The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question: How do we make democracy work for the poor?
The media play an important role as information mediators in today's world, occupying an important space where public debates about national and international issues take place. SACSIS seeks to understand the role and the impact of the mainstream media in achieving public interest journalism.
SACSIS -
The South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS) - www.sacsis.org.za - has been disseminating social justice content to the print media for five years. Our news analyses and op-eds have been published in a wide range of South Africa’s daily newspapers.
SACSIS is pleased to announce that we are expanding our content production and dissemination beyond print to the production of podcasts for dissemination via audio platforms such as campus and community radio stations....
Jane Duncan -
As South Africa commemorates another World Press Freedom Day, this day will no doubt focus minds on Parliament’s decision to pass the controversial Protection of State Information Bill, or the Secrecy Bill. It will now be forwarded to the President for signing.
There are still many fundamental problems with the Bill, but it is greatly improved from previous versions. These improvements have shown that the most secretive sphere of government – the security cluster – is...
Jane Duncan -
In the past few years, the media, especially the press, have attracted high praise for taking investigative journalism so seriously. Recognising the fact that this form of journalism provides them with the distinctive content needed to hold onto audiences given the explosion of media options, the major press groups have re-established investigative journalism capacity.
The Mail and Guardian and Noseweek have shown that people are willing to pay a great deal for relevant public interest...
Jane Duncan -
As South Africa enters the festive season, the country is awash with special offers. Yet, beyond the corporate hype that usually accompanies this time of year, many are left with the deep-seated feeling that - in the ordinary course of events - they are being ripped off left, right and centre.
People are becoming angrier and angrier with the cost and quality of many services. From the banks to the bread cartels, from Eskom to the airlines and the pending e-tolling system, indications of...
Glenn Ashton -
Read any newspaper, magazine or blog about cars and similar symptoms of a pernicious ailment are revealed: big powerful cars are potent, sexy, macho and cool. Green, economical or hybrid cars are underpowered, boring, made for bunny huggers, lentil eaters, housewives or any other cliché springing from the abridged motor writer’s thesaurus.
There is a serious disjuncture here, which needs to be remedied. It is time for motoring journalists to cease portraying themselves as...
Jim Naureckas -
Back in May, Facebook introduced its Promoted Posts program, giving groups and companies with pages on the social media site the option of paying to get their posts seen by more of their fans.
The way Facebook works is that you don't see every post by every friend or every page that you like–Facebook has a formula called Edgerank that tries to determine how interested you'd be in that post, based mainly on how much you've "liked," shared or commented upon similar posts in...
