AIP supported by the Open Society Foundation Africa (OSF Africa) recently held a roundtable to discuss sustainability challenges faced by community media publishers.

The virtual roundtable held on 25 October 2022 was chaired by AIP Western Cape board member, Anetta Mangxaba. Speakers included Cheryl Akinyi Odhiambo from OSF Africa; veteran publisher and AIP chairperson Mbali Dhlomo; Professor Bill Reader from the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University and Park Advertising Group Managing Director, Chris Botha.

Cheryl opened the discussion with an input on the importance of community media in Africa. She noted the vital role that community media played in reporting on news and events that took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. She explained, “Having information moving all the way to the grassroots level was really aided by the small media outfits in different geographic locations in countries across the continent.”

Please see the link here for the full discussion and our AIP YouTube channel.

October 24 2022

The importance of keeping sustainability the focus

AIP team News, Sustainability Projects

You are invited to AIP-OSF round table on sustainability

Nurturing green shoots in community print and online media: The importance of keeping sustainability the focus

Register in advance for this meeting:

CLICK THE LINK TO REGISTER : https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpceigqzojEtN2FwXvWugBxbTuWH6bYu37

*Zoom link will be sent to you once you have registered

The 1 hour session will be followed by a 15 minute Q&A

Date:Tuesday 25 October
Time: 12 noon

The roundtable will be chaired by our AIP Western Cape board member, Anetta Mangxaba, Cheryl Akinyi Odhiambo (OSF Africa) will open the round table with an input on the importance of community media on the continent. We will then have an overview of the community media sector in SA and our sustainability plans, presented by Mbali Dhlomo (AIP chairperson).

Chris Botha (Park Advertising) will share a new vision for community media advertising, and what needs to be done. The session will conclude with a discussion on the international sustainability perspective, led by Prof. Bill Reader (E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University).

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpceigqzojEtN2FwXvWugBxbTuWH6bYu37

August 4 2022

AIP Newsletter August – September 2022

AIP team News, Newsletters

Here is the latest AIP newsletter August – September 2022. Please send your comments to [email protected]

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June 23 2022

Call for Tenders: Supporting community media sustainability in the digital environment

AIP team News, Sustainability Projects

Introduction

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is the most influential media freedom advocacy grouping in South Africa. It consists of title editors and senior journalists operating in print, broadcasting, and digital mainstream at national, regional and community media levels, as well as media trainers and academics from major journalism departments and training institutes in the country.

SANEF’s vision is to promote the quality and ethics of journalism, to reflect the diversity of South Africa, to champion freedom of expression and to work towards the sustainability of journalism.

SANEF is aware of the critical importance of community media to the overall diversity of the media industry. However, we are concerned about the difficult environment that community media are operating in and the fact that many print and broadcast newsrooms struggle to diversify their content distribution and revenue options to include digitally driven future growth areas.

As one way forward SANEF would like to launch a project to assist selected print and broadcast community media organisations to create an online presence through developing sustainable websites and social media strategies. Where necessary, the service provider can also showcase how collaboration can benefit community media, in specific and close regions.

Services required

SANEF would like to invite civic/media tech organisations/companies/consultancies with a track record in digital media/journalism projects to manage and implement a community media digital development project with the following elements:

Design digital workflows and tools for implementation in traditional print and broadcast newsrooms to enable them to publish their content on both traditional and online platforms, as part of a plan to ensure future sustainability. Elements should include basics such as tools and workflows for digital newsgathering and multimedia production, a WordPress, or similar or better, content management and web publication system and social media strategies and management tools; as well as optional modules such as for streaming and podcasting services, and for different platforms (e.g. WhatsApp, TikTok). The proposed websites should also offer publishers/broadcasters an opportunity to explore alternative revenue streams, i.e. subscription services, online ad revenue, e-commerce or added-value offerings. The websites should also provide for interaction with third party applications, such as Pocket Reporter, which guides young reporters on how to do a variety of stories.
Management of a pilot project to implement variations of this online toolkit in a first batch of 10 to 15 community print and broadcast newsrooms, considering available r individual infrastructure, requirements, and online opportunities in their communities. The project roll-out in each newsroom should include workshops to agree on a suitable set of solutions in each environment as part of a future sustainability plan, hardware, and software set-up as well as the necessary workflow and tools training to enable them to work on their own. In this process the proposed digital workflows and tools (as in 1 above) should be tested and refined for possible roll-out to a second batch of community newsrooms (not included in this tender).
Establishing a central development and help desk to provide support for the roll-out and operations of the digital production and online services of the selected newsrooms.
The proposed criteria and process to select the first batch of community newsrooms for the pilot project, considering provincial, language, urban/rural diversity and different kinds and sizes of newsrooms.

