Tough times, hard choices: an examination of the implications of the rise of philanthro-investigative journalism in South Africa and Uganda

Abstract

The business model around which commercial media houses were built, one reliant on advertising and newspaper circulation, is facing an existential threat with technological advancements causing tectonic shifts in how audiences consume news. Advertising revenue is falling. The future of commercial media is grim. Efforts to save critical genres of journalism like investigative reporting are in high gear across the globe with philanthro-investigative journalism emerging as one of the approaches to support investigative reporting amidst commercial constraints afflicting the media. Drawing on critical political economy as the overarching theoretical framework, and media economics theory, with in-depth interviews and document analysis as research methodologies, this study, using South Africa’s AmaBhungane and Uganda’s New Vision as cases, examined the implications of this emerging model to journalistic roles, editorial independence, and teased out sustainability questions. It finds that there are concerns with editorial independence, credibility of grantee media houses and that donors are subtly setting the agenda for media houses through funding specific topics or issues, impacting on journalists’ understanding of their role in society. It also finds that sustainability remains a contested question with no clear views on whether this model should be adopted as one that can sustainably support investigative reporting, or it should only be a stopgap measure to address commercial constraints in newsrooms. The study conclusively notes that the model is here to stay and there is recognition in the industry that it is one of the important approaches media organisations can explore to fund investigative journalism but they must insulate themselves from its associated threats to their own credibility and independence while continually reflecting on the sustainability conundrum