In South Africa, less than two decades since the dismantling of stringent apartheid-era media regulations, freedom of expression and of the press are today protected by the constitution and widely respected in the country of 49 million. A range of media are published in the country's 11 official languages, and a number of private newspapers are sharply critical of the government.

Following the election of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1994 in the country's first ever multiracial democratic elections, the country saw a gradual deregulation of the media. A Bill of Rights, too, established the freedom of expression, freedom to receive or impart information or ideas, freedom of artistic creativity, academic freedom, and freedom of scientific research.

Despite a variety of print publications, most South Africans receive the news via radio outlets, a majority of which are controlled by the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The SABC also dominates the television market.

Though media has greatly advanced since 1994, South Africa remains a "a developmental state," according to long-time South African journalist Michael Schmidt, "that is plagued by huge inequalities, not least in access to information, and to quality journalism training."

To that end, Schmidt is in the process of forming the Professional Journalists' Association (ProJourn), with the aim to engage journalists in efforts to defend quality journalism in South Africa. ProJourn's mission is to "earn respect for its balance, fairness, rigor and ethical stance on all matters affecting not only [journalists'] professional rights, but also the public's rights to free speech, free expression, free media, and access to information." According to Schmidt, the group will be founded within a few months, at which time a constitution will be adopted.

Membership of ProJourn is open to all "working journalists," who are defined broadly as newsroom staff. This includes: journalists, columnists, editors, photographers, sub-editors, news editors, picture editors, supplement/section editors, camera operators, sound technicians, presenters, researchers, news cartoonists, news and analytical bloggers, independent writers, graphic artists and layout designers, whether full-time or freelance, whether they work in the mainstream or community media, and whether they work in print, broadcasting, online or other new media.

So far, the majority of ProJourn's organizational efforts have been conducted on the social networking site Facebook (the ProJourn Facebook group currently has 244 members). A steering committee was recently chosen. On June 11, ProJourn Steering Committee members in Johannesburg will meet with and chat to a select group of editors, senior journalists, media trainers, media monitors, media academics, ombuds and potential funders over cocktails about the formation of the new Association. A Web site, http://www.projourn.org.za, is also in the works.

Recently, the International Journalists' Network spoke to Schmidt about the vision behind ProJourn and the organization's development thus far. In addition to working as a journalist, Schmidt recently co-authored a book about a radical overhaul of global anarchist theory and history titled Counter-power. He currently serves as the head journalism training consultant at frayintermedia, a media company that works with journalists across Africa.

IJNet: Why are you heading this initiative?
MS: Investigative journalism is in my blood: I worked as what I like to call a "field journalist" for 19 years, by which I mean I'm averse to cooling my heels at a desk and far prefer to be at liberty in the field. I have worked almost entirely in print over the years, for 16 of the leading daily and weekly newspapers in South Africa including Sunday Times, the biggest weekly on the African continent.

Regarding the ProJourn initiative, I served as a shop-steward for the South African Union of Journalists (SAUJ) between 1993 and 2003. Sadly the SAUJ experienced severe bureaucratic and financial-management problems and finally wound up in the courts more than a year ago. But it was dead on its feet long before it was buried and I and other journalists were increasingly concerned that all the big debates about journalism in our transitional society were being conducted by politicians, academics, editors, media owners, activists - in fact, everyone except working journalists. So the need to establish a new professional association (one that avoided the SAUJ's mistakes) to defend and advance the interests of quality journalism in particular and of free speech and a free media in general, was clear.

Why is there such excitement surrounding ProJourn and its current endorsements? Is it long overdue?

Yes it is long overdue. Despite the best efforts of trade unions such as the Media Workers' Association of South Africa (MWASA) and the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) to take up professional matters beyond their industrial brief, many issues affecting journalists have not been properly dealt with since the coming of democracy in 1994.

ProJourn has managed to secure the endorsement of the Press Ombudsman, the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), the chairmen of the two most active Press Clubs, the Freedom of Expression Institute, and various specialist writers' organisations and scores of individual senior and junior journalists.

The excitement is generated in part because the lack of an association we could call our own and which could take up the cudgels for us has been sorely felt. Also, as journalists living and working in a society with the most stark inequality in the world, battling to transform from its past as a racial dictatorship, we are under immense pressure to reflect the interests of various groupings that are jostling for power and influence - and need a body that defends quality journalism against these vested interests.

Lastly, with true freedom of speech and media freedom a rarity in much of Africa, it is important that South African journalists help tell the continent's stories from an insider perspective - and in doing so, promote those values abroad.

Why is it important to gain endorsement from reputable associations and organizations?
There are a couple of reasons for seeking the endorsements that we have.

Firstly, we did not wish to antagonize the editors who are mostly represented by SANEF, or the owners, in terms of what ProJourn's objectives were. They needed to know that we do not seek to compete on their terrain nor to undermine their initiatives - while retaining our autonomy to constructively criticize them whenever necessary.

