SA The Good News – ‘Creating a balanced narrative in South Africa’

In South Africa and in the world, the mass media tend to focus on negative news and largely ignore positive developments, creating an ‘information imbalance’. It fuels the perception that bad news is predominant, whereas in the reality we have many reasons to be optimistic about the future. ‘SA The Good News’ is a well-know South African website which concentrates on the positive, not on the negative. Steuart Pennington, writer and founder of this initiative, gives answers to several questions about it. 

SparkTour Africa: Why SA The Good News was created?

Steuart Pennington, founder of SA The Good News: It started 12 years ago at a dinner party where people were criticizing the country. I became angrier and angrier, not so much because of the negative speak, but because I could not counter it with facts, I simply did not have the information available at my finger-tips, I wasn’t able to argue back. I decided the next day to write a book called ‘South Africa The Good News’. I chose 25 topics covering the major economic, political and social indicators and asked 40 South Africans who were experts in their fields to write. They knew the facts and the truth.

‘It started 12 years ago at a dinner party where people were criticizing the country. I became angrier and angrier, not so much because of the negative speak, but because I could not counter it with facts.’

… and after you launched a website, what is it exactly?

Every single day we update the website with positive stories, and on a weekly basis I write a newsletter. We have two blogs, 180 fast facts, the website has 40 000 users, 25 000 twitter followers, and people read us in 180 countries around the world.

‘We have two blogs, 180 fast facts, the website has 40 000 users, 25 000 twitter followers, and people read us in 180 countries around the world.’

So, you believe in ‘impact journalism’?

A balanced narrative would contain both the positive and the negative, but I think more importantly if you understand the positive, it puts you in a much better frame of mind to deal with the negative. This is the essence of impact journalism. It is really important to have hope for the future and in the same time to understand the challenges of the present.

‘It is really important to have hope for the future and in the same time to understand the challenges of the present.’

Could you give three words to describe the spirit of SA The Good News?

Informed, balanced, positive narrative!

What is the business model of your organization?

Our income comes from three sources. We secure corporate advertising positions, I do a lot of talking both inside and outside South Africa (about 40 talks a year), and I have written/edited some 10 books about South Africa, which I sell… and that’s all!

Since 2002, what was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is developing a secure revenue model. We managed to do that over the past 10 years, thanks primarily to  First National Bank’s sponsorship. They have supported this initiative for 10 years.

Today, a lot of young South Africans want to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure to improve society. Do you have a piece of advice for them?

Firstly, in South Africa, there is huge opportunity for entrepreneurship and in particular for social entrepreneurship. We are relatively unregulated in this regard, so it is fairly easy for South Africans to make a difference. The other important thing is that young people in South Africa don’t have the baggage of the past to the extent that older people do. They have a much greater  sense of hope and optimism in the future, across all the cultures.

‘In South Africa, there is huge opportunity for entrepreneurship and in particular for social entrepreneurship.’

What is the good news of this week?

Cape Town has just been voted the most beautiful city in the world! Via Google many surveys covering a wide range of topics exist, and I spend my life researching  them and trying to establish where South Africa fits into the global world. Positive stories  happenall the time, but they are not considered ‘news’ by the media.

Do you come back to dinner parties?

I am passionate about what I do, so if I am in a situation where someone says something about South Africa that is factually incorrect, I will challenge it, my mission is to elevate  the factual base of the South African narrative… to celebrate the good and confront the bad !

A last word?

I ask the readers to visit www.sagoodnews.co.za and make your mind!