What Gen Z wants: attracting and retaining young employees in South African newsrooms

While it is the most industrialized country in Africa, it is also one of the most unequal in the world, and has third highest unemployment rate.2,3,4 A 2018 British Council survey of South Africans aged between 15 and 34 found a generation on the move (from rural to urban areas), intent on reducing poverty levels at home, and making choices about where to live and what to study in order to do so.5. [...] In the face of these aspirations and obstacles, it becomes all the more critical for newsrooms to provide the best available information so the public can make the best possible choices for their lives – and do so in a way that is relatable and relevant. [...] That, to me, is at the top of the things I value: the interaction with people who I think I would want to be like someday who are doing the types of things I want to be doing. [...] A little handholding at the start goes a long way In interviews with young journalists, the consensus was clear – in the beginning, they value the opportunity to sit with an editor and receive a detailed guide to expectations for a story. [...] And it was allowing me to kind of play and try things.” – VJ, 28 (left the newsroom at 27) Reverse mentorship programmes, like the FT’s NGB (see p.10), can empower younger members in a newsroom by letting them know they have value to contribute to the publication’s vision and mission, and provide space for management to hear from the audience they’re trying to reach.