Journalists and editors from various broadcasters and media houses across the city gathered at the Cape Town Hotel School recently for the annual Media Mingle.
The attendees included former Press Ombud, Pippa Green, Chairperson of the CPUT Council, Dr Laurine Platzky, Deputy Press Ombud, Tyrone August and several proud alumni of the Journalism Department, many of whom hold prominent positions in their newsrooms.
The event, which was organised by the Marketing and Communication Department, presented an opportunity for networking as well as discussion between the University and the media representatives.
Guests were welcomed by Media Liaison Officer, Lauren Kansley, before Dr Garth van Gensen, Director of the Marketing and Communication Department introduced guest speaker, John Bailey.
The eNCA Managing Editor and former China Bureau Chief shared his perceptions on leadership and some of his life experiences before a question and answer session with the audience.
This included the importance of teamwork, leading with empathy and having a clear vision of what you want to achieve.
“I think that as leaders …you have to embrace the power that you have as the leadership but you also have to be comfortable taking those uncomfortable decisions as to what you want to achieve for your organisation because you have to be able to challenge the status quo,” he said to the leaders in the room.
“As the fourth estate you have to push the boundaries all the time. If you’re not going to push the boundaries you are not going to make any differences or any change.”
In his address, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, said journalism was under increasing threat from Artificial Intelligence, social media and regressive governments, amongst other things.
“However, I urge you to continue working in the challenging sector as many ordinary South Africans like myself rely on you to continue to hold power to account or as we normally, say holding their feet to the fire.”
He said this included holding leaders of higher education institutions to account.
Nhlapo took the opportunity to “welcome home” the journalism alumni present.
“I know that the majority of you in the room are either products of the told Pentech or trained here at CPUT. The Department of Journalism here at CPUT is widely recognised as one of the best providers of premium media education.”
Written by Ilse Fredericks
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