Bryan:
Paula Fray began her reporting career in 1986 at The Star in Johannesburg, covering South Africa’s transition to democracy at a time when the stakes of truth-telling were plain to see. Over time, she moved from frontline reporting into leadership, driven by a deeper concern: who decides which stories are told—and how those choices shape democracy, dignity, and the way Africans see themselves.
Bryan Welker, Stefan le Roux, and Neo Kay sat down with Paula Fray to trace the thread from a mother who refused to let limited options define her children’s futures, to a career anchored in the belief that journalism—done properly—is a public good.
The Good Business Journal: Paula, where does your story begin?
Paula:
I was born in the Transkei but grew up in the Western Cape during apartheid. My formative years—high school and university—were during that period.
During apartheid, coloured women were expected to either become nurses or teachers, but I was drawn to journalism and law. Journalism prevailed in the end.
Stefan: What did the path to becoming a journalist look like?
Paula:
Education was always emphasised in our home. Reading was encouraged and further study was expected. My mother was a pivotal role model. She was a full-time school teacher, but she also did whatever else was necessary to support her six children.
She sold Tupperware, sold cleaning products, worked in a store—she was always finding ways to supplement her income so that we could have access to better education.
When I applied for a bursary and was turned down because I wasn’t studying nursing or teaching, she didn’t tell me to change course. Instead, we went from bank to bank in Bellville South asking about loans. We pieced together funding through small bursaries and my own work while studying.
Without her determination, I would not have become a journalist.
Neo: Your passion for journalism is unmistakable. What role do you believe it plays in a democratic society?
Paula:
I have absolute belief in media as a public good. When the media does its job properly—when it serves the public as it’s intended to do—it promotes active citizenship, it supports democracy, and it can produce change that serves the public.
But telling a story is only one part of the work. Deciding whose story gets told is just as important. In 1994, when my daughter was born, I took a year’s sabbatical, and during that time, I began thinking seriously about that question.
When I returned to the newsroom, I knew I wanted to move into roles where I could help shape editorial direction and decide which stories were prioritised.
That shift changed how I thought about media. It became less about simply reporting events and more about the larger narrative: how we speak about ourselves as Africans, how we represent women, and which issues we deem worthy of sustained reflection and reportage.
Professionally, that took me from city editor at The Star to news editor and eventually to editor of The Saturday Star. Along the way, I continued studying and expanding my perspective—I ended up being a fellow at Harvard University, and last year I went back to the classroom to finish my master’s in digital media ethics and social change.
With everything becoming digital, the questions facing media are urgent: what should we be interrogating, what kind of change can journalism stimulate, and how do we navigate emerging technologies like AI in ways that continue to serve the public good?
Bryan: In an AI-driven, social-media-first world, how do you see the role of the media changing?
Paula:
The role of the media is more critical than ever. We’ve come to a moment online where the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation has fuelled social crisis.
You can go onto any social media platform, and you don’t really know which videos are created by AI, or what information is verified or not.
For us, the consequences compound because Africa is a social-media-first continent. More Africans get news from social media than from radio, TV, or print. That means more people might be exposed to misinformation and disinformation.
Neo: Newsrooms are shrinking due to financial pressure, and the quality of media is suffering. How do you see the way forward?
Paula:
Investigative journalism costs money, time, and effort. If you look at South Africa, so much of what pushed back against corruption started as investigative reporting. But that work is expensive.
If we can agree as a society that the media is a critical contributor to sustaining our liberal democracies, we need to be honest about our own role in keeping it viable as well. It’s not enough to say it matters if we’re not paying for subscriptions or otherwise supporting its financial sustainability.
And we have to prioritise building sustainable media in our own languages—Afrikaans, isiXhosa, Setswana, Sesotho, Zulu, and others. If we don’t, we lose agency, and we begin consuming ourselves through someone else’s lens. Language is not simply vocabulary its culture.
Stefan: How do you define good journalism?
Paula:
Good journalism is verified and ethical, and it is achieved by adhering to four core pillars.
First: seek the truth and report it as fully as possible.
That recognises the possibility that there may be different versions of truth in any given situation, but it’s still the journalist’s job to seek the objective truth to the greatest possible extent.
Second: be fair.
Be fair to the person you’re interviewing—reflect their answers and the tone in which they said it. You can quote someone out of context and make them sound sarcastic or foolish.
Third: be accountable.
If you do a story, you need to know why you chose a particular angle. You can’t hide behind “somebody made me do it.”
Fourth: minimise harm.
Minimising harm does not mean avoiding difficult stories or shielding powerful people from scrutiny. It means being conscious of the impact journalism can have on individuals and communities if stereotypes are reinforced or unverified claims are amplified.
In a digital environment where outrage is easily monetised, it is critical to resist the urge to publish first and verify later. Journalism must serve the public interest—not the algorithm.
Bryan: Where does neutrality end and responsibility begin?
