Deadline: 17-Jul-20
The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) has launched a relief fund for journalists who have lost their livelihoods as a direct result of the COVID-19 national disaster.
The Social Justice Initiative (SJI) is acting as a fiscal host for the fund and will be playing an oversight role to ensure that all funds are fairly and transparently distributed.
To process the applications, SANEF has set up a team that includes media stalwarts Mathatha Tsedu and Joe Thloloe, Wandile Fana from the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) and Melody Emmett from the freelancers’ association (SAFREA). Anlo Financial Solutions, a financial services company will assist with processing.
The purpose of the funding is to assist those in dire need with a small donation to purchase necessities like food and clothing.
The report points to the devastation that COVID has wreaked on the industry – particularly the print media with the closure of two magazine publishers and 80 small print publications operating across the country, leading to the loss of over 700 journalist jobs. Also, the report pointed to the fact that freelancers had been particularly badly impacted and that 60% of their members had lost almost 70% of their income – and that some had lost 80% to 100%.
SANEF is keenly aware of the fact that many industries are experiencing tough times and that salary cuts and retrenchments have become an ever-present reality. But what is particularly worrying is that with the media industry plays a powerful, democracy-deepening role in society – this is in terms of ensuring a free flow of information in society to keep citizens informed and to hold the powerful to account, both in terms of government and the private sector. They are thus worried that the collapse of the media in small towns, and the shrinking of the industry as a whole, will have a devastating long-term effect on the health of democracy.
This fund is, therefore, a small first step to assist the industry and thus ultimately to assist all citizens to get the information they need.
SANEF wants to again express gratitude to all who have assisted SANEF to establish the fund. They are hoping that the first phase will allow to offer emergency relief to journalists. However, if they find further funding, they hope to support other projects to assist the sustainability of small, independent media institutions across the country, through a variety of targeted interventions.
Eligibility Criteria
Only freelance, contract or permanently employed journalists who have been retrenched or had their contracts cancelled since the implementation of the national lockdown on 26 March 2020, will be eligible to apply.
For more information, visit https://sanef.org.za/sanef-announces-launch-of-relief-fund-for-journalists/