Branko Brkic, the creative mind behind this year’s World News Day campaign “Choose Truth,” is on a mission to get the news industry to work together to defend and promote journalism.
The co-founder and editor-in-chief of award-winning online news channel Daily Maverick is known for his campaigning work to get South Africans to support serious journalism and democracy, going beyond competitive boundaries. Now he’s aiming to do the same globally.
Brkic’s diverse publishing background spans two countries with turbulent political histories and includes a number of notable book collections and iconic magazine titles over the course of his 40-year career.
He began publishing science fiction in the former Yugoslavia, and by the time he emigrated to South Africa in 1991, he had already published 62 books, including Shakespeare’s Complete Works, Complete Greek Tragedies and Miroslav’s Gospel – which, following its republication, was included in the UNESCO “Memory of the World” register of documentary heritage of global importance.
In South Africa, he tried his hand at reproduction before returning to publishing, this time publishing magazines, which he published between 1998 and 2008.
In 2009, a year after the last two magazines closed, Brkic partnered with Styli Charalambous to launch Daily Maverick, an online news site that revitalized independent publishing with an innovative, community-driven membership model.
The magazine has won several prestigious awards for its investigative journalism, including South Africa’s Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity (2018) and the 2019 Global Shining Light Award, which it shares with Maria Ressa of The Rappler (Philippines).
He talks to the World Editors Forum about the challenges facing journalism today and why he has offered his creative work for this year’s World News Day campaign.
You are the architect of the Choose Truth campaign for World News Day 2024. What prompted you to expand your campaign for more public support for the news media worldwide?
News media around the world are fighting for survival. Choose the truth The aim of the campaign is to inspire media houses from as many countries as possible to affirm the role we play in our immediate environment and in society as a whole – and in this volatile moment in world history.
In short: together we are stronger. Much stronger.
The news media today faces so many challenges no matter where you look. Some, but definitely not all, of them are:
- A devastating failure of the media market and the demise of established business models
- Resurgence of global authoritarianism and the impending alliance between Big Tech and authoritarians
- AI as a business tool and a weapon of war
- The climate crisis is now really here
You have been active in the media landscape in South Africa and Yugoslavia – both countries are fighting to preserve democratic values. Can you tell us about your experiences in each country, how this has shaped your values in the news sector and what you want to achieve now?
I was a book publisher in Yugoslavia in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was a turbulent time that saw the collapse of an ideology and the entire political structure – combined with a massive upheaval that needlessly uprooted millions of people and ruined so many lives.
It was horrifying to witness an attack on basic values like truth and decency, and it was truly depressing for me not to be able to confront it in any meaningful way.
My journey through South Africa eventually brought me to a point where I became part of a media community that was actually helping to solve some of the major and existential problems that our society was facing during the period of so-called state takeover.
It was a great, exciting and humbling experience.
“Of course, learning from these two crucial periods in my life has come at a price, but I have also learned that journalism, when pursued vigorously and with a higher purpose, can truly be a force for good.”
Daily Maverick calls itself a guardian of democracy with its slogan “Defend the Truth.” What is the best journalism that has come out of Daily Maverick in defense of the truth—and has it had the impact you hoped?
We have become well known in our country through our investigative work. The #GuptaLeaks, the Marikana massacre, VBS and Digital Vibes are some of the more notorious scandals we have uncovered and made available to our readers and the wider South African public.
Much of our investigative work formed the basis for the later real-life investigations, but it is still frustrating to know that the majority of our reporting – and we exposed literally hundreds of corrupt and outright criminal people – was not even investigated. The humiliating element of the previous question is I have an overwhelming feeling that our investigative work will only be effective if there is political will to act on our findings. The must change.
Daily Maverick’s membership model is widely seen as a pioneer of the community and revenue building trend. Readers of news publications have to pay to become part of a membership community. Is that enough to fund the journalism you need to defend democracy?
Newspaper publishers all over the world are trying to find the best way to generate reader revenue. For a media company of the Daily Maverick In a small market in a poor country where media companies are struggling to survive, it makes no sense to put up a paywall.
More than 30 million South Africans live on government subsidies and there is full voting rights throughout the country. Therefore, we see it as our duty to our democracy to make our work available free of charge to every citizen, regardless of their financial situation.
We are very proud of our membership model, where we have built a community of insiders who support us according to their abilities.
But sustainability is a long road ahead and a model that not everyone can easily follow. Unfortunately, it will be several years before we can sustain a thriving newsroom that supports our democracy.
True to its name, DM has always done things differently, sometimes boldly experimenting: for example, in 2020 you launched a print title; you published books, started podcasts, used music for dramatic climate storytelling, held regular events (The Gathering), even shut down your website for 24 hours to raise awareness of the reality of the financial difficulties facing news media everywhere – and now Project Continuum… What is it and what is DM currently focusing on?
The aim of the Continuum project is to affirm the positive role of the news media in the global community. Choose the truth campaign is the blueprint for future collaborations – and we plan to contribute much more in the coming months and years. I know I’m repeating myself here, but together we are stronger – much stronger.
REGARD: Daily Mavericks 20Twenties: Eve of Destruction with Anneli Kamfer
This story was first published by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Lucinda Jordaan is WAN-IFRA correspondent in Africa.
Join the World Association of News Publishers here.
