Volume: Recent Episodes
Volume
Volume produces exciting South African podcasts for a global audience. Our shows cover everything from investigative journalism, fake news and climate change, to African literature and local news.
Volume also creates custom-made, co-produced, and branded podcasting with our award-winning production team.
In this episode we are with media organisation Stokvel Talk. They produce a monthly free community newspaper for the South African stokvel market and at the same time, run a series of stokvel roadshows in urban, peri-urban and rural areas in the country. Produced and hosted by Amina Deka Asma from Volume.
In this episode we are with news organisation, Scrolla also commonly known as Scrolla Africa. This news organisation produces and reports on important community news designed to be consumed via mobile phones for both English and isiZulu audiences. Produced and hosted by Amina Deka Asma from Volume.
In this episode we are with online platform, Zonotho. The sole purpose of this platform is to help people make better financial decisions by releasing content that touches on financial concepts in a way that is understandable to people with little to no financial knowledge. Produced and hosted by Amina Deka Asma from Volume.
The Daily Vox is a media organisation based in Johannesburg. They aim to put young citizens at the centre of news by telling their stories and amplifying their voices. In this episode we hear how the team managed to overcome the challenges brought on by Covid-19. Produced and hosted by Amina Deka Asma from Volume.
Explain is Johannesburg based news organisation with the sole purpose of choosing the most important news topics that they think most affect your life as a South African and to break it down for you. In this episode we hear about the woes that come with not only running, but also starting an organisation during a global pandemic. Produced and hosted by Amina Deka Asma from Volume.
In episode 5 we discuss the important implications of a court case lodged by Afriforum and Solidarity against the Minister of Health and 16 Others in January 2021. They brought an urgent court challenge to the authority of the national government to be the “sole procurer of Covid-19 vaccines” in South Africa. The Health Justice Initiative applied to intervene as a friend of the court (amicus curiae) submitting arguments based on health equity. Our guests are Professor Leslie London, a professor at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town and a public health expert and Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng who serves as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Health.
In this special episode we gather WhatsApp voice notes from five newsrooms from across the country and ask them to reflect on what 2020 has done for their businesses.
We investigate the successes and challenges of running a media company in these truly bizarre times.
Brought to you by the South Africa Media Innovation Program and produced by Volume.
For the whole series visit www.volume.africa/media-diaries
In the final installment of African Media Thermometer, we share highlights from the KAS Media Africa series of online discussions where they looked at the quality of health journalism in Africa. We hear from panelists about access to medicines and vaccines during Covid-19, the importance of finances in sustaining health journalism and the state of health reporting in newsrooms across Africa.
This episode includes the voices of the Director of the KAS Media Programme for Sub-Sahara Africa Christoph Plate, Fatima Hassan from the Health Justice Initiative, Umunyana Rugege from SECTION27, Idris Akinbajo from Premium Times, Ivan Okuda from the East African Center for Investigative Reporting, Marcus Low from Spotlight NSP, David Ajikobi from Africa Check Nigeria, Winnie Lubembe from Ebru TV, freelance journalist Laura Lopez Gonzalez and health journalist Pontsho Pilane.
This is a project of KAS Media Africa, hosted by Paul McNally, and produced by Elna Schütz and Volume.
This third episode of African Media Thermometer explores the quality and accessibility of health journalism during the time of Covid-19. Journalists and editors around the continent discuss the safety of reporters, changes in newsroom management, and content in different languages.
We hear from Dapo Olorunyomi from Premium Times, Asha Mwilu from Debunk Media, Nigel Mugamu from 263Chat, Haggai Isanya from Royal Media Services, and Pontsho Pilane, a communications and journalism professional and the co-convener of the KAS Media Africa Health Journalism conference.
This is a project of KAS Media Africa, hosted by Paul McNally, and produced by Elna Schütz and Volume.
In the second installment of African Media Thermometer, we take a look at how the pandemic is influencing the business side of newsrooms. We hear about the challenges being faced by editors and media houses, and how they are innovating and finding solutions.
