News 24

TRACE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF THE 2023 TRACE PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 10, 2023

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The TRACE Foundation , a non-profit organization established to support projects that encourage greater commercial transparency, today announced the winners of the 2023 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting .

Key Points: 
  • ANNAPOLIS, Md., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The TRACE Foundation , a non-profit organization established to support projects that encourage greater commercial transparency, today announced the winners of the 2023 TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting .
  • The second recipient of the 2023 TRACE Prize is a team of journalists from Mongabay, BBC and The Gecko Project.
  • "Through the TRACE Prize for Investigative Reporting, now in its eighth year, we recognize investigative journalists worldwide who work tirelessly—and often at considerable personal risk—to expose corruption at the highest levels," TRACE President Alexandra Wrage said.
  • The application for the 2024 TRACE Prize for "Investigative Reporting: Uncovering Commercial Bribery" is now open.

South Africa's media often portrays foreigners in a bad light. This fuels xenophobia

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 23, 2023

In the light of this we set out to understand how South Africa’s print media writes about foreigners.

Key Points: 
  • In the light of this we set out to understand how South Africa’s print media writes about foreigners.
  • Our recently published study looked at the representation of foreigners in some of South Africa’s biggest print and online newspapers.
  • Their presence in the country receives a great deal of media attention and has sparked a number of xenophobic attacks.
  • As researchers in Political Science and Sociology, we were interested in how South Africa’s print media portrays foreign nationals.
  • Our findings showed that the media often used language that portrayed foreigners in a bad light, and dehumanised them.

How the media portrays foreign nationals

    • We found a common trend in the way the South African media describes the immigrant population.
    • For instance, without incorporating academic or other credible research, there is loose use of adjectives such as “undocumented” or “illegal” when referring to African foreign nationals.
    • The media frequently used expressions such as “huge numbers”, “many foreigners”, “thousands of immigrants”, “millions of foreign nationals”, “over 300 illegal foreigners”, and “a vast number”.
    • Read more:
      Integrating languages should form part of South Africa's xenophobia solutions

      Another issue our study investigated was how the media attached meanings to words.

Us versus them

    • Corresponding to the negative depiction was the creation of separate identities (us versus them).
    • Mostly, this was done by downplaying the negative traits of South Africans while emphasising their positive traits.
    • The positive traits of African foreign nationals were minimised and their negative traits highlighted.

What should be done

    • Nevertheless it’s plausible to argue that the media has the potential to shape public attitudes.
    • Sikanyiso Masuku receives funding from the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs.

Did South Africa sell arms to Russia? Only a series of unlikely scenarios could have made it possible

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 16, 2023

On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.

Key Points: 
  • On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.
  • The announcement rapidly fed into a popular narrative that South Africa was increasingly siding with Russia in relation to Moscow’s aggressive war in Ukraine.
  • Brigety’s statements made both South African and international news headlines, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the Financial Times.
  • Furthermore, as demonstrated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms database, Russia has rarely imported South African arms.

Imports and exports

    • Indeed the Arms Control Committee’s 2019 arms import report lists the permit approval for the import of five million rounds of Russian ammunition to South Africa.
    • Over the years, even the US and the UK have imported arms from Russia according to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
    • Reports at the time indicate that containers were offloaded in the harbour and then transported to secure locations under tight security.

US accusations of South African arms to Russia

    • Brigety claimed that the US government had intelligence reports indicating that prior to the Lady R departing from Simon’s Town, South African ammunition and possibly arms were loaded onto the vessel and then transported to Russia.
    • South Africa has one of the most comprehensive arms export laws in Africa, the cornerstones of which are transparency and human rights considerations.
    • Traditionally Russia could be considered a South African ally due to the BRICS arrangement.
    • However, reports of Russian perpetrated human rights abuses in Ukraine would most likely override other considerations in terms of South Africa’s arms export considerations.
    • All arms export applications by arms exporters are carefully considered by a scrutiny committee and, thereafter, by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
    • The annual arms export reports show that South Africa generally adheres to the Section 15 criteria.
    • If the Arms Control Committee had considered an application to export arms and or ammunition to Russia, then consensus among cabinet ministers would have been necessary.

The devil is in the intelligence reports

    • But such an endeavour would have required the payment of considerable bribes to officials on the docks and the manufacture of fraudulent export documentation.
    • The crux of the arms-to-Russia allegations relates to the content of the US intelligence reports.

Chat Inc. Deploys Sweesh for Global Client to Urgently Communicate With Staff as Fatal Floods Hit Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, May 12, 2022

Ensuring emergency communication reached their team on the ground to keep them informed of developments was of paramount importance.

Key Points: 
  • Ensuring emergency communication reached their team on the ground to keep them informed of developments was of paramount importance.
  • This empowers our clients to engage, share information and transact instantly with their customers and staff, all without barriers.
  • Chat Inc.s clients include Woolworths, AB InBev, Multichoice Africa, The Foschini Group, Peninsula Beverages, and the ADvTECH Group.
  • Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, Chat Inc.s growing footprint of global customers and business partners brings businesses and customers closer through meaningful and frictionless conversational solutions.

STAGWELL'S (STGW) INK APPOINTS ELIAS MANNEH CHIEF PARTNERSHIP OFFICER AND ANNOUNCES A REACHTV-SPORT 24 DEAL FOR LIVE TV SPORTS

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, April 7, 2022

MIAMI, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Ink, the world's leading travel content and media sales agency, has announced that Elias Manneh has been appointed as their new Chief Partnership Officer.

Key Points: 
  • MIAMI, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Ink, the world's leading travel content and media sales agency, has announced that Elias Manneh has been appointed as their new Chief Partnership Officer.
  • Elias combines his creative passion with data driven insights to produce truly innovative and strategic recommendations for our partners."
  • In other INK news, subsidiary reachTV announced a new live TV partnership with Sport 24, the IMG-owned live sports channel for the inflight and in-ship industry.
  • The new partnership comes on the heels ofreachTV's move into live sports, highlighted by their multi-year licensing agreement with the NFL.