The application deadline for Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management EXTENDED to 03 February 2023!

The Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University invites communication and other front-line-facing officers/managers who handle government communication and regularly interact with the public to register for the Government Media: Essential Tools for Editors and Journalists course.

The Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership invites you to join the five-day course entitled Essentials of Digital Media Management at Rhodes University from 21 - 25 November 2022

A diverse mix of communicators, marketers, stakeholder relations officers and faculty officers completed a highly specialised professional course on managing digital content.

The Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership invites you to join the five-day course entitled Essentials of Digital Media Management at Rhodes University from 15 - 19 August 2022

The Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ryan Hancocks as its Acting Director.

Application for the full-time and part-time Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM) programmes are open for 2023. The full-time and distance courses run in tandem.

Applications for the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (popularly known as the PDMM) offered by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University are open for 2022.

MAKHANDA, South Africa – Government communicators have commended the one-week media management short course run by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership that explores various media tools which can assist them in producing effective communications strategies for their organisations.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) is an intensive, programme accredited at the honours degree level (NQF Level 8) by South Africa's Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The programme is offered annually by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University.

Back in full swing in 2021, the annual Highway Africa summit conference ran virtually over three days in June, with 136 unique attendees.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) is an intensive programme accredited at the honours degree level (NQF Level 8) by South Africa's Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The programme is offered annually by the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University and as a distance programme, which runs over two academic years.

Day three of the Highway Africa virtual conference, which consisted of several academic and research tracks, was launched with a keynote by Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town, Francis Nyamnjoh.

The afternoon session of the second day of the Highway Africa virtual conference kicked off on 22 June with the highly anticipated panel discussion titled: ‘Big tech and data, disinformation, truth and inertia’.

Journalists worldwide do unpopular work that places them under threat – and this is not just a reality in autocratic states but one faced by journalists around the world. Cyberattacks have become the latest attack method of choice against journalists, with cases continuing to rise exponentially. This was the topic of discussion for the last seminar on the second day of the Highway Africa virtual conference, which ran from 21-23 June 2021.

On 22 June, Adi Eyal, Founder of OpenUp, a civic tech laboratory that blends data and technology to drive social change, gave a keynote address on Harnessing Big Data by African Media to Improve Journalism Innovation in a well-attended presentation as part of the Highway Africa three-day virtual conference.

On 21 June 2021, Highway Africa started its virtual conference on the perils and promise of platformisation for Africa with an introduction and welcome from Dr Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.

Welcome address by Francis Mdlongwa, Director of Highway Africa and of the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, Rhodes University, at the opening of the 2021 virtual Highway Africa summit conference on 21 June 2021

Although 2020’s unexpected COVID-19 pandemic limited Highway Africa to a series of webinars, this year’s virtual conference will see the usual magnitude of this 24-year old event restored to its former glory.

Highway Africa, together with the Partnership for Social Accountability (PSA) Alliance, invites journalists in Southern Africa to apply for the 3rd Southern Africa Media Awards in Social Accountability Reporting 2021.

Highway Africa (HA), the continent’s largest gathering of African journalists and media practitioners, is gearing up for the 23rd edition in June 2021 under the theme, The Promises and Perils of Platformisation for Africa.

Rhodes University’s popular Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management), which has been run as a fulltime course in the past 16 years, will now also be offered by distance learning as from next year.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) is an intensive, year-long fulltime programme accredited at the honours degree level (NQF Level 8) by South Africa’s Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The programme is offered annually by the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University.

Makhanda (Grahamstown), South Africa -- Highway Africa (HA), the continent’s biggest and oldest conference series run by Rhodes University, has launched a series of high-level webinars that seek practical solutions to challenges that face African media and journalism in the era of Covid-19 and how to exploit emerging opportunities.

Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, working in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), invites applications from suitably qualified consultants who will carry out an evaluation of a scholarship programme that has been funding the education of Southern African women media leaders at Rhodes University in the past 14 years.

A series of webinars brought to you by Highway Africa at Rhodes University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS).

By Francis Mdlongwa, Director of Highway Africa (HA) and of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership. The investigative journalism guidelines below were compiled by HA, with valuable input from the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), one of South Africa’s leading independent accountability institutions, which is also based at Rhodes University.

