Project Officer (AD9)

The Journalism Programme in the School of Literature, Language and Media invites applications for appointment to the full-time position of Project Officer. The post will involve building funding and other partnerships around various projects in the department, including particularly public interest radio programming developed in the Wits Radio Academy and the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC2017) which will be hosted at Wits in 2017.

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Courses For Journalists
Wits Journalism is offering a number of certificate and short courses for those who want to brush up on their journalism skills.

Paul McNally has won a Nieman Research Fellowship

Paul McNally has won a Nieman Research Fellowship to work on his project, The Citizen Justice Network, an award-winning media innovation aimed at exposing miscarriages of justice in rural areas by training paralegals to be radio journalists.

He produces feature articles and narrative radio documentaries for Wits Journalism on justice, health and science. He is writing a non-fiction book for Pan Macmillan South Africa due for release in September 2016

Lizeka Mda - Lecturer in Journalism Practice

Lizeka Mda joins us as a Lecturer in Journalism Practice. She is a graduate of Rhodes University and Wits Business School.

Over 30 years she has held different positions in the communication and media fields – from a reporter on social, political and economic issues, to title editor, to publisher of several magazines.

She has also produced radio programmes for the SABC and the BBC, and is a published writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is a World Press Institute Fellow, class of 1993, and a Nieman Fellow, class of 2004.

Geraldine Moodley-van den Ende - Co-ordinator of the Wits Justice Project

Geraldine Moodley-van den Ende will be co-ordinator of the Wits Justice Project. She has a diverse background which spans three continents and over 15 years of experience in NGO operations, programme management, campaigns and advocacy work.

Previously, Geraldine has worked for Medecins Sans Frontieres Holland (MSF), assisted with the launch of MSF South Africa office, launched a campaign with ECPAT on child trafficking, and was the Regional Representative for the Australian Red Cross operations in Southern Africa.

Geraldine was the operations manager for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Campaign. She is a lawyer, trained in Public International law including Human Rights and humanitarian law, and is passionate about making a tangible change to the lives of others through advocacy on human rights issues, access to justice and reform initiatives.

The digital pressure: How the South African newsroom has changed

There are now smaller converged newsrooms with fewer journalists, who have to handle the dissemination of news on several “platforms”. These demands take place in tandem with commercially squeezed companies, coupled with “promiscuous audiences”.

The latter means that audiences, listeners and readers are no longer loyal to the brands of traditional mediums: they are demanding their news quickly and efficiently and on whatever mediums are available and appropriate at any particular point in time. In turn, newsrooms are struggling to keep up with these changing news consumer patterns, and new demands. And so, journalists are feeling the pressure from all angles.

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The Science Inside #33 – Drought & Water Crisis

This week we look at the drought and water crisis hitting South Africa, starting off with one woman’s cabbages.Find out exactly where your water comes from with Dean Muruven from WWF SA’s #JourneyOfWater and take a look at how Cirrus Water Management is using atmospheric water generation to make water out of thin air.

With the help of the Water Research Commission’s Jay Bhagwan, we find out how more than 30% of drinkable water gets flushed down the toilet, and take a look at one alternative, the Enviro-Loo.

Also on the show, Prof Mary Scholes tells us why the drought is happening and what impact it could have on food security.

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The Business Buzz – M4JAM (Money for Jam)

M4JAM (Money for Jam) is a revolutionary digitally enabled micro jobbing platform that allows public and private sector organizations to directly engage with end consumers to perform simple tasks using their mobile devices while they go about their daily routines in exchange for cash. In only one year, Money for Jam has skyrocketed from being an idea between cousins to South Africa’s largest staff on-demand micro jobbing platform – with almost 90,000 users.

This week on The Business Buzz, We take a look at the Micro-jobbing sector and also unpack Money For Jam’s exciting opportunities in a discussion with the company’s CEO and Co-Founder, Andre Hugo.

“In our Business Wrap”, Financial Advisor, Ken Swettenham, shares basic tips on proper financial planning.

We profile the exciting opportunities that ‘Umuzi Photo Club’ has for young creatives and graduates “In our 60 second corporate sell”,

Our “Rant ‘n Rave” for the week is MC, Zabalaza, who tells us what he loves and hates about his job.

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Stories of the Constitution on Law Focus

‪This time #‎LawFocus‬ tells the story of the stories the drafting of our country’s most fundamental law through interviews with prominent South Africans.

Professor Firoz Cachalia from Wits University talks us through CODESA and addresses the criticism of the process.

The Public Protector of South Africa Thuli Madonsela tells us why she gave up a Harvard scholarship to draft our Constitution and more.

Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron explains how we got sexual orientation equality and ARV access in SA.

We end off the show with a Constitutional Corner about what the Constitutional Court does.

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2016 One World Media Special Award

Calling all independent media outlets based in a developing country

The Award seeks to recognise and encourage outstanding reporting that informs the public, provides an outlet for local people’s voices, creates a space for critical information and holds those in power to account.

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