Franz Kruger

Franz Kruger Articles 10

Franz Kruger teaches journalism at Wits University, specialising in radio and ethics. He is the director of the Wits Radio Academy. He has worked in print and broadcasting in South Africa, Namibia and the UK. He was founding group editor of East Cape News Agencies, a network of independent news agencies during the 1980s, which was subjected to considerable repression at the hands of the apartheid government. As national editor of radio news and current affairs at the SABC from 1994 to 1999, he formed part of the first post-apartheid management team at the corporation. He is the ombudsman of the Mail & Guardian and the author of the book

South Africa has a rich bag of big, small and eclectic community radio stations

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: February 13, 2020In: Radio

SA’s community radio sector has grown to be a significant player. But there’s comparatively little hard information on it. Wits Radio Academy has conducted a survey of community radio stations. Read more

Local radio is plugging gaps in South Africa’s mainstream media coverage

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: May 09, 2019In: Radio

The LocalVoices project shows up the weaknesses of mainstream media coverage, which focuses too strongly on the big names, the major drama and the grand narrative. Read more

Hugh Lewin: South African journalist, author, militant and prisoner

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: January 21, 2019In: Press

Prisoner, journalist, author Hugh Lewin, who headed the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism from 1998 as its executive director and helped start the journalism programme at Wits, has died. Read more

Our fragile media freedom: Journalism is under attack

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: October 30, 2017In: Out of Home

From exposes on the Nkandla scandal to the Gupta emails, which detailed the extent of state capture, journalistic investigations have set the public agenda. Read more

Ethical journalism: What to do – and not to do – with leaked emails

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: June 12, 2017In: Press

South Africans have been gripped by stories gleaned from the biggest data dump in the country – between 100 000 and 200 000 emails leaked by an anonymous source to journalists. The emails, locally referred to as the ‘Gupta leaks‘, reveal how the Gupta family has done business in the country, as well as their […] Read more

The phone is the new radio

Posted By: Franz Krugeron: March 03, 2017In: Radio

While cellphone listening includes some streaming radio, most of it will be via the FM receiver that many phones contain. The reason is simple. FM doesn’t use data, and is therefore free. So this is not just about smartphones, although of course they offer significant additional opportunities. The radio event of the year in 2016 […] Read more