Real reporting or just retweeting? Contesting the role and relevance of mainstream South African media in reporting on humanitarian crises in the face of the social media shockwave Join Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Wits School of Journalism & Wits Justice Project for an evening of debate and insight on state of affairs of reportage and engagement. Date: Tuesday 13 October 2015 Time: 18:00 for 18:30 Venue: 12th Floor, Wits University Corner (Wits Art Museum Building) 1 Smuts Avenue & Jorissen Street, Johannesburg OVERVIEW Newsrooms are shrinking as fast as operating budgets, along with audience attention spans. But the desire to engage with audiences is at an all-time high in the mainstream media. Journalists are crying out for opportunities for authentic, richer storytelling. Some are able to break free from confines, seizing opportunities and pushing boundaries at what used to be the fringes. But the bootstrapping revolution in publishing and social sharing has not only disrupted the news media and its agenda setting function. Organisations responding to humanitarian crises have become their own journalists and channels increasingly building their own audience of followers and supporters. The people they help are equally adept at finding their own voice through Twitter and Facebook without the “help” of intermediaries. It’s a New World for the brave, for sure. It’s a world where roles and relevance are redrawn daily. Together, we take stock of the South African situation with academics, news agenda decision-makers, journalists and humanitarians. Speakers will include: Nooshin Erfani-Ghadimi, Project Coordinator, Wits Justice Project Govan Whittles, Journalist, Eyewitness News (EWN) Shannon Ibrahim, Foreign Editor, the Independent Media Group Contact: Angela Makamure at angela.makamure@joburg.msf.org | 084 977 7553, 011 403 4440 Deborah Miloa at comms.intern@joburg.msf.org 078 913 3211 by 5pm on Monday 12 October 2015.