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Inaugural launch of Executive Programme in Media Leadership to tackle SA media's pressing challenges

Inaugural launch of Executive Programme in Media Leadership to tackle SA media's pressing challenges
The programme is part of GIBS’ commitment to the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education and to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.
Daily Maverick
By Daily Maverick
14 Apr 2025
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The African media landscape faces a unique set of challenges that demand a new generation of leaders equipped to navigate a volatile and rapidly evolving environment. In the very first of its kind, the Gordon Institute of Business Science will, in collaboration with Daily Maverick, launch a four-month Executive Programme in Media Leadership.

“We’re looking at a market crisis that is facing the media, not just in South Africa or Africa, but across the globe – but it’s worst felt in Africa,” says Michael Markovitz, head of the Media Leadership Think Tank, an independent research and advocacy platform providing solutions for media in support of democracy in Africa, at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). 

“It’s 10 times harder to make a media business successful in Africa than it is in many other countries, certainly in the global North,” says Markovitz. South Africa’s media industry exemplifies this crisis, having lost an estimated 70% of its workforce over the past 15 years. Entire regions now suffer from a lack of editorial coverage, leaving municipalities unaccountable and democracy vulnerable.

The dominance of tech giants like Google and Meta – controlling 97% of advertising market share – has disrupted traditional revenue models, leading to newsroom closures and insufficient funding for journalism.

“The fundamental business model upon which media had been based for many decades – that being advertising – has been totally disrupted by the platform economy,” says Markovitz. “The work that we do at the think tank is largely involved in policy and regulation – and while that’s one way of dealing with the market challenges, it’s a very long road to travel.” 

Policy reform is not enough in the short term to adequately address the challenges facing the media industry in real time, and so different models need to be conceptualised. 

A bold solution 


To tackle this head-on, GIBS and Daily Maverick are launching a transformative four-month programme from July to October 2025. Designed for African media executives, editors and product leaders, the course aims to equip participants with advanced leadership skills and strategic insights tailored to Africa’s unique media landscape.

This uniquely African short course is led by Markovitz, who is a renowned media, tech policy and governance expert, and was, in part, developed by Daily Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous. The course is designed to empower media leaders with the skills needed to drive transformation and sustainability across the continent.

Participants will gain expertise in areas such as:

  • Strategic transformation for sustainability;

  • Innovative business model development;

  • Navigating policy and regulatory frameworks; and

  • Leveraging digital tools like AI and data analytics


Strategic transformation 


“A big driver of sustainability is the quality of leadership and the ability to strategically transform in response to these conditions, but we don’t have any specific education at the executive level that helps our organisational leaders to address these issues,” says Styli Charalambous, Daily Maverick CEO.

African media organisations differ vastly from those in developed markets like Europe, he says, adding that this particular course is going to be a major game-changer because it will be the first of its kind in Africa.

“Only recently have courses like this one been launched in the USA and Europe, and we’re excited to be able to make something available for Africa.”

The programme is part of GIBS’s commitment to the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education and to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.



Charalambous, who will lecture part of the course, was largely influential in the conception of the 12.5-day hybrid programme that spans across four blocks consisting of 6.5 days of in-person sessions, 6 days of virtual engagements and coaching sessions, and 2 self-paced masterclasses.

“We want to equip participants with the knowledge to go deeper, help make the unknowns known and then inspire them to solve these big problems. At the same time, build new networks with a cohort of colleagues in similar leadership positions. This will help participants understand what drives sustainability and increase the likelihood of success,” says Charalambous. 

The course is unique in that it covers product and sustainability frameworks that show the link between audience centricity and sustainability that participants can take back or improve on in their organisations, he says. 

Measuring success 


Markovitz states that he’d measure success if the course is “African in its focus, but also globally relevant”, adding that the course was built with the intention of attracting a diverse range of participants from across the continent, but that it must be taken into consideration that this is the inaugural programme. “You have to build on the first cohort ... but the overall aim is to assist the media in practical ways” through renowned expertise. 

To learn more about this transformative programme, join Markovitz and Charalambous in a live discussion on 15 April 12pm to 1pm.

Register for the webinar here.

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