Media and Social Media

The Media and Social Media (MSM) unit communicates to internal and external audiences about the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) programmes, research and the activities of faculties, staff and students. Working closely with UCT’s executive management, we release news and information through both traditional and social media.

This report provides a reflection of the media, social media and executive communication that took place in 2022.

Key operational issues

The team continued working remotely for most of the year.

• Critical media reports are necessary during times of high-volume media reports on the university, as media often publish within a short time (especially online stories) and may not check facts or include UCT’s perspective on a report. This means the media liaison team needs to respond as soon as possible with correct information, such as issuing a written response or organising an interview with a UCT spokesperson.
• Daily media reports include mentions of UCT academics providing expert opinions. Usually, these opinions are sourced by media through the media liaison office.
• Daily media reports and critical reports also include mentions in the media of activities at other universities. This also serves as a benchmark for universities.

Opinion editorials (OP-EDs) produced

• We produced 17 op-eds in 2022.
• Op-eds serve to establish an institutional perspective on issues. Such articles are usually produced on behalf of the executive.
• Op-eds may also be drafted to support strategic initiatives.
• Another purpose is to address and/or correct perceptions that have arisen in the media.
• These statistics do not include the many opinion pieces produced by UCT academics. The media liaison team is often consulted by academics about their direct interactions with journalists.

Campus communication

We produced a total of 183 campus communication messages. These included 60 Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) Desks, 30 Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s (DVC) Desks, 14 Exco communication (COO, UCT Executive and Registrar), 29 Council communication (Chair and Deputy Chair) and 69 Campus Announcements.

• VC Desks and DVC Desks communicate decisions or actions taken at the executive level. The media liaison team drafts the initial message for sign-off by the relevant member of the executive. The drafting may involve liaison with one or more relevant departments to ensure the accuracy of the information and how it is structured. The document is drafted to ensure transparency and inclusiveness among readers.
• Campus Announcements generally include information from various departments and units at UCT. There may also be references to executive information. CMD produces and distributes the Campus Announcements on a weekly basis to provide a consistent communication channel that will help to inform campus members and build a sense of community.

N/A = not available for this reporting period.

• The media liaison team is alerted by Campus Protection Services (CPS) about incidents that may attract media attention.
• Management of the critical incident itself is handled by the relevant department, usually Properties & Services, Department of Student Affairs or Human Resources. CMD may liaise with these departments to provide support in terms of a VC’s condolence letter and/or media liaison.
• Depending on the incident and the expectation of media interest or interest from others outside campus (such as parents), the media liaison team may respond by preparing a holding statement.

VC content support

• The report format for the above was modified in the third quarter of 2020 (some sections therefore do not include statistics from the preceding years).

Social media

Queries received via Facebook inbox continued to be the pressure point for the team, with the total handled in 2022 being almost three times what was handled the year before.

• Engagement tracking across all platforms was introduced in 2021.
• Instagram was launched in July 2021.