MAKHANDA, South Africa - A group of participants have commended the digital media short course they recently attended at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, Rhodes University.

The Essentials of Digital Media Management short course hosted by the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership is currently being held at the School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University.

The Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, Rhodes University invites you to join our five-day management course entitled "Essentials of Digital Media Management" taking place from the 24-28 February 2020.

Tuyeimo Haidula, an alumnus of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, recently scooped two prestigious media awards at a national event that honours Namibian journalists

Makhanda -- What was meant to be a book launch for the late Matthew Buckland turned into a touching wake about a brilliant young digital entrepreneur whose life touched many and unfortunately came to an end too soon.

MAKHANDA, South Africa – A group of participants who attended a recent short course at Rhodes University said they will be creating more news content videos in order to keep their audiences interested and engaged, especially on social media platforms.

Applications for the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) offered by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University for the year 2020 are now open!

In a world where ‘nothing is for mahala (free)’, Rhodes University's Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership held its annual pizza lunch on Wednesday, 21 August 2019.

MAKHANDA, South Africa – Government communicators have commended the media management short course run by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership that explores and analyses various media tools, especially crisis communications management, which can assist them to produce effective communications strategies for their organizations.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Editors, journalists and managers of South African community media houses recently spent a week debating and seeking solutions to challenges confronting the industry at a time of heightened innovation in the sector.

The School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) at Rhodes University extends its deep condolences to the family of Matthew Buckland who passed away on Monday 23nd April. Matthew graduated from Rhodes University in 1996, with a rare triple major in Journalism and Media Studies, History and Philosophy. He was always proud of his association with the University, where both his father, Professor Andrew Buckland and mother, Janet Buckland, have worked for many years.

The 2019 Class of the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) – as in previous years – is a multinational and diverse group comprising recent university graduates and working journalists drawn from several African countries. The one-year, intensive full-time programme, popularly known as the PDMM at Rhodes University, is offered by the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership. It is an equivalent to an honours degree and is the only formal qualification in media management in Africa and the developing world.

A seasoned mix of journalists, communicators, marketers and researchers have praised a course they attended at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, saying it has capacitated them with the necessary digital skills and tools to excel in their jobs.

Rhodes staff members of the Alumni and Development Unit of the Communications and Advancement Division completed a writing course offered by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership.

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), an African institution committed to the creation of open societies through support for democracy, human rights and good governance, invites applications for eight postgraduate scholarships from Southern African women media leaders who wish to study media management at Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership in 2019.

Rhodes attracts diverse crop of aspirant media leaders The students named below are studying the intensive, one-year, fulltime Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management, which is popularly known as the PDMM) at Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership in 2018. The PDMM, which is equivalent to an honours degree, is the only formal qualification in media management in Africa and the developing world.

By Francis Mdlongwa GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Financially troubled mainstream media and their journalists need to work harder to build strong personalized relationships with their audiences whom they must also serve personalized news content or kiss their centuries-old business goodbye.

Address by Francis Mdlongwa, Director of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership, at the official opening of the 13th summit of the World Media Economics and Management Conference in Cape Town on 7 May 2018.

Financially-troubled mainstream media and their journalists need to work harder to build strong personalised relationships with their audiences or kiss their centuries-old businesses goodbye.

By Francis Mdlongwa GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Financially troubled mainstream media and their journalists need to work harder to build strong personalized relationships with their audiences whom they must also serve personalized news content or kiss their centuries-old business goodbye.

There is no denying that the introduction of the internet and social media has been a great disruptor of journalism.

The 2018 World Media Economic and Management Conference has kicked off in Cape Town, where the world’s leading scholars of media business and media management have gathered to discuss issues affecting the media industry.

Press statement issued by organizers of World Media Economics and Management Conference: Monday, 30 April 2018 World leaders in South Africa for historic media summit GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – World leaders and researchers of media management and media business meet in South Africa for a four-day summit starting on Sunday to take a critical look at threats and opportunities for a sustainable African and global media industry and to map out the ingredients for a robustly independent, credible and relevant journalism in a world sapped by ‘news noise’ and information.

