The recent exchange sparked by veteran Eastern Cape journalist Andile Nomabhunga, and followed by a response from Khoboso Lebenya and Ndyebo Kopo, should not be read as a sentimental salute to struggling newsrooms. It is a necessary reminder of where journalism still works — and why.
Nomabhunga’s tribute to Alfred Nzo’s community newspaper publishers, published on The Informer, cuts through a long-standing misconception: that community media exists on the margins of South Africa’s information ecosystem. In reality, for millions of people in rural and small-town South Africa, community newspapers are not an alternative source of news — they are the primary source.
Lebenya and Kopo’s response strengthens this argument by grounding it in lived experience. Community and small commercial media do not simply report events; they translate systems. They explain grants, funding processes, municipal decisions and local crises in ways national outlets cannot — because they are not embedded in those communities.
In districts like Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo, journalism is not consumed for opinion or entertainment. It is used for survival. A missed SASSA payment date, a misunderstood NSFAS process, or an unreported municipal decision can have immediate consequences for households. Community media operates in this high-stakes environment daily, often with minimal resources but maximum accountability to readers they know by name.
What this conversation ultimately highlights is not nostalgia for print or resistance to digital change. It is a call to recognise community media as information infrastructure — essential to democracy, service delivery and social cohesion.
As debates about media sustainability continue, one truth is becoming harder to ignore: journalism that remains closest to the people is often the journalism that matters most.
Community voices are not refusing to be silenced. They are doing the work — consistently, quietly, and with impact.
