The Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ) is a partner in the OsloMet Safety Matters PhD programme, which sees PhD students and research institutions from South Africa, Norway, the United States and Brazil work together to provide training and support postgraduate research around issues connected to media, journalism and safety. The PhD course is partly online, with a week of intensive work in-person in Norway.
This year three South African PhD students – Lebogang Seale from the WCJ, Palesa Lebitse from the Wits School of Law, and Bella Boqo from Rhodes University’s School of Journalism & Media Studies – travelled to Oslo, where they worked with doctoral students from other participating countries to produce concept papers for new research projects related to issues of journalism and safety. The PhD students successfully presented their proposals at the 8th annual Media, War and Conflict (MEKK) conference that took place the week after their workshop.
This year, the PhD students’ projects include a study of the use of “lawfare” (gratuitous legal threats or actions) against female reporters in three countries (South Africa, Brazil, and Spain); a study on how concepts of professional identity and gender are negotiated by female journalists; and a look at how Twitter is used to amplify online attacks against journalists. These projects will be completed in early 2023, under the mentorship of academics and journalism professionals from the participating countries – including Neena Kapur, director of Information Security at the New York Times, and Leandro Demori, former editor of The Intercept in Brazil.
At the MEKK conference, the WCJ’s Safety Matters project coordinator Dr Nechama Brodie also presented a new study-in-progress, looking at the impact of incidental crime on journalism in South Africa.