This episode includes the voices of freelance investigative journalist Ivan Okuda, Dapo Olorunyomi from Premium Times, Moussa Aksar from L'Évènement, Nigel Mugamu from 263Chat, Simon Allison from the Continent and the Mail and Guardian, and Asha Mwilu from Debunk Media. Thanks go to Gawula Mthombothi for translation from French.
This is a project of KAS Media Africa, hosted by Paul McNally, and produced by Elna Schütz and Volume.
Episode 4 is the final episode of ACCESS
In episode 4 we discuss the ‘race’ to find a vaccine for COVID-19 – a vaccine that is available to everyone who needs it. Our expert guests consider global and local developments, vaccine trials, and the politics fueling what is being referred to as the COVID 19 ‘vaccine wars’ or ‘vaccine nationalism’ - which may hinder access over time.
Our expert guests are:
· Dr Linda-Gail Bekker is a hji Reference Group Advisory Member, researcher, clinician and public health advocate, COO of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre.
· Priti Krishtel is a co-founder and co-director of I-MAK, and a lawyer and medicine access activist, and campaigner for justice. She is also a community organiser, and advocate for patients.
· Safura Abdool-Karim is a public health lawyer, senior researcher at Priceless-SA and an Aspen New Voices 2020 Fellow.
· Lukhona Mnguni is a political analyst and commentator and PhD intern researcher at the Maurice Webb Race Relations Unit at the University of KwaZula Natal.
Presented by Fatima Hassan.
Produced by the Health Justice Initiative and Volume.
This first episode of African Media Thermometer looks at how misinformation has spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. We speak to the journalists and fact-checkers who have been fighting this 'infodemic' about what they are facing and how to produce strong, credible content.
This episode features interviews with Cris Chinaka from ZimFact, Eric Mungendi from PesaCheck, and David Ajikobi, Samba Dialimpa Badji, and Kate Wilkinson from Africa Check.
This is a project of KAS Media Africa, hosted by Paul McNally, and produced by Elna Schütz and Volume.
In Episode 3 we discuss the clinical, patent and political obstacles to expand treatment access in a time of COVID-19, looking also at our past struggles for access to life saving medicines. We look at the most recent clinical landscape, examine patent barriers and their impact on access, and the local and regional political context when trying to manage and treat a pandemic. Our expert guests include Dr Sithembile Mbete, a political commentator and analyst, and professor at the University of Pretoria, Prof Francois Venter, head of Ezintsha, Wits RHI; Health Justice Initiative (hji) Reference Group Advisory Member; clinician and member of the SA Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on COVID-19, Celicia Serenata, head of Treatment Access & Optimisation at Ezintsha, Wits RHI and Umunyana Rugege, human rights lawyer and head of Section27.
Presented by Fatima Hassan.
Produced by the Health Justice Initiative and Volume.
On July 27 Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition is launching Kill Switch, a six-part podcast series exploring the devastating impact of internet shutdowns on the human rights of people affected by this extraordinary form of anti-democratic oppression. The first episode is going live on the opening day of RightsCon, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, which will take place completely online for the first time, and runs July 27 — 31.
Kill Switch features the stories of journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and others who have been deliberately cut off from the internet, and raises the profile of the NGOs, human rights advocates, and technical experts who are working to put an end to internet shutdowns globally.
From Myanmar to Ethiopia, each episode addresses topical issues, the broad range of urgent human rights concerns that shutdowns raise, and the strategies that those fighting these devastating blackouts are leveraging to defend and extend the digital rights of people affected by these cut-offs. Kill Switch serves as an advocacy tool for anyone interested in supporting the #KeepItOn campaign, as well as an educational tool to raise awareness of this unparalleled form of suppression.
Kill Switch is hosted by Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Campaign Lead at Access Now, and produced by Volume with funding support from Internews.
