There have been times when I have been ashamed to be part of the media industry: this week was one of those. The role that the media played in the virtual destruction of a poor family’s life in the Western Cape this week cannot be overlooked. Before he became the focus of media attention in […]
Media
Posted inMedia
The web’s unavoidable sharp learning curve
A funny thing happened to me this morning: I finally realised that a really large chunk of people who use the internet haven’t got a clue about the internet space at all. Actually, this is hardly news breaking. Evidence of it abounds. Phishing (creating fake login pages that mimic your online banks login page) is […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Simply Slim, sibutramine and synephrine
With tens of thousands of unregistered complementary medicines on the market, it’s interesting and surprising that the Medicines Control Council (MCC) recently ordered one product, Simply Slim, to suspend all sales and marketing until the MCC had had an opportunity to assess the product in terms of its safety, quality and efficacy. The decision was […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
Is Toyota headed down the toilet?
Once upon a time I loved Toyota. Though I’ve flirted with other brands — Fiat (something I still can’t explain) and BMW (now driven by the ex) — I’ve always regarded Toyota as the most rational choice when it came to choosing wheels. Solid, reliable. A little more exciting than it used to be, but […]
Posted inMedia
Good tidings for African journalists
“We needed it [this fund] back in 2002,” said Gugulethu Moyo, new director of the Media Legal Defence Initiative, referring to the Mugabe government’s suppression of the Daily News eight years back. The company owning the paper still sat with legal bills of $500 000 dollars (US — not Zimbawean!) dollars as a legacy of the […]
Posted inMedia
We’re still coping
South Africans are masters of craziness and natural geniuses when it comes to insults.
Posted inMedia
So…have you ever made a twitstop?
Do you know how to survive a shelf storm? Have you given into trust lapse? Customer service expert Pete Blackshaw has compiled some essential vocabulary for a world where life is lived 140 characters at a time. Some of these are more relevant to the US than they are to South Africa — but for […]
Posted inMedia, Sport
Stop bleating Jordaan, you made the rules
It’s not a pretty sound. The Local Organising Committee for World Cup 2010 whining about the slow pace of ticket sales is a little like football teams complaining that they don’t get enough credit for their attractive style of football, even as they are being relegated to a lower league. The reality is that Fifa, […]
Posted inMedia
Storming the castle
I will not say how and when I came to understand the logic of amber-economics and neither will I divulge the name of the individual who so graciously introduced me to the illicitness of underage lager drinking, but I will say that beer makes the world go round. And that if you’re unlucky enough to […]
Posted inMedia
How do they cope without ‘takkies’ and ‘kak’?
“The Guardian reported that J & Mrs Z ‘had matching white trainers’,” observed Gus Silber, reflecting on the Jacob Zuma marriage saga, “which confused me until I realised they meant shoes”. Happening across this comment on Twitter, I realised that there are people in the world who do not have access to a word like […]
Posted inMedia
Bono vs The internet
The interwebs were buzzing angrily yesterday because of something Bono* said. Bono, remember him? He’s the frontman for that famous Irish rock band U2. In a recent op-ed piece for the New York Times, he suggested that the net should be policed to a certain extent to stop what he dubbed reverse Robin Hooding. He […]
Posted inMedia
Does Miss South Africa still matter?
So someone called Nicole Flint is our new Miss South Africa. Do you care? Does anyone? I remember the halcyon days of a pageant that enjoyed real cultural power. Anneline Kriel was a bit before my time (she was in the process of divorcing Sol when she starred on page 3 of the Sunday Times […]