Newzroom Afrika celebrated its one-year anniversary on Saturday, highlighting the vital importance of being a trusted information service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We couldn’t be prouder of the way our news team has responded to COVID-19 – the biggest story of our lifetimes – with courage, total commitment to their craft and unflinching professionalism,” said co-founder and CEO, Thokozani Nkosi.
“In one incredibly eventful news year, spanning everything from national elections to the coronavirus pandemic, Newzroom Afrika has cemented its place as the channel of choice for up-to-the-minute, authoritative news coverage, delivered with passion by our journalists and respected team of anchors,” Nkosi added.
Newzroom Afrika launched in May 2019, taking the place of the disgraced Gupta-owned ANN7 news channel. ANN7 was bought by Mzwanele Manyi, a known associate of the controversial family, who fled South Africa for Dubai on the back of a raft of corruption allegations.
Newzroom Afrika was chosen by MultiChoice to produce a new 24-hour news channel on DStv, and is a partnership between television production entrepreneurs Thabile Ngwato and Nkosi.
“Our journey from new kid on the block a year ago to where we are now as a trusted and valued presence in the daily lives of our viewers has been earned through the relentless commitment of the entire team,” said co-founder and CEO Thabile Ngwato.
“But we know this is a highly competitive space and we have to maintain our edge or be left behind. We will use the occasion of our one-year anniversary to review our progress and accelerate our strategy to keep growing,” Ngwato added.
The partners said a decision was made at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that Newzroom Afrika would “shun sensation in favour of accuracy, to rather be right than first with the news, and to give the human story pride of place in its reporting”, and promised a brand of “fearlessly unbiased journalism”.
“The one thing that will not change is our absolute commitment to the truth; -we will always tackle the issues head-on, with people at the centre of everything we do. Our stories have the power to stir emotions and stimulate debate and we are very conscious of the great responsibility that comes with that,” Ngwato emphasised.
“We have a duty, as our country grapples with the grave threat of COVID-19, to inform, but also to question and help to keep the spirit of our democracy alive during possibly its greatest test to date. We take that duty very seriously and we will honour it.”