Press statement issued by organizers of World Media Economics and Management Conference: Monday, 30 April 2018 World leaders in South Africa for historic media summit GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – World leaders and researchers of media management and media business meet in South Africa for a four-day summit starting on Sunday to take a critical look at threats and opportunities for a sustainable African and global media industry and to map out the ingredients for a robustly independent, credible and relevant journalism in a world sapped by ‘news noise’ and information.

World leaders and researchers of media management and media business will meet at the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Cape Town for a four-day summit this month.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Around 250 delegates from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, South America, North America and the Antarctica will gather in Cape Town in May this year for a rare summit that examines the future sustainability of media organizations and of independent, quality and credible journalism worldwide in the fluid and uncertain twenty-first century and beyond.

The Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership has just completed a three-day gender empowerment and transformation workshop aimed at promoting gender equality and equity at workplaces by training the 2017 class of the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management).

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Is there a future for ‘philanthropic journalism’? Are media editors holding up much-needed change in their firms and thus jeopardizing the role and place of what has long been known as the ‘Fourth Estate’?

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), an African institution committed to the creation of open societies through support for democracy, human rights and good governance, invites applications for 10 postgraduate scholarships

It is with great sadness that Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership has learnt of the death of Govin Reddy, the Institute’s founding director who also served in a variety of senior journalism roles in South Africa and Africa.

How should media managers and editors cope with the shifting sands of a profession under siege from all fronts?

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Is there a future for ‘philanthropic journalism’? Are media editors holding up much-needed change in their firms and thus jeopardizing the role and place of what has long been known as the ‘Fourth Estate’? How should media managers and editors cope with the shifting sands of a profession under siege from all fronts?

Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management, which is popularly known at Rhodes University as the PDMM) is designed to prepare recent graduates and working professionals to fast track their careers to management positions in the media industry.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Fifteen years ago, Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership in South Africa introduced the study of media management and leadership for newsrooms in Africa and the developing world, making it the first such institution in Africa to teach this relatively new academic discipline.

Presentation of Robert G. Picard to the “On digital distribution’s failure to solve newspapers’ existential crisis: Symptoms, causes, consequences and remedies” panel at the International Communication Association annual conference, San Diego, California, May 25-29, 2017

Researcher Meli Ncube GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Community media in Southern Africa faces a continuing financial crisis that is limiting its vital role of empowering the communities it serves as the ‘voice of the voiceless’ in an era of global information abundance, according to a new study released this week.

The 2017 Class of the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) at the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership at Rhodes University once again resembles a mini-United Nations of Africa.

By Ettioné Ferreira GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa -- Between 21-25 November 2016 the SPI welcomed a group of energetic government media officials to Grahamstown for the Government Media Course.

PDMM Graduate Mantoe Phakathi at Sussex University BRIGHTON, United Kingdom -- Last year at around this time, I didn’t see myself doing anything else other than what I am up to right now. I am pursuing an MSc in Climate Change Development and Policy at the University of Sussex in Brighton in the United Kingdom.

Keynote speech of Robert G. Picard, Reuters Institute, University of Oxford, to the 40th Anniversary Symposium of the Institut für Journalistik, Technische Universität Dortmund, October 28, 2016.

By Zusipe Batyi Four current students doing the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership briefly took time off their studies this week to market the course to other students at Rhodes University.

Chisomo Ngulube From Rhodes to Harvard BOSTON, Massachusetts -- A new piece was fitted into the puzzle that is Chisomo Ngulube's life when she was recently named as a winner of the prestigious 2017 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts in the United States.

2017 students’ applications for the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management at the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership, Rhodes University, now open

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – The Essentials of Newspaper Management (EONM) course run by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University drew participants from several African countries, with many of them saying they had come not only to learn but to share their knowledge and experiences with colleagues.

The EOBM (Essentials of Broadcast Management) course brought participants from as far as Ethiopia to explore management in broadcast media. The course was held at the Sol Plaatje Institute from 20 to 24 June 2016.