Paula:
People act shocked when newspapers endorse candidates, but we need to recognise that every choice is an endorsement of some sort. Which parties we cover, which leaders we elevate as credible—those are choices, and they can tip the scale in either direction.
Bryan: How did your career move from the newsroom into building your own organisations?
Paula:
After my career in the newsroom, I went to a public relations company first. I realised I didn’t see myself there beyond a year, so I decided to start my own company.
To be frank, I never set out to build three companies—I set out to solve one problem: how do we strengthen media so it serves the public good?
I started frayintermedia in 2005, where we focused on strengthening journalists themselves. I saw many journalists leaving newsrooms because there was little professional progression beyond hard news reporting.
At the same time, new forms of journalism—narrative, explainer, solutions journalism—were emerging, and I wanted mid-career journalists to deepen their craft rather than exit the industry.
From there, I went on to lead Inter Press Service, a global development news agency, where I recognised that many development leaders struggled to communicate complex issues effectively. That led to structured training work, but when the same company was both training journalists and helping civil society engage them, I felt there was an ethical tension.
We separated the functions, and that restructuring ultimately resulted in the establishment of fraycollege as an accredited training institution focused on newsroom-based and independent journalism development.
During Covid, I also recognised a disconnect: women were more likely to be retrenched, more likely to leave for pregnancy and not come back, and more likely to be left behind in digital disruption. And globally, the figure of women as sources—particularly on economics and politics—has hardly changed from when I was a journalist: about one in four.
The third organisation I founded is the fraymedia Foundation, where I now serve as acting CEO. I started it in partnership with Bongiwe Mlangeni and Charmeela Bhagowat to help women become media owners, leaders, and credible sources.
All of it supports the long-term impact we want: narrative change—changing the way we talk about ourselves and what we talk about.
Neo: What do you think is wrong with how we speak about ourselves now?
Paula:
Part of the challenge is that we come from a long legacy of being told our own story isn’t good enough and our experts aren’t good enough. An African writing on youth unemployment will cite an Ivy League expert who came to do a master’s degree here instead of an African expert who fully understands the context.
Furthermore, when fraycollege did research for African No Filter on how African media reports on Africa, we found that the majority of stories African media published about Africa were written by global news agencies. This is the first paradigm that needs to be tackled.
Secondly, open any South African media outlet, barring a few exceptions, and you’ll see hardly any stories about the rest of the continent unless there’s an attack, an election, protests, or an economic crisis. But in actual fact, Africa is rich and vibrant. For example, African animation studios are becoming critically acclaimed, at home and abroad. African art is commanding record-breaking prices on global stages.
I’m not advocating for sunshine journalism. All I am saying is that there is so much happening.
I dream of an Africa where Africans know as much about their own continent as they know about America. We know who played in the Super Bowl and who did the halftime show. What do we know about Kenya or Nigeria?
Bryan: What advice would you give a young woman journalist starting out today?
Paula:
I think about this a lot because people often ask me, “Would you let your children study journalism?” And the answer is yes.
We live in a knowledge economy. Journalism teaches you about information and turning information into knowledge—quickly. It gives you skills that will take you many places: asking the right questions, distilling a lot of information into usable knowledge, engaging with different kinds of people in different settings, and doing so in a way that can be fulfilling.
So my advice is: stay curious, ask questions, be hungry. Journalism is a craft. You don’t improve your craft without actively trying to write better, ask better questions, find better stories, and find better ways to tell your stories.
For any young student deciding on journalism, I’d say: you could not choose a better career. It can be absolutely fulfilling if you stay curious, stay learning, and keep doing.
Stefan: In closing, can you name a few things about South Africa that can help change the narrative?
Paula:
I’m incredibly proud to be South African.
If you look at the vast array of products, innovation, and economic life happening at this moment, you can see it’s a country of opportunity. I’ve been exposed to all kinds of South Africans as a journalist—and I see the innovation.
Look at how well South Africans do globally—you can see there’s a mindset here waiting for the right economic environment to flourish.
And I think the right ideas and the right investment can give good returns. Global investment is already happening in South Africa and on the continent, which indicates international belief in the opportunity.
But until South Africans themselves invest in their own country, we shouldn’t be complaining about a lack of investment elsewhere. There’s too much money going out of the continent and out of South Africa.
Bryan:
From the newsroom to the classroom to the organisations she has founded, Paula Fray’s focus has remained consistent—improving the systems that shape public conversation. In a media environment that often rewards speed and noise, her contribution has been quieter but enduring: insisting on craft, accountability, and a journalism that takes its responsibility seriously.
Every week, The GBJ editorial team sits down with some of South Africa’s best. With a tenacity and spirit that can create success out of nothing more than a glimmer of hope, we believe South African businesses deserve a platform to tell their stories.
Born from WDR Aspen, The GBJ wants to ask you: how are you telling your story? Reach out and let us help you with your voice.
