Meanwhile, media expert and Director at Media Monitoring Africa William Bird said traditional media must redefine itself in the face of past fast-paced, alternative news-sharing platforms. “The role of media organisations now is that it’s no longer about breaking the news, it’s now about verifying the news and telling [the audience] ‘is this real and did it happen?’ and ‘what are the relevant people saying about it?’ and critically, ‘how do we understand this?’ – explaining that news to us.”