Black African women are almost entirely absent from senior editorial positions in South African newsrooms, new research found.
Bongekile Macupe, deputy politics editor at the digital news outlet News24, spoke to 10 Black African women journalists with newsroom experience ranging from a year to more than three decades as part of a fellowship at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute. “Their stories varied, but the patterns were clear,” she wrote.
One explanation that emerged in multiple interviews is the enduring “boys’ club” in South African media — a space dominated by white men during apartheid was later filled by Black men. “The absence of black African women in senior editorial roles is not just about representation,” Macupe wrote. “It shapes coverage, perspectives, and the future of the industry.”