Beating around the Bosch

with

Dear Reader,

My Monday morning started like it usually does. My dreams of lying in a hammock on a dozy summer afternoon were shattered, like a hammer to glass, by my alarm’s piercingly annoying ringtone. Disoriented, I stumbled to the kitchen, filled up the kettle, switched it on. With coffee in my cup, I sought solace and sat on the couch, opening my phone to read the news. My thumb always gravitates towards Daily Maverick first. It was this moment that sent my Monday into an existential crisis, for when I tapped the DM icon, I was met not with a headline about a corrupt and giggling politician, but a black screen with bold white writing saying “Daily Maverick has Shut Down”. In a statement, DM explained that their decision to shut down for the day of 15 April was to “highlight what will happen if journalism does not receive the support it needs from the business community, the public and policymakers”.

It is estimated that South Africa has lost 70% of its news workforce in the last 15 years. Let that number sink in. Social media allows for passive absorption of news. Between the cooking tutorials and dogs wearing bunny ears, we see a post or a reel or a shared story that updates us on the latest in Gaza, or about JZ entering the parliament game again. We take it for granted that behind every piece of news that filters through to us on those platforms, there is a newsroom of overworked and usually underpaid journalists that have dedicated their lives to the gathering, formulating and reproducing of knowledge, arriving neatly packaged for you to consume and add to the understanding of your world.

Visual of the *Weak

🗣A world without journalism (from our newsroom)

Without journalism, load shedding would be nothing more than life as we know it. We would not know the lights are off because the leaders of our country are looting coal and committing tender fraud. The criminals wouldn’t even need to keep it quiet - because who would pass down this information to the public?

Without journalism, we would not know that walking down the street in Langa at night is dangerous, because we would never have heard of people being shot there. 

Without journalism, you would’ve arrived at your favourite coffee shop for a day’s work on 3 August last year only to find the manager closing the doors. Baffled, you would’ve asked them what was going on and they would’ve shrugged and said, the kitchen staff didn’t arrive. The taxis were on strike, and you would’ve had no clue at all.

Without journalism, we would not know why, when we retire and turn to the pension fund we’ve been building since our 20s, it has suddenly just disappeared. And we would not know that what was meant to be our aid for reprieve at the end of a long working life instead lines the pockets of a politician who claims to be a man of the people.

Without journalism, residents in Johannesburg would not know why, when they turn the tap on for a drink of water, they are met with nothing but a rusty squeak, echoing into the porcelain void where water should have flowed. With no one to blame, there are no solutions in sight.

Without journalism, business and material industries would easily drown out any scientific research into climate change, and, unless directly affected, we would remain blissfully unaware of crises breaking out across the planet, unconsciously turning up the aircon by a few degrees more each summer.

Without journalism, and with an ever-expanding platform for every village’s idiot (social media), the world would be seething with a toxic mixture of truth and lies with no way to differentiate between the two.

Elections would become a futile exercise, where voters would play a game of weighing up PR speeches from competing parties, counting mentions of the word “free” and ultimately going with who they voted for 4 years before.

DM’s shut down felt much like an involuntary - yet enlightening - fast, taking away the food we took for granted and making us question how we could ever have been so blind.

Profligate

Adjective - Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources

“Without journalism, we would remain unaware of the profligate habits of our leaders”

📚Good reads from SMF News this week📚

• Inwoner van Cloetesville sak ineen, sterf op dak

  Na ‘n tip van ‘n gemeenskapslid, het Antoinette Steyn Jamestown toe gejaag om met die familie van die oorledene te praat, wat vermoedelik aan ‘n hartaanval oorlede is.

• Stellenbosch FC victorious against SuperSport United

  Iva Fulepu took on sports journalism last week and witnessed Stellenbosch FC secure their spot in the semi-fianls for the Nedbank Cup.

• Home affairs mobile clinic services receive low turnout after miscommunication

  Following the recent Kayamandi fire and destructive storms, home affairs services did not reach victims of the disasters, due to ineffective communication from the department.

🎶What we’re listening to:

Hop over to our website to see our full range of articles :)

Until next week

Nicola Amon, newsletter editor