Media companies suprise with good results
South African media companies are producing better-than-expected results, despite the downturn in advertising.
Continue Reading 3 comments July 2nd, 2009
SABC: The good news
Organisations are popping up all over the place to engage in the fight over the future of the SABC. There is the SOS (Save our SABC) Coalition, and the Television Industry Emergency Coalition. A march on the institution is planned for next week. Online chat and email is buzzing with ideas, proposal, debates, memoranda and candidates’ lists.
Continue Reading 2 comments June 8th, 2009
Amidst the gloom, some shining investigative work
Sitting on judging panels for journalism awards gives one valuable insight into the best of South African reporting. The Taco Kuiper Award, which gives out a whopping R200 000 for “a distinguished example of investigative journalism” will be handed out this week, and that has meant I have been poring through piles of material of some of the year’s most important stories.
Continue Reading 1 comment April 18th, 2009
Just say no!
Can you believe what the SABC Chief Financial Officer, Robin Nicholson, said in Business Day? He tried to make out that he was just a bookkeeper and should not be held responsible for their over-spending.
Continue Reading 2 comments March 25th, 2009
The SABC’s international bureaux
Having opened up bureaux across the world, the SABC now has to plan the closure of most of them at a cost of many millions of rands. I am told by a senior and excellent source within the SABC that the budget for these bureaux is R500-m for the next three years - clearly not sustainable in a climate of severe cost-cutting.
Continue Reading 2 comments March 17th, 2009
Worth watching
When it takes a comedy show to take on a leading financial show, and nail them for missing the big story in the last year, everything is upside down in the world of journalism. “We are both snake-oil salesman,” Jon Stewart of the Daily Show told Jim Cramer of CNBC, “but we tell people we are snake-oil salesman. You tell people you are experts.” Watch it at The Daily Show.
Continue Reading Add comment March 14th, 2009
And the Afrikaans version …
Een of ander tyd verlede jaar daag ek by die SAUK op om aan SAFM se 08:00-debat deel te neem. In die ateljee vind ek twee onbemande televisiekameras en ’n paar aanmekaar geflanste baniere agter die aanbieder Jeremy Maggs.
Continue Reading Add comment March 14th, 2009
Some ideas for the SABC
Sometime last year, I arrived at the SABC to participate in SAFM’s 8am debate to find two unmanned television cameras in the studio and some makeshift banners behind presenter Jeremy Maggs.
I was taken aback, not least of all because I was dressed for early–morning radio, banking on no-one but the genial Maggs having to see me. The cameras, I was told, were there to broadcast the show on the newly-launched flagship station, SABC International.
Continue Reading 1 comment March 11th, 2009
Get some popcorn. This is going to be a long show …
One things has become clear – the saga of the SABC board is going to drag on for months, leaving the organisation with uncertain leadership at a time when it is under serious political and financial pressure.
Continue Reading Add comment February 11th, 2009
SABC and election coverage
The SABC now says that it is basing its sharing out of election coverage on the number of Parliamentary seats held by a party, and will not therefore be covering the manifesto launch of the new party, Cope. They can’t be saying this with a straight face.
Continue Reading Add comment January 23rd, 2009
A public editor?
The SABC should take a look at one of the key recommendations made by the Sunday Times Review Panel: the idea of a Public Editor.
Continue Reading January 18th, 2009
The new threats to freedom don’t come from government
How rude can you be about your boss? In exchange for paying you a salary, can you employer expect you to give up your right to criticise them? That’s the question being raised as the fight for freedom of expression moves from the lofty corridors of power to the places of everyday life, such as the factory floor and the academy.
Continue Reading 1 comment December 4th, 2008
Fireworks, make-up and virtual reality
My quote of the week comes from the representative for L’Oréal South Africa, Celeste Tema, denying that they lightened the skins of some of the models in their advertisements. “When we airbrush,” she said, “we make sure the image is an honest reflection of the (subject).”
Continue Reading Add comment October 31st, 2008