In summary, the project deliverables and budget must make provision for:

In point 1, a digital community media sustainability strategy, supported by a blueprint for implementation of a generic plan with variations for different kinds of newsrooms and online content services; plus, the hardware and software requirements per newsroom to implement variations of the blueprint. Also provide a timeline for implementation for each newsroom and for the entire project.
In point 2, the individual newsroom digital sustainability implementation plan, hardware and software implementation and training for each newsroom. Provision needs to be made for an assessment stage and adjustments (where necessary), and recommendations for the next batch based on lessons learnt from each newsroom.
In point 3, please provide details of the nature and operations of the central desk and services to be provided, from bulk hardware and software acquisition and licensing to management of a central server (if required) and support and maintenance services.
In point 4, details about the management of the selection process.

Submitting the tender

The tender document(s) must contain the following:

Name of bidder and contact details including company registration
Demonstrated experience in undertaking similar projects
Two references (name, phone and email, context in which you have worked together).
Detailed outline of the project plan, timeline and budget

Shortlisted bidders may be asked to present to the SANEF Management and Community Media sub-committees.

Due date for submission: Monday, 11 July 2022

Submit your tender(s) to [email protected].

Please note the decision of the SANEF Management and Community Media Sub-Committees are final and no correspondence will be entered into with unsuccessful bidders.

April 24 2022

MDDA Continues to Dismally Fail Local Publishers: Future Looks Bleak as MDDA and Competition Commission Allocate Majority of EDF Funds to People Not Impacted by Unfair Competition

AIP team News

On 22 April 2022 the AIP Board met with the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) board to ensure that the Economic Development Fund (EDF) supports the sustainability of local media. Unfortunately, no progress was made.

The EDF is a fund which was established by the Competition Commission South Africa (CCSA) and administered by the MDDA. In 2011 the Commission initiated an investigation into various large media companies. The investigation uncovered evidence that these companies, through the Media Credit Coordinators (MCC) had agreed to offer similar discounts and payment terms to accredited and non-accredited agencies that placed adverts with MCC members. The Commission found that the MCC was ultimately a pricing mechanism that breached the Competition Act, 1998 as these practices undermined competition and amounted to price fixing. As a result of these investigations the implicated companies were fined an amount of R39 million. The EDF was established to house these funds.

Over the years the AIP and its members have met with the Competition Commission and the MDDA on numerous occasions to plead with both organisations to ensure that a substantive portion of the funds directly assist the independent publishers who bore the brunt of the unfair competition. However, we are of the view that these pleas have continuously fallen on deaf ears. The CCSA and MDDA have instead chosen to allocate the funds primarily to target groups that were not negatively affected by the above-mentioned collusion, such as start-ups, students and military veterans.

The MDDA released a document on 17 January 2022 that confirmed that the amount collected was R39 million but only a tiny portion of the Fund (R5.2 million) would be disbursed for sustainability projects (that would assist surviving publishers) – the rest would go to student bursaries (about R14 million), start-up projects already funded by the MDDA (about R14 million) and the MDDA administration of the Fund (about R4m). (The administration costs of the fund are in fact just less than the funds allocated to sustainability.)

At the end of January 2022, the MDDA sent out an advertisement calling for applications to the Fund, giving applicants only a single month to apply. The AIP immediately expressed its distress and met with both the MDDA and CCSA to discuss the criteria again. Again, no progress was made.

A small glimmer of hope then appeared when the MDDA Board stated that they were happy to meet with the AIP Board on 22 April to discuss the matters. The AIP once again put forward our reasonable requests:

To amend the MoU signed between the MDDA and the Competition Commission.
To amend the application criteria to favour publishers that were directly impacted by the collusion and unfair competition.
To re-allocate funds to ensure that sustainability projects were given at least R19.2 million.
To extend the application process by a further 2 months.

To our grave disappointment the Board stated that there was in fact nothing that it could do on any of the requests. (Although the board had amended the criteria of the Fund previously.) The board stated that it had in fact already adjudicated the allocation of funds and would be distributing these shortly. The board confirmed that it had only set aside R5.2m of funding for publishers impacted by the unfair competition – and no further funds would be allocated. The board also stated that it was not prepared to re-open the applications to allow for more time. In a nutshell the board stated that there was nothing it could do for local publishers in small towns and rural areas, although support for print and online publications is precisely its legislated mandate.

The AIP is now going back to its members to discuss the matter further including next steps. We believe that the MDDA is failing in fulfilling its mandate to support print and online publications, and they need to be accountable.

ISSUED BY THE AIP BOARD

Spokespersons:

Kate Skinner – Executive Director – (082) 926-6404

Mbali Dhlomo – Chairperson of the AIP Board – (083) 466-0027