Secondly, there is a structural place for a professional association to make input on media policy-making at a strategic level.

Lastly, we wanted to make our intentions public, both to assure all interested parties in the media that we were not a fly-by-night or partisan outfit, and to drum up good will to support our initiative.

Did the choice of endorsers influence ProJourn's direction, or vice versa?
I wouldn't say our endorsers influenced the initiative much. Certainly there was one technical point raised by SANEF that we had to integrate and that was that our definition of who qualified for membership initially included all below editor level, yet several news editors and other section editors are members of SANEF, so we had to acknowledge there is a slight overlap even though the Association is aimed at newsroom staff working as journalists. Other than that, the Association will follow an independent path determined by its members' interests.

So far, you're publicizing ProJourn and soliciting interest mainly through Facebook. Why?
Social networking websites such as Facebook are a phenomenon which are increasingly used by journalists themselves as well as our readers and audiences to exchange information, so what better platform to at least publicize the Association among journalists who are online? They in turn, are encouraged to speak to their colleagues about the Association.

Can amateur journalists join?
We have to acknowledge that we live in a developmental state that is plagued by huge inequalities, not least in access to information, and to quality journalism training. It is for this reason that our Draft Constitution states that, excluded from membership "are public relations officers and writers for in-house commercial or trade journals that lack editorial autonomy. However, regarding this exclusion, fair consideration shall be given to community and disadvantaged journalists who, while lacking editorial independence, seek to become fully fledged journalists. They will be encouraged by ProJourn to strive for editorial independence through training, mentoring and skills-transference programmes and may later be considered for membership." In other words, the Association has a defined mentoring role to play regarding journalists coming from non-professional, under-trained or disadvantaged backgrounds.

What constitutes a fully fledged journalist? Do students and citizen journalists qualify?
Again, I refer you to our mentoring role. No, "citizen journalists" and journalism students are not working journalists - but many of them may become working journalists, even if only in the blogosphere. For example, the Mail & Guardian has "upgraded" several bloggers over the past few years to the status of online columnists through its Thought Leader pages. This is the kind of transition that the Association can help mentor.

Your organization aims to be a "club, a lobby, a hub of training, and a defensive body." How will you achieve each?

• A club: Will you have activities? Will there be a central office?

Initially, in order to keep costs down, we will operate online only, but in years to come we aim to establish a facility which provides journalists with regular debates on the pressing issues of the day and a relaxing venue in which to dine and engage in conversation.

• A lobby: Who will advocate?

The ProJourn General Secretary will be the official spokesperson for the organization, but this Association is designed to be driven by its membership and not its Secretariat. So, wherever groups of members in a particular field of journalism (freelancers in the Free State, agricultural writers nationally, television camera-operators in Durban, etc) feels its professional interests are at stake, it can collectively lobby under the ProJourn banner and make direct interventions.

• A hub of training: How often will you hold training?

The refreshing of our skills and the transfer of such skills to emergent journalists from disadvantaged backgrounds will be one of the primary aims of ProJourn. To this end it will seek sponsorship from government bodies such as the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) and the relevant Sector Education Training Authority (SETA), from media-training bodies such as frayintermedia and the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), and other interested civil society and corporate bodies to conduct training. Far easier and more cost-effective, however, is to make the expertise of senior members available to junior members for free on a mentoring basis, at training sessions to be held once a month. Training needs currently include the topics of basic journalism, deadline management and life/work balance, conflict reporting, multimedia journalism, global warming, the global economic crisis, investigative journalism, xenophobia and hate speech, gender equity in reporting, public interest, the Millennium Development Goals, media ethics and the law, etc - but this will all have to be decided by the Association itself.

• A defensive body: Are you partnering with lawyers and those in the legal field?

Most media houses have close relationships with the handful of lawyers who specialize in media law and ProJourn will have to establish a war chest, based on an agreed proportion of membership dues to hire media lawyers to defend journalists in trouble regarding the professional execution of their duties. Advice in this regards will also be sought from other bodies that defend journalists.

Could ProJourn one day hold sway on the media policy in SA?
That is our clear and unconditional intent. We are a universal body that aims to recruit most working journalists in the country. Journalism is an extremely challenging career, with journalists being expected to act as interlocutors, historians, experts, researchers, campaigners, even agony aunts, often simultaneously, under pressure, on deadline, with scarce resources - and with huge socio-political stakes on the table. We, the country's working journalists, will shape both government and corporate media policy because it is through us that they speak to their publics. But in order to reach that point of influence, ProJourn needs to first get well organised and secondly earn respect for its balance, fairness, rigour and ethical stance on all matters affecting not only our professional rights, but also the public's rights to free speech, free expression, free media, and access to information.

For more information on the Professional Journalists' Association, visit the Facebook group, or go to http://frayintermedia.com/blog/journalism-edit-this-professional-journalists-association-to-be-launched-soon/.