Media

The other morning on 702 I heard the news that the parent company of the Independent Newspaper Group is deep in the dwang, scrambling for funding to keep going in the wake of crashing advertising revenues. The same report noted that Independent’s newspapers in South Africa are still very profitable. So South African newspapers seem […]

The way that cellphone-selling meerkat jives around, strutting its ass in a provocative way kind of reminds me of the dancing baby from Ally McBeal — and if I find 14 other people to agree with me and lodge a petition then we can sink the bastard. A similar logic plagued a verdict by the […]

“There are enough zealots on both sides who kindle up the passions of their partisans and, under pretence of public good, pursue the interests and ends of their particular faction. For my part I shall always be fonder of promoting moderation than zeal, and though perhaps the surest way of producing moderation in every party […]

Well now this is interesting. The Huggies ad that caused such a stink — no pun intended, but I’ll take what I can get — has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa. Having successfully* defended several ads subject to rulings by the ASA, I always follow their rulings with interest, but […]

By David J Smith We live in a world of over-promise. What used to be described as good is now described as awesome. Long lasting now means a year. Seminal albums used to come around once a decade, now apparently they happen every day. The word icon used to mean images of Christ or God, […]

The shockwaves of collapsing newspapers in the US have startled everyone around the world, not least the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). It’s a body which represents some 600 000 media staffers across 120 countries. Or so it did, according to figures last year. Today, the crisis is cutting into those numbers. A think-tank, dubbed the […]

The other day I was walking around a local shopping mall when it occurred to me that perhaps I didn’t look as if I belonged in some of the shops where I happened to be browsing. My ensemble consisted of items sourced from Ackermans, Edgars (specifically, Edgars Kelso) and a pair of corduroys I bought […]

I wish I had an astronomy telescope powerful enough to spot a minor planet barely visible near Jupiter. It’s called Siyaxuza and is named after a young rocket scientist from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. ‘Stroesnyannies! This bombshell is contained in the revered Clem Sunter’s column “The X Factor” on News24’s website. Despite the fact […]

When Jacob Zuma visited the Maponya Mall a couple of weeks back, he made an interesting statement. “I came here because I wanted to see the shopping mall because this tells a new story, he said. “Here you can walk into world-class shops and buy what you want. You don’t have to go to town […]

I believe that there is a dearth of insightful, incisive yet irreverent and witty social commentary on these shores. Look, our publishing houses churn out enough political commentary and biographies. And of course there is a market for that type of work. But if I see yet another 1 100-page book on the arms deal, I […]