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IOL API endpoint

IOL author profile API

Returns an IOL author profile, identified by `slug` (such as `xolile-mtembu`) or a canonical `iol.co.za/authors/<slug>/` `url`; provide exactly one. The response has the name, `role` and `image_url` when present, and up to 25 recent articles with title, URL, summary, section and a `published_date` taken from the article URL. Unknown authors return not found.

GETapiKey2 credits/requestIOLpublicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc/iol/author

Endpoint facts

Method: GET
API path: /iol/author
Auth: apiKey
Credits: 2 credits/request
Charged on: Successful 2xx responses only
Platform: IOL
Response schema: #/definitions/publicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc

IOL Scraper API Try IOL author profile API in Playground IOL API documentation

How this endpoint behaves

Query parameters:

slug (optional): an author slug, e.g. xolile-mtembu, the last segment of the author link in a story's byline.
url (optional): a canonical https://iol.co.za/authors/<slug>/ URL, as an alternative to slug.

Exactly one of slug/url is required. The response covers the first page of the author's archive (up to 25 of the most recent articles; no further pagination); each article has title, url, summary, section and published_date (the YYYY-MM-DD date IOL puts in the article URL, because the author page only shows relative times; omitted for undated URLs). role and image_url are omitted when the author has none. The contact e-mail address IOL shows on the profile is not returned. An unknown author returns a not-found error.

Example response (truncated):

{"code":200,"data":{"name":"Xolile Mtembu","slug":"xolile-mtembu","url":"https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/","role":"Digital Journalist, IOL News","image_url":"https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/f67fc379e08a1fc50070b5a5aa23f2565c0849af","articles":[{"title":"Petition demands permanent serial crime task team after Kempton Park murders","url":"https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-23-petition-demands-permanent-serial-crime-task-team-after-kempton-park-murders","summary":"A petition is calling on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to establish and permanently fund a specialised serial crime task team following the deaths of nine women in Ekurhuleni.","section":"Crime and Courts","published_date":"2026-09-23"}]}}

Sampled response

Request, 14 Oct 2026: GET /iol/author?slug=xolile-mtembu
Items in articles: 25
Fields filled in every checked item: 5

Field	Filled in, of 25 checked	Values in the sample
title	25	median 77 characters
url	25	iol.co.za
summary	25	median 193 characters
section	25
published_date	25	2026-10-05 to 2026-10-13

Request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description	Example
slug	string	No	Author slug, e.g. xolile-mtembu	xolile-mtembu
url	string	No	Canonical iol.co.za/authors/<slug>/ URL; alternative to slug	https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/
x-api-key (header)	string	Yes	API key required

cURL example

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/author" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Example JSON response

{
  "code": 200,
  "data": {
    "name": "Xolile Mtembu",
    "slug": "xolile-mtembu",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/",
    "role": "Digital Journalist, IOL News",
    "image_url": "https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/f67fc379e08a1fc50070b5a5aa23f2565c0849af",
    "articles": [
      {
        "title": "Petition demands permanent serial crime task team after Kempton Park murders",
        "url": "https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-23-petition-demands-permanent-serial-crime-task-team-after-kempton-park-murders",
        "summary": "A petition is calling on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to establish and permanently fund a specialised serial crime task team following the deaths of nine women in Ekurhuleni.",
        "section": "Crime and Courts",
        "published_date": "2026-09-23"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Request schema

No body schema

Response schema

#/definitions/publicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc

Field	Type	Required	Description
data	iol.AuthorResponse	No
data.articles	array	No
data.articles[].published_date	string	No	PublishedDate is the YYYY-MM-DD date IOL puts in the article URL. The author page itself only shows a relative "2 days ago" label, so this is omitted for the rare undated (partnered) URL.
data.articles[].section	string	No
data.articles[].summary	string	No
data.articles[].title	string	No
data.articles[].url	string	No
data.image_url	string	No
data.name	string	No
data.role	string	No
data.slug	string	No
data.url	string	No

Failure responses

Status	Description	Schema
400	Bad Request	#/definitions/app.Response
404	Not Found	#/definitions/app.Response
503	Service Unavailable	#/definitions/app.Response

Code examples

Use environment variables for secrets and keep Crawlora API keys server-side.