The next episode will be available on the Kill Switch feed wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.volume.africa/kill-switch www.accessnow.org
In episode 2 we discuss COVID-19 testing access and the pricing, patent and criteria barriers that prevent South Africa from ramping up community wide testing as originally envisaged. We hear from Dr Shuaib Manjra, who served on the hji's Reference Advisory Group and is a physician on the front line in Cape Town, and hear about his experiences and reflections on the state's (and the private sector) readiness to successfully undertake a mass testing strategy, as well as from Catherine Tomlinson, a freelance health journalist covering the availability, coverage and price in South Africa of testing kits at present, for Spotlight, and from MSF South Africa's Treatment Access Advocacy Officer, on the challenges that patent regimes present in currently making testing more widely available globally, and for all people living in South Africa who at risk of COVID-19 and why the call on government to Fix the Patents Law is urgent and critical during this pandemic.
Presented by Fatima Hassan.
Produced by the Health Justice Initiative and Volume.
In episode 1 we discuss medicine access and the Intellectual Property barriers that prevent developing countries from accessing life saving medicines with reference to previous successes and challenges in the AIDS access to medicines movement. We also look at how the global patent regime can enable or block access to life saving testing, vaccines and treatment for Covid-19. In episode 1, we are joined by three long standing activists for affordable medicine access: Els Torreele, Tahir Amin and Gregg Gonsalves.
Presented by Fatima Hassan.
Produced by the Health Justice Initiative and Volume.
For this episode we are with Hashtag Our Stories, a start-up that has gathered together a global network of storytellers, trained them to use their mobile phones to create videos and then posted them on social media platforms for millions of people.
Produced by Volume with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
In this episode we get to know the journalists at Viewfinder who are investigating the police during COVID-19. In particular, we look at one story from start to finish and the incredible impact it had.
The day after we released this episode, Viewfinder's founder Daneel Knoetze was named as a finalist in the Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Reporting for Viewfinder's work on police accountability.
Produced by Volume with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
In South Africa, less than 20% of sources quoted in the news are women. Quote This Woman + strives to change that.
This week Media Diaries explores what it takes to change the media landscape, particularly with how it represents women, and how to deal with the cold during lockdown in KwaZulu-Natal.
Produced by Volume for the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
We spend this week with SMWX, an exciting digital platform focused on current affairs content from a youth perspective. We find out how they are evolving and acquiring new business in the time of COVID-19.
Produced by Volume with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
Scrolla is an exciting, new mobile-first media start-up that reports on important community news and puts it out in manageable chunks. In this episode we receive voice notes from their reporters and editors as they document the brutality and alleged murders during the lockdown.
Produced by Volume with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
Food for Mzansi is an initiative to introduce South Africans to stories about farming... including how the farms may or may not survive because of COVID-19.
Produced by Volume in partnership with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
We spend the week with Media Hack Collective, an amazing organisation that creates visualisations, multimedia stories and dashboards with the goal of spreading valuable journalism into the world.
They have built a COVID-19 dashboard in partnership with the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism and it has become insanely popular...
Produced by Volume in partnership with the South Africa Media Innovation Program.
Health-e News is a formidable health unit based in Johannesburg that is reporting on the frontline of COVID-19 in South Africa. Follow their staff as they come to terms with it.
Paul confronts one of the teachers who has been accused of being involved in the killing.
Produced by Volume. Distributed by Arena Holdings.
Paul tries to uncover the findings of a private investigator who has been working on the case... but instead finds a second female teacher who has been assassinated right in the same city.
Produced by Volume and distributed by Arena Holdings.
Paul takes aim at the gaps that are plaguing the case and uncovers threats towards the School Governing Body, a brave man at the centre of the story and an obvious cry for help from Priscilla before she died.
Produced by Volume. Distributed by Arena Holdings.
Paul gets a new revelation from Siya and finally makes some progress with the police...
Produced by Volume. Distributed by Arena Holdings.
This episode we meet Dumisani (Siya's father) and dig into his opinions on the case. And we muster the courage to take a trip to Glebelands hostel.
Produced by Volume. Distributed by Arena Holdings.
