Media freedom advocate Phathiswa Magopeni takes reins at the Press Council
Phathiswa Magopeni has been appointed Executive Director of the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA), replacing Latiefa Mobara who has resigned after over a decade of service.
Judge Fritz Brand, PCSA chair, welcomed the appointment.
‘Phathiswa has a most impressive record in journalism, and we are really privileged to have her. I am pleased to welcome her and look forward to working with her.’
Read an interview with Magopeni here
He paid tribute to Mobara, a Press Council stalwart, who was the inaugural Public Advocate before being appointed the PCSA’s Executive Director in 2018.
‘Latiefa gave excellent, unstinting service to the PCSA, and her dynamic leadership is very largely responsible for the high esteem the Council enjoys in the eyes of our media members and the public.
‘We thank her for her many achievements and wish her well.
‘Our Appointments Panel was unanimous that Phathiswa is a truly worthy successor – capable of leading us to new heights as we continue our vital work in support of media freedom and democracy, and in keeping our media members fair by mediating and arbitrating complaints by the public against them.’
Magopeni said: ‘I am deeply honoured to join this vital institution at a time when we are experiencing an unprecedented impact of technological convergence on editorial integrity and media sustainability.’
‘A trustworthy, free, and responsible media is the lifeblood of a strong democracy, and I look forward to enabling the PCSA to carry out its critical function, and to work with all stakeholders to protect the integrity of the media and ensure that the public’s right to fair and credible information is uncompromised’.
Magopeni was already a Council member, having been selected late last year by constituent member the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) as its representative. She currently chairs SANEF’s Education and Training Committee.
An academic, journalist, and business executive with more than two decades of strategic and editorial leadership experience, Magopeni is an SABC Board Director and Vice Board Chair of African Women in Media.
She has held several executive roles, including Editor-in- Chief of SABC News and Chief Operations Officer at the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism.
Magopeni was a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town and is a member of the World Editors’ Forum. She is a recipient of the Menell/Duke University Fellowship and the Bloomberg Media Fellowship.
Her qualifications include an MBA from GIBS, University of Pretoria, where she is completing her Doctor of Business Administration degree.
Mobara said: ‘Phathiswa has the expertise, dedication and enthusiasm to take the Press Council into the future. She is a strong, capable, and visionary leader, committed to media freedom, and will enhance the Press Council’s image and role’
The PCSA has more than 400 media members that subscribe to the Press Code and is a member of the Network of Independent Media Councils in Africa (Nimca).
Magopeni will head the organisation’s national office and represent it on, and at, various national, continental and global bodies and events.
The Executive Director oversees the PCSA’s operations but is independent of the Complaints and Adjudication processes, which are chaired by Judge Bernard Ngoepe, under the Press Ombudsman with the assistance of his two deputies, and the Public Advocate.
Magopeni assumes her role in mid-February.
Watch Magopeni delivering the 14th Percy Qoboza Memorial Lecture at Unisa in October 2024, and read more here:
