{{short description|South African professor of journalism (born 1958)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Anton Harber | image = Anton Harber 2010 M&G Critical Thinking Forum.png | caption = Harber in 2010 | birth_name = | birth_date = 27 October 1958 | birth_place = Durban, South Africa | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = University of the Witwatersrand | occupation = Journalist | spouse = Harriet Gavshon | children = | relatives = Arthur Gavshon }} '''Anton Harber''' (born 27 October 1958) is a South African journalist. He is executive director of the Campaign for Free Expression,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-01|title=Home 1|url=http://freeexpression.org.za/|access-date=2021-10-27|website=Campaign for Free Expression|language=en-ZA}}</ref> director of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grants for Investigative Reporting|url=http://henrynxumalofoundation.co.za/|access-date=2021-10-27|language=en-ZA}}</ref> an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand, and the co-editor or author of five books.
==Early life== Harber was born on October 27, 1958, in Durban, South Africa.<ref name="whoswhosa">{{cite web|title=ANTON HARBER|url=http://whoswho.co.za/anton-harber-3029|website=Who's Who in South Africa|accessdate=February 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218024122/http://whoswho.co.za/anton-harber-3029|archive-date=February 18, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> He went to Carmel College, Durban, and graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand.<ref name="whoswhosa"/>
==Career== Harber started his career at the Springs Advertiser and worked at the Sunday Post, the Sowetan and Rand Daily Mail newspapers. He was political reporter on the Rand Daily Mail when it was closed in 1985. He was a founding co-editor of the ''Weekly Mail'', later known as the ''Mail & Guardian, 1985-1997.''<ref name="reutersantonharber">{{cite web|title=Anton Harber|url=https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/people/anton-harber|website=Reuters Institute|publisher=University of Oxford|accessdate=February 17, 2018}}</ref> He was then chief executive officer of Kagiso Broadcasting (Pty) Ltd and executive director of Kagiso Media Ltd. He left to form internet company BIG Media (Pty) Ltd.
Harber was appointed to the Caxton Chair of Journalism at his alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand, as an adjunct professor.<ref name="reutersantonharber" /> In this capacity, he launched the African Investigative Journalism Conference (formerly the Power Reporting Conference) since 2007, and hosted the 10th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg in 2017. In March 2016, he became the editor-in-chief of eNCA for a period of 18 months.<ref name="witsjournalismheadanton" />
In 2021, he founded the Campaign for Free Expression, a non-profit dedicated to defending and enabling free expression for all in southern Africa. Harber also runs the Henry Nxumalo Foundation NPC, which provides support to investigative journalists.
Harber was chair of the South African Conference of Editors in 1991, the chair of the National Association of Broadcasters in 1998, and the chair of the Freedom of Expression Institute in 2010.<ref name="univwitwatersrandbio">{{cite web|title=Adjunct Professor Anton Harber|url=https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/h/antonharberwitsacza/|website=University of the Witwatersrand|accessdate=February 17, 2018}}</ref> He serves on the board of directors of the Global Investigative Journalism Network<ref name="witsjournalismheadanton">{{cite web|title=Wits Journalism head Anton Harber to leave for ENCA top post|url=http://www.journalism.co.za/blog/wits-journalism-head-anton-harber-leave-enca-top-post/|website=Wits Journalism|publisher=University of the Witwatersrand|accessdate=February 17, 2018|date=February 5, 2016}}</ref> and the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home|url=https://ccij.io/|access-date=2021-10-27|website=Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism|language=en-US}}</ref>
He is the co-editor of three books about HIV/AIDS and investigative journalism in South Africa, and the author of Diepsloot (2011)<ref>{{Cite book|title=Diepsloot|isbn=978-1868424214|last1=Harber|first1=Anton|year=2011}}</ref> and So, or the Record: Behind the headlines in an era of state capture (2020).<ref>{{Cite book|title=So, for the record: Behind the Headlines in an Era of State Capture|via=Amazon|date=21 September 2020 |url=https://www.amazon.com/So-record-Behind-Headlines-Capture-ebook/dp/B08HGL2S68}}</ref>
Harber was awarded the Missouri Medal of Honour in 1992 and the Pringle Award for Press Freedom in 1987.
==Personal life== Harber is married to Harriet Gavshon, a television producer and they have two children.<ref name="foster551">{{cite book|last1=Foster|first1=Douglas|title=After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa|date=2012|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co|location=New York City|isbn=9780393078275|oclc=774913262|page=551|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_PQUeyeLdwC&dq=Harriet+Gavshon+anton+harber&pg=PA551}}</ref> He is related to the late investigative journalist Arthur Gavshon.<ref name="theguardianobitarthur">{{cite news|title=Arthur Gavshon: The soft hard newsman|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/261139354/?terms=%22Arthur%2BGavshon%22|accessdate=February 17, 2018|work=The Guardian|date=July 31, 1995|page=9|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref>
==Works== *{{cite book|editor-last1=Harber|editor-first1=A.|editor-last2=Palitza|editor-first2=K.|editor-last3=Ridgard|editor-first3=N.|editor-last4=Struthers|title=What is Left Unsaid: Reporting the South African HIV Epidemic|date=2010|publisher=Jacana Media|location=Auckland Park, South Africa|isbn=9781920196257|oclc=1017457773}} *{{cite book|editor-last1=Harber|editor-first1=Anton|editor-last2=Renn|editor-first2=Margaret|title=Troublemakers: The Best of South Africa's Investigative Journalism|date=2010|publisher=Jacana Media|location=Auckland Park, South Africa|isbn=9781770098930|oclc=794905854}} *{{cite book|last1=Harber|first1=Anton|title=Diepsloot|date=2011|publisher=Jonathan Ball|location=Johannesburg, South Africa|isbn=9781868424214|oclc=707332972}} *Harber, A (2017). Southern African Muckraking - 300 years of investigative journalism that shaped the region. Jacana. ISBN 978-1-4314-2782-6 *Harber, A. (2020). So, for the Record: Behind the headlines in an era of state capture. Jonathan Ball. ISBN 978-1-77619-068-3
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harber, Anton}} Category:Living people Category:1958 births Category:Writers from Durban Category:University of the Witwatersrand alumni Category:South African columnists Category:South African investigative journalists Category:Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand
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