Mass Communication & Journalism Delegation to South Africa

March 13-24, 2004

Delegation Leader: Fred Davis

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Day 3, The Star Newspaper, Johannesburg

Attending: Sol Makgabutlane, executive editor; Cecelia Russell, day news editor; and Khathu Mamaila, political editor

Delegation Reporter: Diana Kunde

When Sol Makgabutlane started his newspaper career as a reporter in 1982, he was forced to sit at the back of the Star’s large open newsroom, with all the black and what South Africa calls coloured reporters. He couldn’t use the company canteen, company transport – or even the toilet on the newsroom level. Black and coloured staff had to travel to the basement to use the toilet.

Twenty-two years later, as executive editor in charge of editorial and opinion pages, Mr. Makgabutlane says, “I’d like to believe people are remunerated for their ability – not their color.” This exchange was typical of the frank discussion we had with the three Star editors about news coverage and newsroom practices both before and after apartheid’s official end in 1994.

Today, the Star is a four-edition daily with an average circulation of 168,000 most days. The highest circulation, 205,000, is on Wednesday, when the paper publishes a special “Workplace” section, containing classified ads – its popularity is a reflection of South Africa’s nearly 40 percent unemployment rate.

Asked about staff ratios, the editors gave a rough estimate that the majority of the newsroom is now black or coloured, as they describe it. Black and coloured editors and managers make up about 40 percent of the upper echelons, they said. Readership, which declined after the paper integrated its coverage, has changed. The paper’s readers are now largely black – 60 percent black, 10 percent coloured and 30 percent white. Cecelia Russell told us, “Demographics haven’t changed.” “We still seem to write for the middle class, [and] upper class,” she said. The paper’s new demographics reflect the emergence of a post-Apartheid black middle class, as well as the decline in white readership.

The Star began to change its extremely segregationist policies in the late 1980s, as this newspaper – which began to editorialize against Apartheid – saw the inevitability of change. Mr. Makgabutlane was part of a racially integrated team that covered the increasing protests of the late ‘80s; they called themselves the “A Team.” Newsroom barriers gradually came down as well. Besides the drop in white circulation, there were some hard feelings in the newsroom.

“Suddenly, males and females, black and white, were making the same salary. Some were sulking,” Mr. Makgabutlane said. Both Ms. Russell and Mr. Mamalia were hired post-apartheid.

All three editors said that while progress has been made, there is still a long way to go. Our delegation assured them we could say the same about the United States newsrooms. For instance, the most recent ASNE (American Society of Newspaper Editors) survey shows that 9.9 percent of supervisors at participating U.S. newspapers are members of racial minority groups, compared with 31.1 percent of the U.S. population. The Star is 40 percent black and coloured - in a population where about 89 percent of South Africa is black and coloured.

We found that we share the challenge of retaining talented black reporters and editors who are high in demand and can get significantly higher salaries outside of the news business.

We left thanking the three editors for their openness in talking about what is typically a sensitive issue. They thanked us, in turn, for helping them clarify their own thoughts about progress and the remaining challenges.

After a five-hour bus trip through gradually more rural and mountainous country, we reached Shangana Village, near Kruger National Park. There, we were treated to a look at traditional Shangana Village life, a tasty traditional dinner and a program of song and tribal dances by firelight. Many of us had our photos taken with the tribe’s cheerful and hospitable chief.