Phathiswa Magopeni is a journalist and academic who currently serves as the Group Executive of News and Current Affairs at the South African Public Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). She is a well-rounded management professional with more than 20 years’ experience in the news sector. She began her career as a lecturer at the University of the Western in 1995 and joined the University of Cape Town’s Southern African Languages and Literatures department in 1997. Her journalism career began as an SABC freelancer in Cape Town. She was as part of the production team of the public broadcaster’s regional programme, Cape-at-Six. She later joined etv as a writer and presenter for isiXhosa news bulletins. From there, moved to produce the channel’s breakfast show, Morning News Edition. In 2005 she rejoined SABC news as a bulletin writer but left for eNCA in 2008, a month before its launch as South Africa’s first 24-hour news channel. At eNCA she started out as a senior desk producer and later became an output editor. In 2010 she was appointed as etv’s prime time news editor responsible for the English flagship free-to-air news service. In 2013 she became eNCA’s Head of Terrestrial News Services responsible for all news content on terrestrial channels including launching an IsiZulu news bulletin on OpenView. In 2017 this role got expanded with added responsibility as Business and Economics Editor. She left the channel in February 2018, to lead the news division at SABC. Magopeni has an Honours degree, a Master of Philosophy in Education (University of the Western Cape), an Integrated Marketing Communications Diploma (AAA School of Advertising) and a Master of Business Administration (Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria). Currently she is reading for her PhD in Business Administration at GIBS. Her business training and extensive experience in the field of journalism have provided her with a solid understanding of strategic, technological and operational demands of today’s rapidly changing news environment. She is passionate about education and research. As part of her academic engagements, Magopeni delivers master classes on reporting financial and economic issues, with a specific focus on what it means to be ‘universally-equipped’ journalist in the age of technology and shrinking newsrooms, at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Journalism Department. She is a Duke University Menell fellow and an African Leadership Initiative/Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa fellow.