The appointment of Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya as editor of the Mercury newspaper showed Independent Media's commitment to media transformation, the ANC said.
“Moya's appointment .. shows that the Independent Media pays attention to transformation,” African National Congress KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary in , Sihle Zikalala said in a statement.
“Moya's appointment brings hope that one day our country will have a completely transformed media industry at all levels.”
On Wednesday, Independent Media announced Moya's appointment to head the KwaZulu-Natal publication.
Moya's appointment formed part of its strategy to recruit and retain the industry's top editorial talent, with the Mercury the company's flagship publication in the province, the company said at the time.
“This announcement follows that of several senior appointments made by the company over the past few months.”
Moya, currently the executive editor at Pretoria News, would take up his new post on December 1.
Zikalala said transformation in the media industry was not moving at adequate speed.
“It is an unquestionable truth that despite numerous calls for the media industry to transform, the process of transformation has been moving at a snail's pace in some media organisations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in particular.”
He added that several media institutions “continued to pay lip service to transformation.”
“The media ownership still remains in the hands of the few and it is highly monopolised while news rooms also remain largely not transformed.”
The party urged media institutions, particularly those in KwaZulu-Natal, to commit towards transformation and to “emulate the good move which has been done by the Independent Media.”
Zikalala said the ANC would continue to engage with media houses to ensure that transformation takes place.
“While the media is privately owned, it services the interests of the people hence it should reflect the true demographics of the people it serves.”
Sapa