About Briefly.co.za - South African News
Briefly News is a South African digital media and news platform that was founded in 2014. It is one of South Africa’s largest news and entertainment websites by audience and one of the top-earning brands on Facebook in Africa.
Briefly News is a part of Legit (ex-GMEM), a digital media holding operating in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and worldwide. Other news projects include Legit.ng, TUKO.co.ke, and YEN.com.gh.
Being a member of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Media Compact, Briefly News’ mission is to make South Africans more conscious by creating life-changing news.
Briefly News covers current affairs, entertainment, human interest and women empowerment news in South Africa and internationally.
Briefly News History
- Aug 2024: Briefly News was honored with an African Excellence Award by MEA Markets, for the second consecutive year, in the category ‘Best News & Entertainment Platform 2024.’
- Aug 2024: In light of National Women’s Day, Briefly News launched a special project "Women of Wonder 2024: Moms Single-Handedly Running Families and Businesses."
- June 2024: Briefly News launched Young Money Makers initiative to empower young entrepreneurs with inspiring stories of seven under-35-year-olds who have overcome the hurdles of starting their businesses.
- Apr 2024: Briefly News became the finalist of Digital Media Awards Africa by WAN-IFRA in the category “Best Use of AI in the Newsroom.”
- Mar 2024: Briefly News took part in the Google News Initiative trainings, directed to support modern newsrooms and equip tech-savvy journalists with up-to-date knowledge of online editorial tools and digital strategies.
- Mar 2024: Briefly News partnered with Africa Check, Africa's first independent fact-checking organisation to counteract misinformation during the election season.
- Oct 2023: Global Business Awards named Briefly News ‘Most Innovative Digital News Platform 2023.’
- Oct 2023: The Africa Gender Mainstreaming Awards marked Briefly News as the best in the category ‘Empowerment of Women in the Community’ among non-listed organizations.
- Aug 2023: Briefly News wins African Excellence Award while being recognised Global News Platform of the Year 2023 for publishing life-changing news that maintain the truth and comply with international journalistic standards.
- Aug 2023: Rianette Cluley, Briefly News Editor-in-Chief, takes part in WAN-IFRA conference to spread the word about AI usage in modern newsrooms based on the Briefly News successful case.
- June 2023: Briefly News becomes a member of the International News Media Association (INMA) alongside New York Times and Washington Post.
- Mar 2023: Briefly News partners with Meta to highlight the impact of digital communities in solving problems in Africa through the ‘I Am Because We Are’ campaign.
- Jan 2023: The road so far - Briefly News boasts 1.9 million followers on Facebook and an average monthly audience of 10.6 million.
- Dec 2022: Briefly News launches a Women of Wonder special project writing about a group of 21 women who reached great heights in politics, business, the public sector, culture, etc. The project reached about 4 million people across all platforms.
- Jul 2022: Briefly News and Gift of the Givers enter a partnership to warm South Africans in need.
- Jan 2022: Briefly News successfully launches new content directions covering news on Women Empowerment and Cars & Tech.
- Feb 2022: Briefly.co.za is recognised as one of the most-visited websites in South Africa based on total monthly traffic.
- Jul 2021: In a case study, Facebook mentions Briefly News as a successful African news and entertainment brand.
- Mar 2021: Briefly.co.za becomes a UN Sustainable Development Goals Media Compact Member. Briefly News pays special attention to coverage of life-changing human-interest stories alongside Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in consultation with the UN.
- Dec 2020: Briefly News doubles its audience within one year. According to IO Technologies, Briefly News had over 134 million total pageviews in 2020, almost doubling the 70 million pageviews in 2019.
- Oct 2015: The first posts on Briefly News Facebook page are published. Since then, 1.9 million readers have followed our page.
- Dec 2014: A free, data-saving and convenient Briefly News App released for Android users. Over 500 000 users have installed the app to date.
- Dec 2014: Introduction to the News Media Market - Briefly News is founded.
Contacts and address
General inquiries: contact@briefly.co.za
Director/chief editor: Rianette Cluley
- Tel: +27 67 281 3584
- Email: rianette.cluley@briefly.co.za
Sales/advertising: Mandy Petrus
- Tel: +27 84 678 0128
- Email: mandy.petrus@briefly.co.za
Address: Central Office Park, Unit 4, 257 Jean Avenue, Centurion, Gauteng, 0157
Registration no: 2022/421308/07
Corporate site: Advertising solutions in SA
Briefly News Team and Masthead
Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief
Rianette Cluley
Rianette Cluley is a Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief who joined the Briefly News team in 2016. Rianette has 15 years of experience in journalism, having previously worked as a journalist and photographer for award-winning local-community publications in the Caxton & CTP Publishers and Printers group, namely the Highway Mail, Northglen News, Queensburgh News and Witbank News.
In 2023, she attended JournalismAI Academy for Small Newsrooms powered by the Google News Initiative at The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Head of Desk (Current Affairs and Entertainment)
Sibusisiwe Lwandle
Sibusisiwe Lwandle is the Head of Current Affairs and Entertainment desks at Briefly News, which she joined in 2019. Sibusisiwe holds one Bachelor of Arts (BA) and one Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from the University of Cape Town and the University of KZN respectively. In 2012, she achieved Level 5 in terms of the MICT-Seta Arts Journalism Programme.
She has over 10 years of experience in journalism, having worked in print, online, and broadcast media. She has worked at Independent Media and 1KZNTV and has contributed columns to the Washington Post.
Head of Desk (Human Interest)
Maryn Blignaut
Maryn Blignaut is Briefly News’ human interest desk manager. She obtained a BA in Communication Science in 2016 and joined the Briefly News family in 2017. Maryn has six years of experience in journalism. She passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative).
Briefly News on social media
