By Kemiso Yasmine Wessie
Every one of Amahle-Imvelo “Jaxx” Jaxa’s videos starts with a simple, familiar and unmistakably South African greeting: “Howzit.”
Whether she’s unpacking the national Budget Speech, the State of the Nation Address, tensions between Iran, Israel and the USA, Afrophobia or the importance of voter registration, each video is a thoughtful and accessible breakdown of the stories happening in South Africa and the world. Complex political and economic issues become understandable, conversational and most importantly, relevant.
News is no longer consumed through newspapers, television bulletins or radio broadcasts. At least not exclusively. While these are essential pillars of the information ecosystem, many people are looking to TikTok videos, Instagram reels, podcasts and independent creators and commentators who translate seemingly complex events and topics into approachable language.
For journalism educators, this is a challenge and an opportunity. With educators, researchers and practitioners preparing for the annual African Journalism Education Network round table meeting in Mauritius from 12-14 August, under the theme “Reimagining African Journalism Education in a Time of Technological Disruption and Possibilities”, the conversation is clear.
From artificial intelligence and evolving newsroom practices and audience behaviours to the role of journalism within increasingly polarised national and global politics. The question is no longer whether online creators belong in the media ecosystem; it’s what the industry can learn from them.
Jaxa, who describes herself as a “political communicator”, has built an audience of more than 350 000 followers on TikTok and Instagram combined by making politics, economics and current affairs easy to understand “so that the average South African can have agency and power,” she adds.
She is equally quick to clarify what she is not. “I always have to reiterate that I’m not a journalist,” she says. “I pull my work from journalists.”
Rather than replacing journalism, creators like Jaxa build on it. Their work depends on reporting produced by professional newsrooms and journalists, but they package it differently for audiences whose media habits have fundamentally changed. Jaxa demonstrates many of the foundational practices of the profession while exposing new competencies that future journalism graduates will need. Her videos may last only a few minutes, but they are the product of hours of research, summary and editorial judgement.
Every morning begins with the news. She reads multiple publications, listens to the radio, tracks conversations online and identifies issues that require further explanation. Having studied International Relations, Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Jaxa is acutely aware that every news organisation approaches a story from a particular perspective. “A very important thing for me is to go to different news sources because they have different agendas,” she explains.
She then turns to YouTube and other sources to build context before comparing accounts and identifying the facts that matter the most. Only once she feels she fully understands an issue does the video begin to take shape.
Although TikTok allows videos of up to ten minutes, Jaxa treats that time as journalists have always treated a television package or radio bulletin. “There is no real formula to picking out the topics, but there will always be history because I think what traditional media maybe misses is giving people [enough] context. I try very much to explain why we are here today before speaking about what’s happening now,” she says.
Every explainer, therefore, starts with history before moving into the headline itself. It is precisely this reason that Jaxa says, “I don’t do breaking news. “I’m so terrified of being the cause of misinformation, particularly disinformation.”
Instead, she deliberately waits until enough verified information is available before posting. Every video references the reporting it relies on, citing publications like News24, Mail & Guardian, and Sunday Times, not only to credit journalists but to encourage audiences to read further for themselves.
In the age of artificial intelligence, journalism’s traditional strengths have become more valuable. While AI can make research, transcription, and production faster, “It’s a machine at the end of the day,” she adds, and it can never fully replace human curiosity and expertise.
However, she believes students should be taught how to use AI critically rather than unquestioningly. Knowing how to properly prompt AI is only one part of the equation, though. “You’re going to have to be very knowledgeable on the topic to be able to use AI efficiently and correctly,” Jaxa states.
Future journalists and digital communicators must learn how to interrogate AI’s outputs, compare them against credible sources and recognise when the technology is leading them astray. As AI changes newsroom production and business models, educators must prepare students to not just use these technologies, but to question them, verify their outputs and understand their limitations.
Jaxa’s observations echo a central question facing journalism: how can the newsroom embrace new technologies without compromising the values that underpin quality journalism? For her, another equally significant shift is happening.
Social media is no longer solely for entertainment: “It’s become a communication platform,” she argues, recalling searching for an official statement from President Cyril Ramaphosa that appeared first on Twitter before she could find it on governmental websites or news platforms.
As politicians, governments, institutions and audiences communicate directly through digital platforms, the relationship between journalism and the public is also changing. News organisations are no longer the exclusive gatekeepers and managers of information but rather share the space with creators, commentators and citizens who influence public understanding in real time.
The changing information ecosystem has created opportunities for African storytellers to reclaim their own narratives. “As Africans, for once we have the power to tell our own stories,” she says. “We have this wonderful opportunity to rewrite history as it’s been told to us.”
She points to instances where creators have challenged inaccurate international narratives about Africa simply by documenting their lived realities and publishing them online. Digital platforms, she argues, have given Africans unprecedented control over how the continent is represented.
Education, however, remains central to everything Jaxa does. “Education is always going to correlate with power,” she says. “It is giving people the power to make informed decisions.”
Within this, educators must find a way to teach learners to carry journalism’s enduring principles into emerging technologies and platforms while developing and rethinking the communication skills necessary to reach audiences where they already are.