Dr  Essop Pahad: "The Media Could be on the Side for Progressive Change"
Channel: SACSIS
Date: 2010-11-09

Dr. Essop Pahad, former minister in the South African presidency and Editor of The Thinker, a political journal argues that the media could be on the side for progressive change. He contends that the media can take a position linked to an ideological viewpoint.

Pahad made these remarks at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by The South African Civil Society Information Service (www.sacsis.org.za) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office (www.fes-southafrica.org). It took place on September 17, 2010.

The roundtable discussion examined the media's perspective of the South African economy.

Editors were asked to answer the following questions: Is the economy on the right growth path? What are the prospects for making it more inclusive? How does the media report on the economy? Does the media have a vision for
 South Africa's economic development?

Media speakers at the event included, Nic Dawes (Editor in Chief, Mail & Guardian), Alide Dasnois (Editor, Cape Times) and Reg Rumney (Head of the Centre for Economics Journalism in Africa, Rhodes University) and Mondli Makhanya, Editor in Chief of Avusa Media and Chairman of SANEF.