Programme

The summit, “Seeds of Change: Cultivating the Future of Journalism in Africa”, will explore a new path for journalism in South Africa and beyond.

Many aspects of the contemporary world threaten the future of journalism and its contribution to democracy. The advent of factors that place us in a post-truth world; the rapid infiltration of AI; monopolistic nature of the media; a decline in a belief in the independence of the media; digital attacks on free speech; harassment and killing of journalists and truth-tellers; check-book journalism; the commodification of the news; and the rapid advancement of digital technologies for content production and manipulation provoke the fundamental question: “How can journalism fulfil its crucial social and democratic role in our age and at this time?”

The Journalism Summit hosted by the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University,
will host discussions which help us get to grips with the precarious terrain journalism must both inhabit and report on.

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The Summit programme will consist of two major sections – a pre-conference dealing with journalism education and student media
and the main summit dealing with journalism and democracy, trauma, regulation and funding and digital journalism.