The board of Media24 recently announced the establishment of the Media24 Journalism Academy which will be headed up by City Press editor-in-chief, Mathatha Tsedu, according to a media release.
According to Media24 chief executive officer, Francois Groepe, the academy is designed to alleviate the shortage of skilled journalists in the different genres that make up the platforms of content distribution within the company. “While South Africa has many institutions that train journalists, from universities to technikons, there is a need to further augment their skills by providing them with more practical training.â€ÂÂ
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The academy will be launched on 1 October 2008 and will incorporate the company’s existing learnership programme and involve Media24 journalists as tutors. Initially new graduates will be targeted and taken through an 18-month course which will have a strong focus on practical training. Co-operation with higher learning institutions will form the cornerstone of the training, and where possible, equipment sharing agreements will be entered into.
The company sees this as a way to ensure the quality of journalism that Media24 produces on all its platforms -online, magazines, newspapers and mobile – is of an even higher standard. The academy will also run refresher courses for working journalists.
Khathu Mamaila will continue as editor of City Press and the editor-in-chief position will remain vacant for the time being.
Media24 is South Africa’s leading publishing group with interests in newspapers, magazines, books and internet businesses.