Former president Thabo Mbeki has been declared Newsmaker of the Year by media research company Monitoring South Africa (MSA).
Eskom took Newsmaker Organisation of the Year in the corporate section, while the concept ”fraud and corruption” was declared Newsmaker Issue of the Year.
The result is based on a study of 1,5-million media items from 1 800 news sources between January and November.
MSA CEO Shaka Sisulu said: ”The Presidency is generally always in the news, but the recall of the state president was unprecedented.
”The ensuing media blitz from this action was also unprecedented.”
Coverage of Eskom went beyond simple reportage to capture policy issues and economic implications, and fraud and corruption’s dubious honour showed that more had to be done on this issue, he said in a statement.
Coverage of Mbeki beat African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and United States president-elect Barack Obama, while fraud and corruption as an issue beat poverty, xenophobia and the electricity crisis
The study, the first of its kind the company conducted, will be produced annually. — Sapa