Today I’m leaving the Mail & Guardian Online. I’m moving to London, for the adventure and the work experience. Don’t worry — I’m by no means a disillusioned South African. I love it here and I will be back. For the last Between the Pages podcast, Tony Lankester asked me to sum up my 10 […]
Media
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
What young Afrikaners can learn from Nelson Mandela about freedom of expression
A childhood friend, Simphiwe Sesanti, who is the only African lecturer at the Stellenbosch School of Journalism invited me to deliver a talk to post-graduate students last Monday. Following is the talk I delivered to, mostly, young Afrikaner boys and girls who are the future media leaders of this country: “I am proud to come […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
A Truth Commission for SA’s journalism education?
Over ten years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) convened hearings into the role of the media in relation to the gross violation of human rights that happened under apartheid. But one sector that seemed to escape the TRC’s attention was that of higher education, except for a section in its final report titled: […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport
How little has changed. How much has changed
Now that my loved ones are safely in another country, I feel free to return to record the facts, fables, foibles and fantasies of surviving in South Africa. I put blogging on TL on the back-burner eight months ago after threats on my life and my children from supporters of Jacob Zuma. My landlord has […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
African Renaissance’s half-baked ‘Native Experts’
It would seem the greatest waste of time in post-1994 society is to try to find logic why white political strategists, advertising gurus and marketing experts are considered native experts, especially by hoodwinked indigenous African people. After all, they neither speak African languages nor have an intuitive connection to grassroots people. The fact that white […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Content and readership analysis of the M&G and Thought Leader
In a recent post Bert Olivier referred to being called a “clown” for being critical of capitalism. As it goes I have been doing some research about commentators and contributors to Thought Leader. I am still collecting and analysing the data. Of the thousands of entries I have in my spreadsheet, so far, the clearest […]
Posted inMedia
While I was thinking about collective guilt and innocence — I gave up
There’s a question that has been bothering me for as long as I can remember. I can’t quite tell it straight. It has to do with the causes with which we associate ourselves, and the extent to which we will go to justify the means employed to achieve the objectives of said causes. Let me […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
ANC split: good for what?
Never mind that no one seems to have the faintest idea about what exactly is going on in our country over the past few weeks, but apparently all of this serious pushing, pulling, shoving and other such forced removals, is good for our democracy. I don’t know. Perhaps too much is happening too fast for […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
What would happen if you took Oprah’s advice …
… about everything? The First Lady of talk-show television is always offering words of wisdom — on her show, on her website and through her magazine. What would happen if you took these tips? How would you live, what would you spend your money on, what movies would you see, what books would you read, […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
A nightmare called Nedbank
Nedbank will likely deny this till the cows come home, but the truth is they pocketed a large sum from my company 10 days ago and wouldn’t give it back until, in desperation, I asked my journalist wife to rattle their cage. Suddenly, things started to happen. Which raises the question: if you don’t have […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
They love foreign awards, money and fame more than showing the human face of the African continent
Art must show Africa’s human face or cease to be! The common objection to the work of many African artists is simple: they oversimplify reality and dehumanise the African experience. As a result, their content is predictable and monotonous. In fact, it is not just an insult but, to a large extent, also a lie. […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Marks & Spencer hits Shanghai — with a few sparks
“Senor! You, yesss you, you go back of the kew and wait there for hour and a half now, like what my wivve and I did. Okay? You go now. Scram.” The finger-wagging, apoplectic Spaniard (standing in front of us, actually) glared at me in the slowly swirling horde of Chinese. It was only a […]