The theme for Press Freedom Day this year was “Journalism under Digital Siege”. It looked at issues regarding media censorship and the harassment and violation of journalists’ rights. The fraycollege #JournalismTalks Twitter Space, hosted by Fray on May 5th, aimed to understand and touch on the transparency of digital platforms, empowering citizens with media and informed literacy and media viability.

In April this year, millions celebrated Passover and Easter, and are participating in Ramadan. Faith plays an integral part in the lives of many Africans, influencing their art, culture, and way of life. However, the practice of faith is largely absent in mainstream media, which has one asking the question: is religious coverage not really a story enough?

Trust is part and parcel of a healthy media ecosystem, said International Press Institute (IPI) chair Khadija Patel. Patel was speaking on a panel looking at trust and sustainability. The Twitter Space was hosted by fraycollege CEO Paula Fray who was joined by Professor and Director of the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, Herman Wasserman, News24 Assistant Breaking News Editor Sheldon Morias and Sonny Swe, founder and CEO of Frontier Myanmar.

Community plays a pivotal role in informing our communities. Journalists in this sector, and other sectors such as mainstream, have in the past two years played a masterful role to inform their audiences. This training will come in handy as we empower our journalists to be upskilled, as they report on this pandemic, and other challenges in the near future.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unfolded and as the scale of the horror emerged, so too did an unsettling form of its coverage for many western media organisations. The coverage was framed differently to other wars. It was this different approach that came under the spotlight during a Twitter Space hosted by fraycollege on Thursday, 3 March 2022. The discussion followed a scathing statement by the Foreign Press Association, Africa (FPA Africa), about the framing of the coverage of Ukraine

Gender-based violence (GBV), human rights violations and violence against young girls saw a massive spike during the Covid-19 lockdown. So much so that it’s been labelled the “shadow pandemic”. How the media covered violence against women and girls during the lockdown was the focus of a discussion at the “Putting Gender on the Media Agenda” webinar hosted by fraycollege and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) on Tuesday, 01 March 2022.

Systemic issues, gender bias, known stereotypes and queerness were just some of the topics discussed by a panel of experts during the “Putting Gender on the Media Agenda” webinar hosted by fraycollege and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) on Tuesday, 01 March 2022. The webinar was a culmination of the Gender Justice Training Programme – a six-month programme presented jointly for South African and Ugandan journalists – supported by the IWMF.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts for all economic sectors, but as front-line workers, it has had acute impacts on journalists. Journalists’ financial, physical and electronic safety and security has been challenged, leading to poorer news content and impacting their capacity to fulfill their role as they should in reporting in an emergency of this nature.

fraycollege is opening applications for the inaugural Occupational Certificate: Journalist accredited by the QTCO which starts in January 2022. The year-long-course, offers school leavers a practical certificate for a multiplatform communications environment with facilitation by experienced journalists and communicators.

Free 4 Week Online Course focusing on The Right to Information in Africa for Supply-side Actors’ eLearning course content was developed by international experts. It aims to empower African government officials to navigate legislation and fulfil their mandate to promote information access in line with international commitments.

Amid a devastating surge of Covid infections, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) has launched a guide, developed with a focus on the needs of community media. The guide produced in close partnership with fraycollege and Internews, draws on experiences of journalists infected and affected by the pandemic.

The IWMF has launched a Global Health Reporting Initiative, focused on Vaccines and Immunization, for journalists. Early and mid-career journalists, as well as senior investigative journalists, are encouraged to apply, especially those who cover scientific or health stories.