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/author" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Shared guides

Authentication Errors and retries Rate limits and credits Pricing Acceptable use

More IOL endpoint docs IOL Scraper API IOL article API documentation IOL section headlines API documentation IOL top stories API documentation IOL sections API documentation

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Docs menu

IOL API endpoint

IOL author profile API

GETapiKey2 credits/requestIOLpublicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc/iol/author

Endpoint facts

Method: GET
API path: /iol/author
Auth: apiKey
Credits: 2 credits/request
Charged on: Successful 2xx responses only
Platform: IOL
Response schema: #/definitions/publicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc

IOL Scraper API Try IOL author profile API in Playground IOL API documentation

How this endpoint behaves

Query parameters:

slug (optional): an author slug, e.g. xolile-mtembu, the last segment of the author link in a story's byline.
url (optional): a canonical https://iol.co.za/authors/<slug>/ URL, as an alternative to slug.

Example response (truncated):

{"code":200,"data":{"name":"Xolile Mtembu","slug":"xolile-mtembu","url":"https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/","role":"Digital Journalist, IOL News","image_url":"https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/f67fc379e08a1fc50070b5a5aa23f2565c0849af","articles":[{"title":"Petition demands permanent serial crime task team after Kempton Park murders","url":"https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-23-petition-demands-permanent-serial-crime-task-team-after-kempton-park-murders","summary":"A petition is calling on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to establish and permanently fund a specialised serial crime task team following the deaths of nine women in Ekurhuleni.","section":"Crime and Courts","published_date":"2026-09-23"}]}}

Sampled response

Request, 14 Oct 2026: GET /iol/author?slug=xolile-mtembu
Items in articles: 25
Fields filled in every checked item: 5

Field	Filled in, of 25 checked	Values in the sample
title	25	median 77 characters
url	25	iol.co.za
summary	25	median 193 characters
section	25
published_date	25	2026-10-05 to 2026-10-13

Request parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description	Example
slug	string	No	Author slug, e.g. xolile-mtembu	xolile-mtembu
url	string	No	Canonical iol.co.za/authors/<slug>/ URL; alternative to slug	https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/
x-api-key (header)	string	Yes	API key required

cURL example

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/author" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Example JSON response

{
  "code": 200,
  "data": {
    "name": "Xolile Mtembu",
    "slug": "xolile-mtembu",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/authors/xolile-mtembu/",
    "role": "Digital Journalist, IOL News",
    "image_url": "https://iol-prod.appspot.com/image/f67fc379e08a1fc50070b5a5aa23f2565c0849af",
    "articles": [
      {
        "title": "Petition demands permanent serial crime task team after Kempton Park murders",
        "url": "https://iol.co.za/news/crime-and-courts/2026-09-23-petition-demands-permanent-serial-crime-task-team-after-kempton-park-murders",
        "summary": "A petition is calling on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to establish and permanently fund a specialised serial crime task team following the deaths of nine women in Ekurhuleni.",
        "section": "Crime and Courts",
        "published_date": "2026-09-23"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Request schema

No body schema

Response schema

#/definitions/publicnews.iolAuthorResponseDoc

Field	Type	Required	Description
data	iol.AuthorResponse	No
data.articles	array	No
data.articles[].published_date	string	No	PublishedDate is the YYYY-MM-DD date IOL puts in the article URL. The author page itself only shows a relative "2 days ago" label, so this is omitted for the rare undated (partnered) URL.
data.articles[].section	string	No
data.articles[].summary	string	No
data.articles[].title	string	No
data.articles[].url	string	No
data.image_url	string	No
data.name	string	No
data.role	string	No
data.slug	string	No
data.url	string	No

Failure responses

Status	Description	Schema
400	Bad Request	#/definitions/app.Response
404	Not Found	#/definitions/app.Response
503	Service Unavailable	#/definitions/app.Response

Code examples

Use environment variables for secrets and keep Crawlora API keys server-side.

curl -X GET "https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1/iol/author" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY"

Shared guides

Authentication Errors and retries Rate limits and credits Pricing Acceptable use

More IOL endpoint docs IOL Scraper API IOL article API documentation IOL section headlines API documentation IOL top stories API documentation IOL sections API documentation

Open in Playground Back to group

IOL author profile API

Endpoint facts

How this endpoint behaves

Sampled response

Request parameters

cURL example

Example JSON response

Failure responses

Code examples

Shared guides

Related

IOL author profile API

Endpoint facts

How this endpoint behaves

Sampled response

Request parameters

cURL example

Example JSON response

Failure responses

Code examples

Shared guides

Related