Media Freedom Day in South Africa marks the anniversary of a brutal crackdown by the apartheid state on the media and the Black Consciousness Movement. The 1977 killing of Black

Consciousness icon Steve Biko in police custody drew widespread rage and the state responded by closing newspapers, banning organisations and detaining journalists and activists. That was on

October 19 of that year, which became known as Black Wednesday. Since then, South African journalists have used Black Wednesday to draw attention to the importance of media freedom. As the

country and the world changed around them, they have highlighted the enduring importance of that most basic of rights: the citizen’s right to information. Over the years, the nature of the

COVID-19 pandemic are top of mind, and the media have been among the sectors profoundly affected. A new global study by the International Center for Journalists shows the extent of the

damage: media organisations have suffered extensive revenue losses, and journalists have felt the physical and emotional strain of reporting a health crisis that endangers them too. South

Africa has seen all of these impacts, which affect journalists’ ability to do their work and thereby harm media freedom. The new _State of the Newsroom_ report by Wits Journalism, about to

be released, will chart the closures, job losses and other devastation suffered in the media. ------------------------- _ READ MORE: JOURNALISM MAKES BLUNDERS BUT STILL FEEDS DEMOCRACY: AN

INSIDER'S VIEW _ ------------------------- In many ways the COVID-19 crisis has merely exacerbated trends that have long been visible. The traditional media business model was in

terminal decline long before the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Wuhan, China in November 2019. As audiences find it easier to get information online, advertising money has moved

from newspapers and other legacy media to the giant platforms like Facebook and Google. Studies like the 2018 Rhodes University report _Paying the Piper_ have shown how media sustainability

affects the quality of journalism. On the positive side, the International Center for Journalists report has found increased levels of trust in journalism since the start of the crisis.

Similar findings emerge in the Reuters Institute’s _Digital News Report_. It found that people around the world have relatively high levels of trusts in media coverage of COVID-19 – more

than twice as high as for social networks, video platforms or messaging services. This is welcome news, as these have become the purveyors of misinformation and disinformation – often called

fake news. Difficulties in differentiating between reliable and unreliable information online has certainly contributed significantly to the general decline in public trust in journalism.

This is perhaps the most profound threat to media freedom that journalism faces. The relationship of trust between the news media and their audiences is central to the very idea of

journalism: there really is little value to reporting that is disbelieved. Unfortunately, journalists have scored too many own goals. JOURNALISM OWN GOALS Veteran journalist Anton Harber’s

new book, _So, For the Record: Behind the Headlines in an Era of State Capture_, unpacks in great detail how a combination of factors led the Sunday Times, the country’s largest newspaper,

to publish a series of stories that he describes as > journalistic fiascos. These included extensive reporting that the South African Revenue Service was running a “rogue unit”, which the

paper later retracted. The factors included manipulation by elements of the state security apparatus, a newsroom denuded of skills because of business pressures and an arrogant newsroom

culture that refused to admit mistakes. Harber also describes the fascinating backstory behind the Guptaleaks, in which a trove of emails provided unanswerable evidence of state capture

under the administration of former president Jacob Zuma. This was undoubtedly a high point of South African journalism. More recently, there have been other missteps that damage audience

trust. The brief flurry of speculation about the possible arrest of African National Congress secretary general Ace Magashule on corruption charges was seen as a manoeuvre by Magashule

himself to test the waters and mobilise political support. It seems that governing party factionalists and politicians are still able to find journalists willing to peddle misinformation for

political gains. And there have been other examples, like instances of victims being identified in politically tinged cases of sexual abuse despite clear rules protecting them. A MORE

COMPLEX WORLD The world has become infinitely more complex for journalists since the 1977 crackdown. They face a collapsing business model that is steadily destroying the capacity of news

organisations to do thorough work and a torrent of weaponised misinformation, working together to undermine public trust. ------------------------- _ READ MORE: SEXISM IS RIFE IN THE

NIGERIAN, KENYAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN PRESS. AND IT'S LEFT UNCHECKED _ ------------------------- These are the new threats to journalism and to media freedom. In response, practitioners

need to focus on their relationship with audiences. In his book _Can You Trust the Media?_, journalism professor Charlie Beckett writes: > Trust is a relationship, not a fact. More than

anything, journalists need to hold firmly to the ethical standards that tell audiences their work is reliable and credible. This is what will ensure trustworthy journalism stands out from

the noise around it.