» Jon Qwelane for Ambassador?

Jon Qwelane for Ambassador?

January 20th, 2010

You can accuse Jon Qwelane of many things, but never of being diplomatic. He has made a life’s work of being rambunctious, otherwise, outspoken, contrary, troublesome and sharp-tongued. And that’s just the polite part.

Now there is talk of this journalist being made an Ambassador.

To Uganda, nogal! The country that wants to hang gays. And sentence up to two years anyone who fails to report gays. Jon is an outspoken homophobe, so you can imagine what he will get up to there.

Something is not right somewhere if this goes ahead. Jon will create havoc as an Ambassador. Up to know his views have embarrassed him. Now he will step up to embarrass the nation.

In some countries, they give foreign posts to artists and poets. That way they show off the best of their country, and subsidise creativity. Why would we want to subsidise prejudice and intolerance? Why would we want to parade some of the most outrageous views of our countryfolk?

There has to be a better way for President Zuma to reward those who have supported him.

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism

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Anton Harber: Media

Professor Anton Harber directs the Journalism and Media Studies Programme at Wits University. He is former editor of the Mail & Guardian.
Full bio

Among the main results from the World Association of Newspaper’s Newsroom Barometer (a survey of 700 editors and senior news execs in 120 countries) for this year:
- 86% believe integrated print and online newsrooms will become the norm, and 83% believe journalists will be expected to be able to produce content for all media within five years.
- Two-thirds believe some editorial functions will be outsourced, despite frequent newsroom opposition to the practice.
- A plurality - 44% - believe on-line will be the most common platform for reading news in the future, compared with 41% last year. Thirty-one cited print (down from 35% last year), 12% mobile and 7% e-paper. The rest were unsure.
- A majority of editors - 56%- believe news in the future will be free, up from 48% from last year’s survey. Only one-third believe the news will remain paid for, while 11% were unsure. - From Editors’ Weblog

There is a crisis in trust and communication between the British public and the mainstream media, a new report has concluded. The gulf between public expectations of news provision and the actual nature of articles, which oscillate between esoteric or irresponsible, leaves readers feeling confused and excluded.
The report, entitled ‘Public Trust In The News’ was conducted by researchers from Manchester and Leeds Universities and was published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. - From Editors Weblog

Reflections on Journalism in the Transition to Democracy - Ethics & International Affairs 18, no. 3 (2004).

Journalism in the Age of the Market
- Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, Centre for Civil Society, University of KZN, Aug 2002

The Untimely Death of SA’s Finest Daily - Sunday Times, May 2005

“Two Newspapers, Two Nations? The Media and the Xenophobic Violence” from Go Home or Die Here, edited by Shireen Hassim Tawana Kupe and Eric Worby (WUP, 2008)

Remarks at Goedgedacht Forum, October 2008

The rise of social network journalism - From The 2009 Flux Trend Review (Macmillan, 2008)

A recent piece by me on the Zapiro cartoon row which appeared in Comment is Free, a Guardian blog.

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