Brave SA journos commended for commitment to media freedom

Journalists who have died in conflict zones were also honoured.

A group of South African journalists have been commended for their commitment to media freedom.

Journalists from across various media houses including The Citizen were honoured by the Adcock Ingram OTC ย Sponsors of Brave Media and Journalism Awards at the Southern Sun Hotel in Hyde Park on Wednesday night.

Watch Katy Katopodis speaking about brave journalists

Katy Katopodis, senior editor, newsroom development strategist and chairperson of the South African National Editors Forumโ€™s (Sanef) Journalism wellness and safety committee said journalists need to be celebrated for their commitment to media a freedom.

โ€œA culture of silence, threatens our media freedom. Thereโ€™s an old adage, I kind of changed it for this event, โ€˜if silence were golden, journalists would be bankrupt.โ€™โ€

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Journalists who died

Katopodis also paid tribute to journalists who have died in conflict zones.

โ€œAccording to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 72 journalists have been killed in the past ten months and six days. Did you know that Haiti is now the worldโ€™s top offender for allowing journalist murders to go unpunished.

โ€œAlso on the CPJโ€™s Global Impunity Index, for the first time ranking seconds is Israelโ€™s failure to hold anyone to account for the killing of journalists from 2014 to 2024,โ€ Katopodis said.

Journalists and media personalities who were honoured on the night included Yusuf Abramjee, Ashraf Garda, Bongani Bingwa, Govan Whittles, Aki Anastasiou, Kyle Cowen and many others including The Citizenโ€™s very own senior digital journalist Faizel Patel.

Acknowledgement

Adcock Ingram OTC CEO Sudier Ramparsad said the awards evening is not about Adcock Ingram, but for the journalists and the media.

Ramparsad thanked Julie Katopodis and other organisers including the new ambassador of the awards, South African investigative television journalist Devi Sankaree Govender for organising a stellar Brave Awards evening.

Sankaree Govender takes over from the late legendary journalist and broadcaster Derek Watts who died last year.

โ€œWe look to acknowledge people who are doing right within in South Africa and trying to encourage that. We started this journey with journalists because it was very clear that no one was doing it, to celebrate the bravery associated with journalists,โ€ Ramparsad said.

Commitments

Primedia 702 breakfast show host Bongani Bingwa also spoke about commitments by journalists, referring to Katopodis who left her newborn baby with her husband to cover a fire at Eastgate Shopping Centre.

โ€œWe talk about bravery, but there is a thing to be said about commitment, doing what you need to do when no one is watching and when [there is] possibly no real tangible reward other than her love for her craft and telling the story.

โ€œThere are so many of us are doing what we do today, what we love to do, so passionately because of the kind of trailblazer she is,โ€ Bongwa said.

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