"Is Inequality Good or Bad? It Depends," said Prof. Haroon Bhorat of the University of Cape Town's School of Economics, setting off a heated debate at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office. Every issue should not be a normative one, said Bhorat who urges people to follow the numbers to find the real answers. Our normative response to the question, "Is inequality wrong?" is "yes, of course it's...
SACSIS columnist, Leonard Gentle, challenged Dr. Haroon Bhorat's assertion that every issue does not have to be a normative one, at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office. Surely the starting point is to take a position on inequality, he argued. The roundtable discussion, which examined the media's perspective of the South African economy, put the following questions to editors: Is the economy on the right growth path? What are the...
The media lacks a grand narrative on the political economy said SACSIS columnist, Saliem Fakir, at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office. Fakir argues that the media does not even understand its own role in society. The roundtable discussion, which examined the media's perspective of the South African economy, put the following questions to editors: Is the economy on the right growth path? What are the prospects for making it more...
Progressive change can only come about once power relations change in society change, argued SACSIS Columnist, Richard Pithouse, at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office. The fact of the matter is that the media is a commercial enterprise and thus influenced by an unconscious ideological bias related to being able to secure advertising revenue as well as holding on to a particular market -- and there is a structural limitation to...
SACSIS Columnist, Prof. Jane Duncan, highlights a case of police brutality against members of an impoverished community that is not being reported by the media. She made these remarks at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by SACSIS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office. The roundtable discussion, which examined the media's perspective of the South African economy, put the following questions to editors: Is the economy on the right growth path? What are the prospects for making...
Mondli Makhanya, the Editor in Chief of Avusa Media and Chairman of SANEF, argues that contrary to the commonly held view that the media is selective about the voices it amplifies, the media provides a great platform for a broad range of views on the economy. While Makhanya argued that the media offered a space for people with various viewpoints, he contended that the left was not proactive enough about getting its views into newspapers. He also said that advertisers held no sway...