Volume's award-winning investigative journalist Paul McNally wades into the conspiracy-laden world of professional jealousy and hired hit-men in an attempt to find out what really happened at Laduma High, and who was behind the assassination of Priscilla Mchunu.
Coming 21st of January 2020 wherever you get your podcasts.
Priscilla Mchunu was a 54-year-old acting principal when she was assassinated. She was gunned down with an astonishing 19 bullets while teaching her high school history class. An entire class of Laduma High students watched her murder and still, more than two years later, no arrests have been made.
This is the story of Priscilla’s assassination. Who would kill an acting principal and why? How do you investigate a case when anyone who gets too close can be assassinated?
Award-winning investigative journalist Paul McNally wades into the conspiracy-laden world of professional jealousy and hired hit-men in an attempt to find out what really happened at Laduma High, and who was behind the assassination of Priscilla Mchunu.
Produced by Volume and distributed by Arena Holdings. Alibi homepage
In this week's episode Jen gets enthusiastic about Red Apple Dreams by Siphiwo Mahala and as a bonus we get an exciting excerpt read by the author.
Episode 6 of Read This! is a real cracker: reviews, live poetry readings and talk of a live event.
In episode 5 of Read This! Jen engages with Wayetu Moore's book She Would Be King. Plus, we want to hear about your book clubs: where are they, can people join and what are you reading?
This week we have our minds blown as Lutfiyah presents why the climate crisis could have benefits.
This episode features the exciting novel The Eternal Audience of One (with a very special reading from the author).
In this episode we pitch three numbers that tell the story of how the climate crisis is turning people into refugees all around the world.
Our series concludes with finding a lawyer to help, a cop to tell his story and a prison warder to argue for our guy’s innocence.
In episode 7 we finally track down where Anthony's co-accused have been all these years... and what we discover makes it more astounding that he was ever convicted.
In the sixth episode of the podcast series Alibi we are put into a spiral as we try to understand an injury from over twenty years ago.
The show that tells a story over eight weeks is trying to discover if one man, Anthony De Vries, is guilty or innocent of the crimes that put him in prison.
What we discover here reframes the extent that evidence can be manipulated… and how paperwork, even from doctors, can lie.
Read more about this episode here: alibi.org.za/wordpress/index.ph…a-gun-or-a-bullet/
In the fifth episode of the podcast series Alibi we get closer to discovering if Anthony De Vries is guilty or innocent of the crimes that put him in jail for most of his life. It involves focusing on the injuries from when he was tortured - they hold the important secrets.
In this episode we go on a car chase with the cops, with AK-47s being fired in retaliation and make a discovery that changes the case completely.
We spend a morning in a Wimpy eating bacon and eggs and find a second set of statements, ones that never made it to trial, that give us a completely different picture of our guy, Anthony.
In this episode we visit the bloody scene of our double murder and robbery from 1994 and stand in the Checkers shopping centre exactly where the two victims were murdered
When the centrepiece of your crime happened in front of a video shop in the 90s you need to peak behind plenty of movie posters to find those bullet holes...
Read more about this episode here: alibi.org.za/wordpress/index.ph…urdered-episode-3/
In this second episode we have a panga fight, find masses of brotherly love and uncover an important deception that could sabotage the whole series...
Read more about this episode here: alibi.org.za/wordpress/index.ph…d-talk-of-a-movie/
The story starts with Paul bringing to Freddy what he thinks could be a wrongful conviction case. It is about a man called Anthony De Vries and he has been in jail for 17 years.
Read more about this episode here: alibi.org.za/wordpress/index.ph…mps-up-from-there/ alibi.org.za
Alibi is produced by Paul McNally for SAFM in conjunction with Wits Radio Academy, Wits Justice Project and as part of Citizen Justice Network.
Presented by: Freddy Mabitsela & Paul McNally Additional production and music composed by: John Bartmann Mixed by: Kutlwano Serame Additional scripting by: Elna Schutz Editorial help by: Tom McNally, Gavin Haynes and Kyla Herrmannsen Editorial oversight by: Franz Kruger & Nooshin Erfani