Sanlam is pleased to announce that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ), renewing its support of the FCJ’s regional seminars which include training workshops for their members.

The agreement was signed during the 19th No guts, No glory, No story joint seminar for the Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West regions, held at the Olifants River Lodge outside Middelburg on Friday, 23 August. The seminar was attended by some 120 community and local media journalists from these provinces.

The FCJ is an independent, non-profit, non-racial and voluntary organisation that promotes and expresses the interests of all journalists employed on a permanent or freelance basis at regional community newspapers across South Africa.

The seminars are aimed at adding value to the FCJ membership through training workshops and insights from speakers who address the journalists on various topics relevant to the industry.

Says Sanlam Head of Group Communications, Mr Ainsley Moos: “Sanlam’s partnership with the FCJ is underpinned by our appreciation of the significant role of community newspapers and the journalists who write for them and keep communities across South Africa informed of news they otherwise might not have had access to.”

The FCJ has been hosting the seminars for a number of years in partnership with Sanlam.

FCJ Chairman, Mr Andries van Zyl, said: “The FCJ is excited to have Sanlam on board once again as sponsor of our regional and national seminars and we are sure to build on the good relations the FCJ and Sanlam have enjoyed for the past two decades. The FCJ is well aware of its challenges in an ever-changing newspaper environment, and without the support of sponsors like Sanlam, we would not have been able to deliver on our mandate to provide training and support to local media journalists.”

Van Zyl, a working journalist and news editor of the Zoutpansberger, said the FCJ was updating and consolidating its regional and national membership lists and encouraged journalists to support this process.

“The FCJ also broadly supports initiatives for transformation and diversity in the media industry and we welcome membership and participation from community-owned independent publishers and their journalists. There is a vast amount of knowledge to be shared between us, and the FCJ continues to believe that our regional training seminars are just the place to do this,” said Van Zyl.

Sanlam’s support for journalism extends to various other initiatives, including the MDDA-Sanlam Local Media Awards, which encourage and reward excellence among community journalists. Also included are training programmes, such as the Sanlam Summer School for Financial Journalists and the Stellenbosch University’s Department of Journalism, which runs a short course on Business Journalism and Numerical Literacy.

“We hope that our support as Sanlam will continue to contribute to the development of the local media sector and the media in general, and we look forward to a positive partnership with the FCJ for the benefit of community journalists across the country,” Mr Moos concluded.

Following the successful 19th No Guts No Glory seminar, Van Zyl said the FCJ’s focus would now be on the other provinces to ensure that other journalists would also be able to benefit from the training seminars. The FCJ would partner with Sanlam once more for those seminars.