FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Investigative Journalism Training Program in South Africa

(Grahamstown) – South African journalists will sharpen their skills when a major initiative to promote  formal investigative journalism training begins at Rhodes and WITS Universities later this year.  The announcement was made today at the Highway Africa Journalism conference—the world’s biggest annual gathering of African journalists. 

“Africa doesn’t have the most impressive track record for independent and open media environments,” said Rhodes’ Program Coordinator, Derek Luyt, “and reporters often lack access to professional training.”  According to Luyt, too few courses have covered investigative techniques, until now.

Commissioned by IDASA and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the investigative journalism training program advances South Africa’s own anti-corruption strategies to safeguard public integrity. 

Speaking at the launch, USAID South Africa’s deputy director, Denise Rollins, said, “The USA has a strong tradition of investigative journalism and considers this a key factor in good governance.”  She said that strengthening the ability of reporters would reinforce the constitutional rights of South Africans to know about their nation’s political and business issues and when power is abused.  “Internationally, professional journalists view public enlightenment as essential for justice and the foundation of democracy.  Journalists further those ends by seeking truth, gathering facts, and interpreting and reporting information accurately,” said Rollins.     

The new program will specifically develop the investigative skills of journalists reporting on local issues in South Africa.  Each and every journalist should be trained in investigative techniques regardless of the field of expertise.  Currently, a limited number of reporters work on investigative stories. 

The training commences in November. “Seventy-five journalists will benefit from the Rhodes training over the next two years,” said Luyt.  “Participants will receive guidance from some of South Africa’s most experienced media practitioners, as well as continuing support and monitoring.”  A further 150 journalists will be trained at WITS University, for a total of 225 South African reporters gaining investigative journalism skills.  Luyt told Highway Africa delegates that investigative journalism has an increasingly important role to perform in strengthening an informed democracy at the vital local level, and that over time Rhodes hoped to extend the program to other African countries. 

Speaking for Idasa, Nico Bezuidenhout said that this program will make a significant contribution to the promotion of transparency and accountability at local level.  He stated that recent protests related to lack of service delivery have emphasized the need to provide better information to citizens.  While this is to a large extent the responsibility of local governments, the media serves as an important alternative source of information and should highlight successes and failures in local governance.  “Idasa’s experience working with community-based media has convinced us that local and regional media are uniquely placed to report on local issues, but often lack the skills to fulfill this role.  We foresee that this program will address this problem in a range of media organizations.”

To mark the occasion, the launch of the program was followed by a skills-training Computer-Assisted Research workshop by Tanzanian investigative journalist, Pricel Seleman. He recently completed a stint with the Investigative Reporters and Editors organization in the USA.

A sociologist and journalist, Luyt joined Rhodes’ program in August.  The former news editor has a close knowledge of local affairs, having served on various local government bodies and civic structures for 11 years. He also founded a Victim Empowerment Center.  In addition to coordinating the USAID program, Luyt will run a course on investigative journalism for fourth year journalism students at Rhodes this year. 

Professor Guy Berger, Head of the Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies, said the program would dovetail with other projects run by the Department, such as Highway Africa and the local university newspaper.

Applications for the investigative journalism program will be advertised soon, and more information is available at http://www.ru.ac.za/journ, or email at d.luyt@ru.ac.za, cell number 072 2533957.