Volume releases podcast on Coronavirus’ impact on newsrooms

Another week and another set of wins for the South Africa Media Innovation Program’s (SAMIP) participants. Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic the program has looked at its cohort has conducted projects and reporting on the virus and its impact on society.

KAS Media Africa, in collaboration with podcast production company Volume, released the first episode of their African Media Thermometer podcast series. The podcast, co-hosted with freelance reporter Elna Schütz, will be focusing on the effects that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on newsrooms. The first episode looks at how misinformation has spread during Covid-19 pandemic, the challenges faced by journalists and fact-checkers, and how to create credible content.

Volume is no stranger to this subject matter having produced a similar podcast series at the start of South Africa’s national lockdown due to the Coronavirus in April this year. Their podcast series, Media Diaries, offered an inside look into how SAMIP’s participants, and other media partners, were coping as the pandemic progressed.

SAMIP participants observe Women’s Day

On Sunday, South Africa celebrated Women’s Day, a national holiday that  commemorates the 1956 march of more than 20,000 to to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws. Two of SAMIP’s participants, The Daily Vox and Quote This Woman+, ran special coverage on the day.

The Daily Vox interviewed Sophie de Bruyn, the last surviving participant of the 1956 march, to understand what inspired her to join the likes of Helen Joseph and Albertina Sisulu in their fight against Apartheid. 

In their mission to get more women voices heard in the media and to celebrate women, Quote This Woman+ curated a list and profiled 90 gender women experts.

Gsport for girls has been running a month’s long Women’s Month campaign long with the named sponsor of their flagship awards ceremony, Momentum. Throughout the month August they have been highlighting female athletes and sports media experts. On Sunday 16 August the women’s sports platform will be running a media masterclassv featuring International Cricket Council and SABC cricket commentator, Natalie Germanos, Metro FM and SABC Sport presenter, Lebo Motsoeli and Sports PR and Sponsorship leading lady, Lona Benya.

The Continent innovates digital distribution in Africa

The Continent is Mail & Guardian’s weekly newspaper aimed at a pan-African audience and is distributed primarily via WhatsApp. Freelance writer Pontsho Pilane recently published a feature on the publication looking at the WhatsApp distribution strategy that MG Africa editor Simon Allison developed for it, the user experience the MG team created for readers, and the unclear business model WhatsApp distribution channel has on generating revenue for newsrooms.

Ongoing highlights

This week in the agriculture podcast Farmer’s inside track, Food For Mzansi features the agribusiness senior manager at Standard bank Bertie Hamman who shares on the difference between cash flow and profit. Also, the episode features two farmers and details on next week’s Fresh Connections: Southern Africa virtual conference.

The Coronavirus dashboard by Media Hack Collective, which the team has raised more than R50,000 for in a crowdfunding initiative, is still a valuable source of information for those wanting to keep tabs on the pandemic in South Africa. The latest numbers show that more than three million tests have been conducted in the country, 572,865 cases have been reported, with 11,270 deaths, and 437,617 recoveries. The dashboard contains detailed provincial data for Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, North West, and Gauteng.

Health- e-News continues to report on the pandemic especially as the world races to find a vaccine for the virus.