Contemporary Issues in South Africa Toolkit: A Toolkit for Journalists

This book, published by Open Society Foundation (OSF), is meant to inspire journalists to generate high quality media content on a range of crucial topics that are part of South African society and to enhance the research that journalists conduct for their stories. It is designed to be a starting point to stimulate story ideas, develop a network of contacts, and build up a body of knowledge.

The book covers eight different topics which include economic recession, economic poverty, food insecurity, water issues, rural issues, xenophobia, gender issues, and children’s issues. According to the publishers, these chapters are not intended to provide reporters with in-depth information on any single topic, but rather are designed to provide building blocks on a variety of themes and to assist journalists in seeing each story they tackle through a variety of "lenses". This toolkit is based on a belief that a holistic approach to reporting is important in today’s media industry and that the links between the above mentioned issues cannot be emphasised enough.

Each of the eight chapters provides the following tools for journalists:

• an overview which provides a brief summary of the topic’s place in the media as a whole;
• a description of the theme in a global context so that reporters can understand the broader issues as well as common trends in the international media;
• a description of the local context so that reporters can understand the most crucial issues affecting South African society and how those could be handled in the media;
• a section on measurements so that reporters can find ways to source statistics and analyse them appropriately;
• helpful websites so that journalists can conduct research and build up their contacts (note: the websites listed are intended to serve as a starting point for computer-based research, but reporters should not limit themselves to those listed);
• useful terminology so that journalists can ask the right questions in interviews and use the correct terms when writing stories;
• tips so that journalists can apply some critical thinking to whatever topic they are covering and produce high quality content as a result; and
• flashpoints so those journalists are pointed in the right direction for further reading.