Most media responses to the ANC’s recently released discussion document have come out fighting. The particular target is the proposed media appeals tribunal, a body that would give ruling party the final say over what the press can publish. A few media responses, however, have been mea culpa. But where problems have been acknowledged and […]
Media
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Why this pale male is shutting up (for now anyway)
Six weeks ago I touched down in London: a born-and-bred Cape Town boy about to start a new job in another country. While the online smorgasbord of Politicsweb, the Mail & Guardian and Business Day still form a daily news staple, an inevitable sense of detachment from the roiling intrigue of South African politics has […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, Lifestyle, Media
The hypocrisy of ‘greenies’ — a fair charge?
Here’s the question: can we rightfully critique oil companies for their environmental impacts while we continue to fill up on their oil? Does our reliance on their products mean that we have no space to critique the manner in which that production occurs? It’s the type of question I often come up against when writing […]
Posted inMedia
Who remembers Old Spice?
Once upon a time, Old Spice was the smell of your dad. It was Carmina Burana and crashing waves. It was the gift you bought for a man when you’d long since run out of time and imagination and the bottle gathering dust in the bathroom cabinet. It was the sickeningly schmaltzy ad with the […]
Posted inMedia
Spam — not just a scary type of ham
You won’t believe what I’ve won this week. I’ve never been so lucky. I couldn’t believe it. My Karma cow finally moo’d into the pasture outside my house bringing with it a host of winnings and good fortune. This week I have simultaneously won the American Green Card Lotto, the Coca-Cola Lotto, the UK National […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Man enough to change?
What does it actually mean to be a man? My job in the publishing industry often bumps up against this question since a lot of what we do is about creating content for men. What I find most interesting is how so much of what we create is informed by a particular idea of masculinity […]
Posted inMedia
Why are cats funnier than dogs?
Walking past one of the cubicles in our office building the other afternoon, I noticed a photo of a cat pinned to a board. On it were the words: “You cannot imagine the immensity of the fuck I do not give.” It struck me that this statement — which has become something of a meme […]
Posted inMedia
Is the vuvuzela the best thing to happen to us?
Back in April, Iceland paralysed half the world when one of its volcanoes produced an ash cloud that prevented commercial aircraft from flying. Thousands of people (including me) were horribly inconvenienced, but this wasn’t all bad news for Iceland. All that magnificent footage of that volcano with the unspellable name will forever more be associated […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Lifestyle, Media
Are you a ‘green’ hypocrite?
Recently a lot of my writing has focused on the issue of externalities, and how they contribute to a corporation’s profitability. What I’ve neglected is the flip side: that just as corporations should pay the full costs of their activities, so should you and I. Not sure what I’m on about? Well in essence the […]
Posted inMedia
Why are there so many photographers on Facebook?
The average person doesn’t really think about photographers. We might see evidence of their work all around us, we might take shots of our own, but people who do this for a living? They’re not, shall we say, top of mind. Though I’ve studied the work of Sontag and Barthes, I certainly never gave photographers […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Media
Brand spanking: Going beyond BP
While BP is spending in the region of $400 million fumbling around in its oil spill, it’s also spending a whopping $50 million trying to convince us that it is in fact cleaning up. Part of that PR budget has gone to Google, where BP strategically bought a number of search terms to ensure that you and […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
Brand spanking: Nestlé gets hijacked
By now I’m sure you’ve seen the video clip: an office employee, bored stiff at work, decides to “have a break, have a KitKat” — only those aren’t slender fingers of dark chocolate and biscuit he’s snacking on, but orangutan fingers, and just look at the blood dripping off his chin! The goal of the […]