Ferial Haffajee | |
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Born | 20 February 1967 |
Occupation |
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Nationality | South African |
Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
Ferial Haffajee (born 20 February 1967) [1] [2] is a South African journalist and newspaper editor. Haffajee was editor of City Press newspaper from July 2009 until July 2016 and was previously the editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper.
Haffajee was awarded the 2014 International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists [3] and was appointed to the board of the International Press Institute in 2011. [4]
Haffajee is currently Associate Editor at the Daily Maverick, [5] and was previously editor-at-large at HuffPost South Africa until it ended its partnership with Media24 in 2018. [6]
Haffajee grew up in Bosmont, a suburb of Johannesburg. Her father was a clothing factory worker. She is an alumna of the University of the Witwatersrand. [7]
Haffajee was a cub reporter at Mail & Guardian and has acted as its associate editor, media editor and economics writer at various times. Before taking up the editorship she held jobs at state broadcaster SABC, as a radio producer and television reporter, [8] and at the Financial Mail magazine, where she was a senior editor responsible for political coverage and the managing editor. [9]
Haffajee was appointed editor of Mail & Guardian at the age of 36 effective from 1 February 2004, [2] [10] two years after control of the paper was acquired by Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube. [11]
In 2005 the paper became one of the few publications, after the regime change of 1994, interdicted from publishing specific stories. [12] In 2006 the paper was again interdicted, and Haffajee threatened, after republishing controversial cartoons depicting Muhammad. [13]
In March 2009 Mail & Guardian announced Haffajee's resignation, saying she would take up the position of editor of City Press in July. [14] Previous speculation had identified her as a potential appointee as head of news at the SABC. [15]