms, as well as explore practical solutions to strengthen newsrooms and empower journalists to resist such capture. I took part in a session focused on the research outcomes on the Media Grooming and content sharing agreement. Best of all, some of my current UWC and former CPUT senior students attended.