The 2016 Class of the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University once again resembles a small United Nations of Africa.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa -- Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership has launched a crowd-funding appeal to raise scholarships for African postgraduate students who study media management and leadership at the Institute based in South Africa.

Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts / Getty By:Ernst-Jan Pfauth With the rise of adblockers, platform dependency, and Facebook’s and Google’s dominance on the mobile ad market, the need for publishers to invest in the relationship with their readers is more important than ever.

Twitter is one of the best known social media services, but it is suffering from its inability to provide sufficient value to consumers, advertisers, and investors.

The explosive growth of digital news and information providers is forcing news organizations to recognize their diminishing significance to users of digital devices, but many remain bewildered about how to respond.

The Primedia Scholarship has succeeded in grooming some of South Africa’s previously disadvantaged students for key jobs in the local media industry, according to its recipients and sponsors.

The OSISA scholarship administered by the Sol Platjje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University is designed to provide people who work or aspire to work in the media industry with critical skills and knowledge they need to perform more effectively and strategically in their organizations and to fast-track their careers into management positions.

Meet Nawaal Nolwazi Mdluli, who describes herself as a woman with ‘brain, boobs and balls’! At least this is what she says is needed to succeed in the male-domi- nated South African and African media industry, where she is now a significant player.

Who would have thought that a funeral undertaker would land in the challenging media landscape and still do well?

Meet Carin Lee, a 2006 graduate of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership.

Dozens of Rhodes University students got a glimpse of what is taught and how on the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDip in Media Management) when they converged at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership recently.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM) is designed to prepare recent graduates and working professionals to fast track their careers to management positions in the media industry. The intensive fulltime programme aims to equip tomorrow's media leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to lead innovative media organisations as these grapple with the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa -- Newspaper managers from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Uganda and South Africa spent a week at Rhodes University recently debating problems confronting the industry in their countries and engaging with expert facilitators about the challenges they face.

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa – Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM) students were given a sneak peek into the media industry’s future when Primedia’s head of digital innovation, Allan Kent, visited Rhodes University recently.

Media management students at the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) spent three days exploring how they can contribute to promoting gender transformation in the media industry during a gender empowerment workshop held at the SPI this month.

By Lengwadisheng Ramphele At the age of 23, Sithandwa is a graduate of Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She did her undergraduate studies in Journalism and she also holds a postgraduate diploma in media management from the Sol Plaatje institute at Rhodes.

The Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership at Rhodes University invites applications from suitably qualified consultants to design and teach a three-day workshop on gender empowerment to postgraduate media management students at the SPI in March 2015.

The following short courses will take place in 2015:

Peter du Toit (PdT), the Deputy Director for the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, has been with the institute since its founding in 2002. He shares some insights on the SPI’s development and where it is going with Katharine Holmes (KH).

PDMM student Sheryleen Masuku (SM) spoke to Francis Mdlongwa (FM), Director of the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, on a range of questions regarding the SPI and other issues to mark the Institute’s twelfth anniversary this year. Excerpts from their conversation:

A reflective piece by PDMM graduate Takondwa Jumbe (TJ) of Malawi When I applied for the OSISA (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa) Scholarship to join the PDMM (Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management) Programme at Rhodes University in South Africa, I was working as a humble programme producer driven by a desire to experience the world, learn new things and, of course, take a break from the daily grind for a few months at the same time.

David Moepeng has been appointed the new Station Manager of Yarona FM, a leading private radio station in Botswana. Moepeng started at this urban youth radio station in 2000 as a news reporter and before that he was a journalist for 14 years.

Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management 2012 alumnus Harry Davies has wasted no time putting the skills and knowledge he gained from the Sol Plaatje Institute’s year-long course to work.

The Sol Plaatje Institute for media leadership introduces the new Primedia and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) scholars for 2014:

Government communication officers from across South Africa have praised a course they attended at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership recently.

By Vuyokwazi Burwana GRAHAMSTOWN -- Journalists and senior communicators from different municipalities in South Africa spent last week learning the ropes of doing their work in a rapidly changing media landscape, and most said afterwards that the course run by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership was a great platform for sharing knowledge and tips to improve their work.