A global media initiative gained a foothold in South Africa this year and is poised to strengthen solidarity among media-related organisations and influence G20 policy to safeguard information integrity.

The need for such an initiative, known as the M20, has never been more urgent.

Let’s look at two recent examples of the threats to information integrity in the South African media space.

“This is a fake post I did not write. It is in fact the second fake post in about four months which attempts to smear Judge President Dunstan Mlambo. Don’t believe it.”

This rebuttal by prominent journalist-cum financial crime investigator Pauli van Wyk has been viewed on X more than 39,400 times, so far. At the same time, the original fake post remains intact, notching up more than 133,500 views to date.

In another incident, Newzroom Afrika recently put watermarks on its video clips – at times obscuring the faces of interviewees – in a desperate bid to prevent “vulture” theft from news mills and influencer-operated accounts.

These examples not only illustrate the fragility of the information landscape but also the media’s relentless fightback, often with marginal efficacy.

As highlighted on the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) website, manipulations and false information impact every aspect of our digital-reliant everyday lives – from accessing breaking news to online banking.

The crisis has resulted in two ubiquitous questions: “But is it true?” and “Is it safe, or a scam?”

As the disruptive, multipronged assaults accelerate, becoming more sophisticated and trickier to detect, we all need to ask ourselves what we can do to safeguard trustworthiness.

Everybody has a role to play, from digital users who arm themselves with bullshit-detection skills, to world leaders shaping policy at the G20 gathering of ministers and heads of state, which is being hosted by the South African presidency this year – the first time an African head of state has held the honour.

Recognising its role, the M20’s mission includes ensuring “issues relating to healthy information ecosystems are reflected in the G20 policy agenda”.

Journalism as public good

The M20 is a fledgling collaborative network of organisations that is independent from, but parallel to the G20.

A key premise is that journalism is a public good, capable of safeguarding democracies and promoting global solidarity, equality and sustainability – this year’s G20 theme. The M20 warns that unless leaders address the information integrity crisis, the G20’s three-pronged mission is a lost cause.

The G20 Leaders’ Summit in Joburg on November 22 and 23 will be closely watched to determine whether urgent public interest media issues are overlooked or acknowledged, in particular the closing Leaders’ Declaration.

Overall, processes are being monitored to see if any G20 policy outcomes dovetail with proposals put to it by the M20.

The M20 is campaigning for the G20 to integrate essential strategies to build resilient, trustworthy, independent, sustainable media ecosystems that can withstand disinformation and AI-driven threats.

The inaugural M20 summit in September was convened by the South African National Editors Forum, Media Monitoring Africa (recently rebranded as Moxii Africa) and more than 20 global partner organisations (including CINIA) through a 12-member local organising committee and an 18-member international advisory group.

The M20 summit culminated in the Johannesburg Declaration, which has been endorsed by more than 65 organisations to date. Warning that information integrity is at a “critical juncture”, the declaration serves as the mechanism for circulating the media’s injunction to the G20 leadership.

The declaration arose from a consultative process that produced a set of specialised policy briefs from July to September.

The M20 calls on the G20 leadership to “take urgent steps to respond to the information integrity crisis” by strategically building on 2024 G20 outcomes that included:

The G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration, which acknowledged intellectual property issues around AI;
The digital economy working group, which published a declaration that incorporates information integrity and emphasised the importance of digital inclusion for all; and
The Brazilian government (as host), which launched a Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change.

Considering the M20 Summit took place just a few months ago, it has been a race against the clock to make a discernible impact. The M20 also sits outside the formal structure of potential influence, unlike a multitude of engagement subgroups from the B20 (business) to the Y20 (youth) – and virtually all letters of the alphabet in between.

Yet green shoots have emerged. The “constructive role” of the M20 was recognised in the chair statements from two ministerial-level working groups at the end of September, the task force on AI, data governance and innovation (AITF), and the G20 digital economy working group (DEWG).

Dovetailing with M20 proposals, whether by coincidence or design, the DEWG statement also recognises the importance of digital literacy and skills to ensure “greater awareness of deepfakes, and to promote online safety, leveraging on the important role of the media in alerting the public about these issues”.

In another synergy, the AITF calls for AI systems to respect local ownership and intellectual property rights.

AI, Africa and the G20

The impact of AI and threats to copyright, in particular on the African continent, are key M20 priorities, with calls for AI to be reframed in the media as a story about power, not just technology.

An M20 policy brief, “Power, Politics and Economics – AI, Africa and the G20”, noted that G20 discussions had been inadequate. The G20’s AI policies require “robust media oversight to prevent the entrenchment of technological dependencies that marginalise African interests”, it stated.

The M20 initiative is structured to complement, not compete with, existing global media campaigns, thus strengthening ethical frameworks and accountability in the digital space.

The M20 builds on the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 on a free, pluralistic and independent African media, and the Windhoek+30 Declaration of 2021 on information as a public good. It is aligned to the UN’s global principles for information integrity, which recognise an independent, free and pluralistic media as one of five pillars.

The M20 is not just about impacting G20 policy and processes; it also outlines recommendations for media-related organisations to build credible, sustainable journalism models globally.

The M20 emerged from earlier media initiatives during G20 processes hosted in Brazil (2024) and India (2023). It wrapped up this year with the building blocks in place and a longer-term goal, with the interim 2025 structure currently being reconstituted for continuity into 2026 – and beyond.

Meanwhile, under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stewardship as host of the upcoming summit, G20 leaders face a critical test that goes beyond photo opportunities. Truth and trust will be further eroded if leaders ignore the digital implosion – marked by hallucinations, power imbalances, theft and “bad actors’ shameful behaviour”, as described by Van Wyk. The heartbeat of independent public interest media will grow fainter – and with it, the lifeblood of democracy will weaken.