Women Journalists in South Africa: Democracy in the Age of Social Media

by Glenda Daniels (Editor), Kate Skinner (Editor)

Overview

This edited collection examines women journalists’ experiences and obstacles in South Africa’s (SA) democracy. They exercise power, and add a vital diversity, but they are routinely harassed in the online social media space of big tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook by populist and corrupt politicians and their supporters. Using SA as the case study, this book examines attempts to curb women journalists’ freedom combining theory and  first-hand accounts. The target audience for the book includes scholars of political philosophy, gender, media, communications, NGOs, media freedom activists and journalists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783031126963
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	10/23/2022
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Journalism and the Global South
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	415 KB

About the Author

Glenda Daniels is Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, SA. She is author of Power and Loss in South African Journalism: news in the age of social media (2020); Fight for Democracy: the ANC and media in South Africa (2012) and co-author of Glass Ceilings: women in South African Media Houses, 2018 (2018).

​Kate Skinner is Executive Director of the Association for Independent Publishers, SA. She has been a media freedom activist, researcher and policy analyst for the last 25 years and has worked in the unions, NGOs, government and the media industry to build a diverse, independent media sector.

Table of Contents

Chapter one: Introduction.- Chapter two: The Triple Oppressions: race, class and gender in South African journalism.- Chapter three: Reporting sexual and gender-based violence: A decolonial gaze on women journalists in South Africa.- Chapter four: Glass Ceilings: cybermisogyny is a sign of unchecked sexism in media and newsrooms.- Chapter five: The Hounding.- Chapter six: Threats to rape and kill me.- Chapter seven: Building media credibility and ethics in South Africa: A way forward from the margins.- Chapter eight: The gender pay gap in the South African media sector.- Chapter nine: The marginalisation of Women’s voices in news stories – thoughts on a way forward.- Chapter ten: Reflections: Re-imagining journalism for a feminist future.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Excellent book. Daniels and Skinner have produced a highly accessible, academically rigorous exploration of media feminist theory grounded in radical democracy and decoloniality. Mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future of media institutions, the importance of voice, South Africa’s unfinished democratic project, and the intersection of these with gender inequality. Possibly the most significant book this year.”

—Kathleen Magrobi, Quote This Woman+, Johannesburg, South Africa.

“There is a myriad of challenges – misinformation and disinformation, sustainability issues and ongoing technological disruption - facing the media. An intersectional approach would recognise that these challenges have a gendered impact. This is often overlooked as we fight to support the essential role media plays in a democracy. This critical book, with its feminist approach, not only puts these issues on the national agenda but makes the clarion call that without women’s voices, our stories are not truly told and our media not truly free.”

—Paula Fray, fraycollege CEO, Johannesburg, South Africa.