Lack of "consistency" in SA business reporting

To contextualise his statement, Malunga recalled the reaction of some sections of the media after a Telkom boss - a black person - got R11 million in annual bonuses and compared it with that of the Shoprite Checkers boss - a white person - who was paid R59 million in bonuses.

"In the case of Telkom, there was outrage about the amount and knives were out in full force, with the media saying that it was too much," said Malunga. "But when it came to Shoprite there was an astonishing silence in the media, which only said that the company had failed to disclose the amount."

'Faceless'

Malunga believes that this way of reporting seriously raises questions about the independence and neutrality of the media to objectively inform the masses.

Furthermore, he raised concerns about what he called the rise of 'faceless' analysts whose comments smack of political agendas, which, as pointed out by one delegate who preferred to remains anonymous, is dangerously worrying for local marketers and traders.

"The biggest challenge facing business media is a skills shortage," Malunga said. "Many writers cannot even unpack the biggest stories, are unable to read the numbers, let alone articulate their stories' basic ideas in the language that readers would understand."

Many observers continue to lament about the business media not being able to simplify their stories to help readers who lack financial training to better understand the dynamics of financial news. Many readers say they would like to read business reports on a regular basis, but claim that they are scared by terms such as CPIX, inflation rate, repo rate, All Shares Index, Dow Jones, Hang Seng, capital equity, mergers, and so on and so forth...

One delegate from Khula Investments complained during the Q & A session that business media has failed the business community as they continue to ignore positive stories about economic empowerment, job creation and emerging black entrepreneurship.

Train journalists!

"There must be thorough transformation in the business media and a diversity of voices. And media companies should spend money in continuously training their financial journalists to equip them for future challenges," Malunga advised.

He also said that consultative efforts should be made with the private sector and government to defuse this timebomb, which is the skills shortage.

Asked about the future, he said: "Just keep praying for us because it is going to be a bumpy ride."