Deputy Minister Kenny Morolong: North West Media Sustainability and Collaboration Summit

Address by the Honourable Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Kenny Morolong (MP) to the North West Media Sustainability & Collaboration Summit

Programme Director,
Esteemed guests,
Friends,

It is indeed an honour and a privilege to speak to you today on something that is close to my heart.

The role of media in any society is vital and since 1994 we have strived to ensure a free, independent and thriving media sector.

Of course, the landscape today is very different from what confronted us in 1994.

At the time, print media dominated the landscape and the power resided in the hands of a few powerful media houses, allowing them to largely shape the media agenda.

Today print media is a shadow of its former self and many former staple publications have either vanished or are only available online.

Similarly, the South African Press Association, known to many of us as SAPA, which for many decades was a mainstay in the news industry closed shop as the industry changed and evolved.

This closure paved the way for others to fill the void, and I am pleased to say that SA News, the government news agency run by GCIS has steadily emerged as one of the most trusted sources of news.

Friends,

I thought I would share these two anecdotes to show how the media industry is constantly evolving and how this merges perfectly with the many fascinating discussions that have taken place over two days at the Northwest Media Sustainability & Collaboration Summit.

A topic that immediately caught my eye was that of ensuring “Sustainable Funding Models for Community & Independent Media”.

In its 2024–2025 Annual Report, the

Media Development and Diversity Agency, (MDDA), noted that despite having invested more than 20 years into community media development initiatives, research indicates that merely 7% of respondents in the sector perceive their organisations as sustainable, with 74% identifying as partially sustainable.

The MDDA Annual Report also notes that community radio outperformed community television, as well as community and small commercial print, in terms of sustainability, while also highlighting challenges faced by the sector, including funding limitations, a shortage of skilled personnel, restricted access to advertising and insufficient infrastructure.

Programmed Director,

I can assure you that the survival of the community media sector has been at the forefront of various administrations since 1994.

GCIS continues to work with the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), which is responsible for promoting media development and diversity.

In support of this noble cause the MDDA has funded 586 community media projects, consisting of 321 radio/television stations and 185 print projects (newspapers, magazines, small commercial print.

Furthermore, the MDDA continues to strengthen its role as an enabler of credible, community-driven media that empowers voices, promotes democracy, and supports national development priorities.

I would also like to share with you some of the highlights from the MDDA’s Strategic Plan (2025–2030), which aims to enable the sustainability of community and small commercial media, support digitalisation, and improve the agency’s institutional capacity and governance frameworks.

One of the key outcomes of this plan is to establish a sustainable community and small commercial media sector, with targets including the capacitation of 200 practitioners, the digital transformation of 100 media entities, and ensuring all 100 supported organisations receive basic digital media training.

Furthermore, the GCIS continues to prioritise advertising spending on community media to support this vital sector.

Advertising spend on community media encompassing, radio, television and print amounted to over R22 million in the last financial year.

In addition, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies supports community media in South Africa by fostering an enabling policy environment, enhancing digital infrastructure, and facilitating sustainability for community broadcasters and print media in the digital age.

Key support includes digital migration, aiding broadcasters, and promoting digital products and applications developed by SMMEs through platforms like DigiTech.

Colleagues,

This brings me to another hot button topic, and I am glad to see it has been thoroughly interrogated in this session.

The issue of Digital Transformation & The Future of News Distribution lies at the heart of the survival of the media industry.

Digital transformation and Artificial Intelligence or simply AI are spearheading a revolution in the media industry.

The 2025 Reuters Institute Digital News Report finding on South Africa paints a sobering picture of the state of the media landscape.

The report says and I quote: “The news ecosystem in South Africa is far from healthy, with print’s death spiral almost at an end, and digital news and broadcast platforms battling to sustain themselves in the face of social media platforms, and especially the migration there of younger audiences.

While there are positive interventions being made, it’s going to take a much more concerted effort by news organisations to maintain relevance and sustainability,” end quote.

These startling findings are further backed up by an October 2024 survey by the Competition Commission's Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry, in which 77% of respondents reported accessing news via social media platforms.

Further findings show that Facebook emerged as the most popular social media platform for news consumption, used by 84% of respondents, followed by TikTok (47%), WhatsApp (46%), YouTube (45%), and X, formerly known as Twitter (30%).

The inquiry further found that these figures emphasise the growing influence of digital platforms on how South Africans consume news, with many respondents accessing these platforms multiple times a day.

Users spend more time on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube when news feeds and other information are personalised based on their interests and interactions.

Further research from the GCIS National Quantitative Tracker survey of January 2026 confirms that consumption patterns are changing.

The research indicates that traditional media is mostly used to access government information.

67% of respondents use TV followed by radio (39%) and social media (35%).

These fascinating findings confirm that people continue to consume news, but citizens are actively choosing where and how they receive information, confirming that the battle is now for attention and trust.

The question then arises, what role can community media play in this fractured and unpredictable landscape.

I believe that if armed with the proper tools, community media can become the vanguard of news in communities and households.

Digital transformation has moved the dial, and the power that once resided in the hands of a select few is now accessible to everyone.

For instance, a content creator armed with only a smartphone can utilise platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok or X to break a story that once required a newsroom.

I truly believe that by tapping into new ways of distributing content community media can begin to tell the stories that really matter.

Stories that have been overlooked by mainstream media with its shallow lens.

Similarly, the distribution advantage that once belonged exclusively to media houses can now be harnessed by anyone who can garner attention through speed, clarity, and credibility.

Credibility is especially critical in an era of fake news and agenda driven story telling.

You as community media have the power to be the arbiters of credible and informative news and actuality that drives community discourse.

I strongly believe that the future of distribution will be a combination of verifiable, personalised and trustworthy content.

This is already happening and we have all seen how influential podcasters have replaced the evening news, as people search for greater depth and understanding of issues that are relevant to them.

We now stand at a moment in time where the cost of distribution is almost zero.

The only question that remains is will community media grasp what is probably the greatest opportunity for relevance since the invention of the printing press.

Friends,

Before closing, I would like to touch on another issue which you have explored over the past few days, that of Public–Private–Academic Collaboration and Building a Media Ecosystem.

We have all no doubt at some point used the phrase working in silo’s and have at times attributed it to our own scope of work.

The tendency to go it alone or to gatekeep is something that we must guard against.

Collaboration and partnership are key in an era of shrinking budgets and competing priorities.

By working together community media can harness collective strengths and community networks.

You can become the conduit of credible news and the first port of call for listeners, viewers and readers.

For the first time in history the playing field is wide open; I therefore urge you to look to the future and to grasp the moment.

I thank you.

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