Columnists
09 March 2010
It's intern season: that time of year when an editor's mail box fills with requests from young graduates eager to become a part of your particular sector of the industry. Sometimes I wish I could take them all on; other times I wonder how they managed to get past grade seven. Take this example... Read more »
05 March 2010
“Nice World Cup shirt, china! Hope you got tickets with that. Tell me, who's your pet media owner?” (And other questions that should never be asked...) Read more »
04 March 2010
Madeleine van Biljon passes on, M-Net topples Idols – again, why folk love Apple - and finding the Zef way. Read more »
02 March 2010
When Julius Malema says: "The journalist faked my signature because they (sic) wanted to portray me as a bad person," you can be pretty sure that the City Press reporter had done no such thing. And when Malema states that "They just put my name to sell newspapers" it's natural to roll around the floor laughing mirthlessly. Yet isn't there some truth in this? What would news writers do without JZ and JM's most quotable bon mots? Read more »
25 February 2010
TV for the Calvinists, Business Day online copy break-ups, information overload, a little gift for all writers and... are journalists really underpaid? Read more »
23 February 2010
Appreciating that not all of you are magazine people, I'll get this one out of the way first. Are all publishers villains and readers mere numbers? Of course not, but sometimes the camps are so divided that it's difficult to find a common ground. (Hint: try the editor's desk.). Read more »
22 February 2010
Jeremy Gordin writes on toads, hamsters and Andrew Donaldson Read more »
19 February 2010
This is the nonpartisan perspective of someone who may well know very little about the machinations and agonies of the industry, but who surely knows what she wants from a magazine and would buy that magazine if it existed, which it does not at this time. Read more »
18 February 2010
A different take on the Femina story, students who rule in favour of censorship - and one very irate sales executive... Read more »
18 February 2010
If you have ever been on the media owner side of things, I think you will be able to relate to what I am about to say about the insanity of gifting... Read more »
17 February 2010
Gordon Muller puts it best using the his Popcorn Principle: "When the publisher of one of Mzansi's largest magazine groups tells the industry at a major forum that a reader's relationship with a magazine is, in essence, no different from a housewife's relationship with her chosen washing powder, then it is clear that, if the print industry has not already hit rock bottom, the earth is approaching fast." Read more »
16 February 2010
Chatting to friends in the magazine industry, I was reminded of the conundrum: when times are tough, marketing budgets are often the first to get hacked. But without marketing, how do you remind readers that your publication still offers great value for money, escapism and at least the value of the cover price in one piece of life-improving advice? Read more »
11 February 2010
Imagine paying R45 a month for a classified ad, instead of R45 a word. Imagine that ad reaching thousands of cellphone users who are looking for exactly the item or service that you're selling. Sounds good, doesn't it? Read more »
09 February 2010
We all have our vices and one that my daughter and I share after a hard day at mill is watching those fabulous DSTV The Style Network programmes such as How to Look Good Naked and What I Hate About Me. Why, you ask? Because they make us feel even better about being real women; and we don't have to think too hard. Not, that is, until we are faced with the shamefully contradictory Simply Slim ad during the – abundant – breaks. Read more »
09 February 2010
While some local newspapers are sinking paper boats, others tackle the current challenges with intelligent strategy. John Farquhar gives his take on why ‘The Citizen’ is still very much afloat. Read more »
08 February 2010
Muller’s Popcorn Principle: Or which part of “wastage” don’t you understand? Read more »
04 February 2010
It is amazing how ad avoidance has increased (with the help of technology) over the past few years. Radio in the car is being replaced by I-pods and CDs, online ad-noting is constantly on the decline, and television impact and recall is nearly a tenth of what it was in the seventies... Yet media in its own right keeps growing and evolving. Read more »
04 February 2010
Living in a land in which newspaper banners cry 'Karate goat hates me!' and 'Zuma She's my baby', its understandable that one might want to hie for the hills, but sometimes there's no escape. Read more »
02 February 2010
Hands up all of you who've nearly disappeared down a pothole. Hands up all those who think that ICASA's comms dept might have done so. And those of you who are concerned that ICASA might be claiming an authority it doesn't possess? Read on... Read more »
01 February 2010
In her blog, Shelly Palmer refers to teenagers as the social media professionals. She's probably right; but this leads to the questions of the role that we – the adults, the supposedly responsible ones – must play in this media revolution. What she has to say is a relevant here as it is in Obamaland... Read more »
 
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