Posted inMediaNews/Politics

Freedom of the African internet

Ahead of May 3 World Press Freedom Day, a new study of 37 countries gives the state of play for internet freedom in six African states. Here’s the pecking order: South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zimbabwe … and Ethiopia. (Yes, there’s a place even more restrictive than Zimbabwe.) Although South Africa’s internet freedom leads, our […]

Posted inMediaTech

Cats, karakuls and communications scenarios

It was topsy-turvy at two conferences in Johannesburg last week. What you’d expect was not what happened: Delegates at the event convened by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) concentrated on … broadcasting. Those attending the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association included internet and mobile in their sessions. It wasn’t quite the “Negroponte switch” where what’s on the […]

Posted inTech

Hands off video on the internet

Strangely, at a time when South Africans are beginning to benefit from better and cheaper broadband connectivity, our communications regulator is toying with the idea of licensing online video. The notion smacks of institutional self-interest, of a body in search of a cause to justify its existence. But the irony is that the Independent Communications […]