While government policies have enabled the participation of women in the media sector, Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Director of Media Relations, Tshegofatso Modubu, has called for an in depth look at the ownership and control by women in the media space.
“In terms of shattering the glass ceiling with the 30 years of democracy, we are seeing women get into the operational space and a bit more into the managerial space. We need to think about ownership and control of media in terms of women,” Modubu said on Thursday.
She was speaking at a panel discussion themed “30 Years of Women Excellence in the Community Media Sector” hosted by the GCIS, together with the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria.
The media and communications panel discussion event offered a wealth of insightful perspectives from industry experts. The diverse panel, comprising thought leaders from journalism, governance, public relations and digital media, delivered an engaging and informative discussion that tackled pressing topics such as the future of journalism, the impact of social media on communication, and the evolving role of media in shaping public discourse.
Reflecting on the 30 Years of Women Excellence in Community Media Sector, Modubu noted that since 1994, freedom of expression has expanded.
“We have done a lot as a country in terms of catching up on freedom of expression, on issues of plurality in the media sector and ensuring that the space is opened [up] to women.
“If you think about the era of apartheid when there was a lot of censorship, and certain voices were not allowed to speak, the media was slightly controlled because there were some newspapers that were aligned to the agenda of the regime.
“Since 1994, the media landscape has expanded, and it has been able to keep up with technological developments. We have a thriving convergent media. We see our media being challenged to move from print into the digital space because of the convergence.”
Modubu highlighted that through the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), government is providing support to for those who want to develop community and small commercial media.
Through interventions such as the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and the Preferential Procurement Policy, government is also promoting the participation of women in any sector of society.
“We see women being in the forefront of journalism in this country. Growing up, we would see newsreaders, which was what was designated for them. We have seen women go into talk show hosting, we have seen women become political journalists and being at the forefront [of journalism].
“There is a strong move to get women into boards because that is where decisions are made. Media companies have boards and women are not participating in those spaces.
“The chief executive officers … women are not playing in that space. These are some of the things we need to think about while we celebrate the strides that have been made,” she explained.
In addition, Modubu welcomed the move by the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) to appoint Nwabisa Makunga as Chairperson of the forum.
Makunga is leading a team responsible for representing those who are responsible for telling stories and representing the aspirations and wishes of the population.
“We have women editors in print and broadcast media, SANEF has the second women occupying the position of chairperson. All of this has been enabled by the policies that government has put into place.
“Our responsibility, as people who work in the space of policy making, is to ensure that those policies work, and they work for practitioners within the media space. There are challenges such as the cyberbullying of women, harassment and facilitated technological gender-based violence against women.
“Those are the challenges that we have to think about and how we can create laws and policies to change that,” Modubu said.
