Intervention by ANC headquarters to change Parliament’s nominees for the SABC board last year was not only “going too far”, it was actually “corrupt”. This strong assessment comes from ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa, speaking to the South African National Editors’ Forum in Johannesburg on Saturday. It should be up to Parliament to resolve who […]
Media
Posted inBusiness, Media
Yes, business news is boring
“Is it only me, or has economic news stagnated?” asks Arthur Goldstuck, my friend and colleague from the Weekly Mail days. No, Arthur, it’s not a new development. Business news is often boring. It has often been boring. And since it is often supply-driven rather than demand-driven, much of it is likely to continue to […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Is there a Winkie in the House?
Parliament’s unparallelled ability to generate hot air does lend itself to becoming a geothermal power plant and could solve South Africa’s electricity shortage instantly. But, failing that, it also has the potential to play a relevant, stimulating part of South Africa’s democracy. Ndumiso Ngcobo’s recent call for some “politainment” is a timely one. It’s about […]
Posted inMedia
Chilli-M should not be made the sacrificial lamb
It was so bizarre that I thought it was April 1 when I heard popular Yfm DJ Chilli-M breaking down on air over a faux pas with a married couple that won some competition. The conversation went on more or less as follows … “Anyway, it’s fine, it’s easy for you guys to speak, but […]
Posted inMedia
Please sign up for the Free Witty Mapalane Campaign
A friend of mine sent me a link to a story about a man from Bushbuckridge who attempted suicide in protest over the state’s meddling in his private life. Ever since a young, sweaty, cross–eyed Afrikaner SAP constable caught up with me on the foyer of the EG Malherbe Library at the then University of […]
Posted inMedia
Journalists: uber–contributors in an age of social networks
Dan Pacheco Social networking is a headache to the mass media because it sets up thousands of niches, demographics and interests. But luckily, says Dan Pacheco, people themselves contribute to creating such niche–related content. In a twist to Marshall McLuhan’s famous “media are the message”, he declared: “The people are the content.” However, “your staff […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
SACSIS – Telling the quiet story of social justice
Whose reality counts? The Chief Economist of Very Large Bank in South Africa had just argued that ‘a food crisis was a direct result of improving living conditions’. I wanted to hurl a copy of Das Kapital across the airways hitting his talking head. Let us run that again: increased demand for food, by a […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Lessons for the DA: From Woolworths nogal!
The DA is in crisis. A friend of mine at the University of Cape Town tells me that joining the party’s student wing, Daso, is social suicide. And as such, its reputedly attractive members are remaining unloved and unlaid — leaving me wondering as to whether alliances (democratic or otherwise) will occur to ensure the […]
Posted inMedia
Towards a “world free speech day”
No one could disagree with a global day dedicated to “press” freedom, as marked around the world on Saturday 3 May. Under the auspices of UNESCO, and as agreed by the UN General Assembly a decade or so ago, the 3 May every year is “World Press Freedom Day”. An important cause, but the very […]
Posted inMedia
A year of media freedom violations
Kaitira Kandjii. Some Southern African journalists spend more time in the courtroom than in the newsroom, according to Kaitira Kandjii, director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa). He referred to a flood of defamation cases, including five against the Times of Swaziland. “One Malawian journalist has over 30 pending legal cases.” But Kandjii […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Games over, free Tibet
‘Games over, Free Tibet’ is one of the really good slogans coming out of the Free Tibet campaign. The campaign has got a lot of press recently. Mostly, of course, because of the useful insistence of the Chinese on parading the Olympic flame through cities in which there are a bunch of Tibetan exiles and […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
Wanted: $136 million to grow African media
Media movers meeting in Maputo: Amadou Ba (All Africa.com), Prof Fackson Banda (Rhodes University), and Eric Chinje (World Bank). Three years of work came to part fruition in Maputo this week, when some 50 media enthusiasts concretised research into a proposed institution, a project focus and a pretty big budget. People like Ba, Banda and […]