GroundUp (news agency)

South African NPO news agency

GroundUpSouth African news that matters

GroundUp Logo used since 2016

Type| Daily newspaper
Format| Online newspaper
Editor| Nathan Geffen
Deputy editor| Barbara October
Associate editor| Alide Dasnois
Brent Meersman
Founded| 2012
Language| English
Headquarters| Cape Town, South Africa
Country| South Africa
Website| www.groundup.org.za

* Media of South Africa
* List of newspapers

GroundUp is a South African-based not-for-profit news agency. It publishes most content related to education, health, sanitation, immigration and human rights stories under a creative commons license and is known for its focus on public interest stories within vulnerable communities[1][‡ 1][2] with a "bottom-up" style of reporting.[3] Their content is regularly reprinted and featured in other South African news publications such as the Daily Maverick, News24, and Mail & Guardian.[2]

## History

[edit]

GroundUp started in April 2012 as a joint project of Community Media Trust and the University of Cape Town's Centre for Social Science Research by Nathan Geffen, a computer scientist, researcher and former Treatment Action Campaign member.[2]

## Reporting

[edit]

The publication is known for exposing corruption within the South African National Lottery scheme.[4] For this investigation, GroundUp editor Nathan Geffen and journalist Raymond Joseph were joint winners of the 2021 South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) Nat Nakasa award for courageous community journalism.[5] Joseph went on to win the Vodacom Journalist of the Year[‡ 2] and Taco Kuiper awards.[6]

In 2023, GroundUp reporters Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn investigated and exposed the prison escape of convicted rapist Thabo Bester, for which they were received the Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity and the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award in 2023.

## References

[edit]

### Primary sources

[edit]

These sources are published by GroundUp, and are indicated in this article by a double dagger (‡):

1. ^ "About GroundUp | GroundUp". GroundUp News. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
2. ^ Staff, GroundUp (25 November 2022). "GroundUp's Raymond Joseph wins journalist of the year award for exposing Lottery corruption". GroundUp News. Retrieved 7 March 2024.

### Secondary sources

[edit]

1. ^ "Claude Leon Foundation - GroundUp". www.leonfoundation.co.za. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
2. ^ a b c Geffen, Nathan (September 2015). "Why GroundUp?". Rhodes Journalism Review. 2015 (35): 76–80.
3. ^ Chuma, Wallace (2016). "Between "Bottom-Up" Journalism and Social Activism in Unequal Societies: The Case of Ground Up in South Africa". In Mutsvairo, Bruce (ed.). Between "Bottom-Up" Journalism and Social Activism in Unequal Societies: The Case of GroundUp in South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 202–214\. doi:10.1057/9781137554505_13. ISBN 9781137554505. `{{cite book}}`: `|work=` ignored (help)
4. ^ Gerber, Jan. "National Lotteries Commission: Call to axe board amid corruption claims". News24. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
5. ^ "NAT NAKASA AWARD WINNERS 2021 ANNOUNCED: Celebrating 23 years of courageous and brave journalism". SANEF | Protecting Media Freedom. 15 August 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
6. ^ "2023-04 - Ray Joseph and Jeff Wicks jointly win the 2022 Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism - Wits University". www.wits.ac.za. Retrieved 7 March 2024.