A new study examining 30 years of South Africa’s post-apartheid media reforms has sparked urgent calls for stronger policy intervention, better funding models and renewed political will to support community media.
Community media has long been regarded as a cornerstone of the country’s democratic information ecosystem.
Speaking at a public webinar hosted by the Wits Centre for Journalism, Peter Deselaers, Programme Director for DW (Deutsche Welle) Academy in Southern Africa, praised the research team for completing and publishing the work despite funding setbacks. The project was originally supported through a media development partnership cut short by reductions in US government funding. “We’re really grateful we could catch that ball and still publish this great research,” Deselaers said. “Community media viability is a critical issue across the SADC region, and lessons from South Africa will be beneficial for countries like Malawi and Namibia.”
The report, authored by Associate Professors Franz Krüger from NLA University College, in Norway, Sarah Chiumbu, from the University of Johannesburg, in South Africa and Jayshree Pather, a development and community media expert and independent consultant, successes the successes and failures of policy interventions intended to democratise the media sector in South Africa democratic era. It focuses on community radio, small independent publishers, community television and digital outlets, mainly in marginalised communities.
Presenting the findings, Pather noted that South Africa’s democratic transition ushered in a moment of optimism and institution-building. The creation of an independent broadcasting regulator, the introduction of a three-tier system, public, commercial and community, and the emergence of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) were all intended to support media pluralism.
The results show significant gains:
- 232 community radio licences have been issued since 1994, reaching roughly 8 million listeners weekly.
- Over 90 small, independent print publishers have emerged.
- Content is now produced in all official languages, plus minority languages.
- South Africa remains the highest-ranked African country for press freedom, outperforming the UK and the US.
Yet, beneath these achievements lie profound structural challenges, she said.
Funding crisis and widening information inequality
Many outlets operate with extremely fragile finances, the study finds. Community radio stations have annual median turnovers of around R500 000, while small print publishers often survive on as little as R250 000 per year — figures that have deteriorated even further, to as little as R100 000 per annum, according to industry data outlined by Dr Kater Skinner, executive director of the Independent Publishers Association (AIP).
Dr Skinner cited new research showing that 44% of small publications earn under R100,000 a year, with many operating at a 12% loss. AIP estimates that R400 million would be needed annually to adequately support community print news across all major regions.
These financial pressures deepen South Africa’s information inequality. Community and local media remain disproportionately concentrated in metropolitan townships, leaving large parts of rural South Africa as “news deserts” with little or no access to independent local information.
“This exclusion, which was there under apartheid, continues in post-apartheid,” Skinner said. “These are not peripheral issues. They directly shape editorial independence and sustainability.”
The report also highlights:
- Frequent changes in government leadership, such as seven communications ministers in nine years.
- Leadership instability and scandals at the MDDA.
- Cases of political capture, including outlets being occupied by local factions or starved of municipal advertising.
Community television has also been hindered by policy confusion and costly delays in digital migration.
Prof Kruger said the research team concluded that South Africa needs a policy on information rights as its starting point. This would be a framework to ensure equitable access to information across socio-economic divides.
Funding recommendations
Key recommendations include:
- Platform-agnostic support, focusing on communities most excluded from the information economy.
- Stronger safeguards to prevent political capture.
- An overhaul of institutions like the MDDA, shifting from short-term project grants to long-term structural support.
- Greater transparency in state communication spending, including the longstanding but unfulfilled commitment that 70% of government advertising should go to local and community media.
- Exploring levy-based funding models and tax incentives for donations.
Prof Kruger said one of the most debated proposals is the introduction of a basic income grant for small media outlets in marginalised areas, acknowledging that some communities simply do not have the local economic base to sustain media businesses.
Dr Skinner urged policymakers and funders to examine where such funding might come from, and how eligibility could be tied to measurable public-interest outcomes.
The webinar also referenced a recent Competition Commission Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry, which endorsed the Digital News Transformation Fund, intended to support small publishers and community media with R114 million over three years. But the Commission warned that additional contributions depend on matching donor funding, meaning large portions of the money are not yet guaranteed.
A call for collaboration
Speakers agreed that while the needs of the sector are vast, the available funding remains small and inconsistent. Stronger partnerships between government, media bodies, donors, universities, and regulators will be essential.
“This report gives us a framework to understand what worked, what unravelled, and where the gaps remain,” Skinner concluded. “But with limited resources and huge needs, collaboration is the only way forward,” she added.
As South Africa march along after 30 years of democracy, the future of its community media landscape, and its ability to serve rural poor and linguistically diverse communities, depends heavily on whether policymakers respond to these warnings with the necessary scale and foresight.