Former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Nelson Mandela, noted the Institute's role in supporting democracy in South Africa. "The timeframe of their [the IAJ's] work runs almost exactly parallel to that of democratic governance in our country... The role of the Institute is to ensure that quality journalism plays a role in the future of our democracy."
Democracy is best supported by a media that is free, diverse and of high quality, delivering information to audiences that support engaged citizenry. The Institute remains at the forefront of skills transfer from more established journalists to younger, upcoming professionals.
"We feel that the new website is far more in keeping with our leading-edge training offerings and will allow the Institute to better serve both the media sector and the cause of democracy in South Africa," says IAJ director, Michael Schmidt.
With ongoing threats to media freedom in South Africa (and Africa), the work of the Institute is now more important than ever. Many of the challenges to press freedom centre on alleged unethical and shoddy journalism.
The IAJ has worked for the past 21 years to improve the skills of journalists to root out this kind of journalism and continues to do so into the digital era.
Not only an impartial training service provider, the Institute maintains strong ties with industry associations such as the Professional Journalists Association (ProJourn), the South African Editors' Forum (SANEF), the Press Council and the Southern African Freelancers Association (SAFREA) to support professional journalism in South Africa.
Collaborating with like-minded organisations such as the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the Right2Know (R2K) campaign, the IAJ also lobbies against threats to media freedom.
However, lobbying is not enough without improved skills. Supported by solid international expertise through the Poynter Institute (US), after which the IAJ is modelled, it uses revolutionary training methodologies. It also collaborates with universities throughout South Africa to deliver much-needed, relevant and up-to-date skills.
"The new website demonstrates how the Institute continues to meet the changing demands of the media sector, which needs to engage with digital migration and multiplying online platforms," says Sandra Roberts, writing unit manager at the Institute.
For more, go to www.iaj.org.za.
