SANEF engages financial mail and currency news
23 July 2026
Diversity, Transformation and Inclusion are still Critical. SANEF Engages Financial Mail and Currency News
SANEF has noted, with deep concern, the image published by the newly formed Financial Mail and Currency News, which has brought to light a profound and unacceptable systemic failure within the publishing group and underscored the lack of diversity, inclusion and transformation within their newsroom and South African business media sector.
The promotional image showcasing the “country’s top business journalists” presented an overwhelmingly homogenous senior team. This laid bare the stark exclusion of Black journalists from key editorial positions. This omission signals a regression in the vital project of newsroom transformation and a failure by the leaders of these newsrooms to ensure that their newsrooms represent the voices of all South Africans.
While the management of Financial Mail and Currency News has subsequently issued an acknowledgement of this failure, characterising the imagery as a reflection of a newsroom that is “not yet diverse enough, the industry, however, cannot accept mere platitudes or reactive course corrections after the fact.
Who tells South Africa’s economic story, whose analytical frameworks shape financial coverage, and who ultimately holds power in the rooms where editorial decisions are made are fundamental questions of public interest and media accountability.
A business newsroom that excludes the perspectives of Black South Africans and particularly women falls dangerously short of what South Africans expect from influential media institutions. True editorial independence and credibility cannot flourish in an environment that maintains a demographic glass ceiling.
True transformation requires proactive structural parity across recruitment, commissioning, mentorship, and leadership – not merely as an optimised strategy following public outcry, but as a core ethical and business baseline.
We are encouraged by Currency News’ Editor, Rob Rose’s acknowledgement of the issue and his commitment to remedy the current problematic staff constitution at Financial Mail and Currency News: “We are absolutely committed, as we build the combined Financial Mail and Currency Newsroom, to increase the representation and advancement of Black journalists and editors. This includes prioritising the recruitment of people of colour, and extends to how we commission stories, mentor people, and constitute our leadership. We would welcome the opportunity to work with SANEF in elevating this issue and addressing it”, he said in his response to SANEF’s Ethics and Diversity Committee.
SANEF’s Glass Ceiling Report will be released on August 6th, 2026.
*SANEF’s Glass Ceiling Report is a seminal, long-running research project initiated by the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF)in 2006 to investigate and document the under-representation and experiences of women journalists and editors within South Africa.
Issued by Katy Katapodis, Chairperson, SANEF, 23 July 2026
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