That most redoubtable of worthies, Nigel Bruce, recently distinguished himself in Parliament. Once the editor of the Financial Mail, Nigel Bruce is now an MP for the Democratic Alliance.
For a precious five minutes Nigel claimed a forum often jealously occupied by the screechy
victimocracy, which contributes most to today’s parliamentary colloquy. He spoke on a couple of Bills, which would guarantee that local musicians be paid royalties for work broadcast on local radio stations — something the stations have been fighting tooth and nail to escape having to pay. The Bills had been introduced by Alec Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry. How nice to see that now and then they do something that deserves the appellation “honourable”.
After speaking on the interests of local musicians, Nigel Bruce moved on to matters closer to his old editor’s heart: the protection of the interests and rights of other “intellectual workers”, particularly journalists, “caught in political processes beyond their control”. I’m not sure I approve of the usage, “intellectual workers”. Most intellectuals become intellectuals for the sole purpose of avoiding having to work; apart from which the term sounds too much like something Jeremy Cronin coined.
It was when Nigel Bruce got going on the matter of “transformation” in the newspaper industry that he brought his sniper’s rifle to his shoulder. Effectively transformation has created a community of well-trained journalists, “some of whom can spell”, said Nigel, “and who are being rejected by the new media owners simply because they are educated, able and not particularly politically correct”.
Settling into firing position Nigel snapped off a few range-finders saying that 10 years ago he thought the South African daily newspapers would have been hard pressed to deteriorate further and that it took the Irish to show how wrong he had been.
By now the cross-hairs in Nigel’s sights were firmly trained on a certain ketchup-fed knight of the realm called Sir Anthony O’Reilly. As a result of O’Reilly’s acquisition of the Argus Company — now amusingly called Independent Newspapers — the South African newspaper-reading public today suffers “some of the most vacuous, uninteresting and slipshod newspapers since Fairbairn and Pringle took on Lord Charles Somerset in the battle for press freedom”.
Here I must disagree. About 70% of the last edition I saw of the new, improved, 12-page Sunday Independent was composed of immaculate journalism. This was not surprising since this 70% had been lifted from the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the London Independent, the Foreign News Service and many others. By any standards this was first-rate journalism and The Sunday Independent deserves full credit for its rich, weekly harvest from some of the world’s foremost newspapers. It takes a lot to fill up 12 pages.
But back to Nigel Bruce who, having watched his bullets ricochet harmlessly off the O’Reilly cranium, decided that he’d have to aim for squashier parts, like Sir Tony’s professional ethics. “The swashbuckling Irish”, continued Nigel, “came to plunder and stayed to appease. They have done to [South African] journalism what Delville Wood did to the First South African Infantry Brigade. They bought in cheaply to the Argus Company and proceeded to sweat assets, deskill the newsrooms and raid the pension funds. In the process they have produced newspapers of declining circulation that have given political correctness new meaning and turned sycophancy into an art form”.
While Tony O’Reilly was in the First Aid tent having his integrity cauterised, Nigel took fresh aim. “At Johnnic,” he said, “what was once a dynamic company is now an appalling racist stew. Some of its most profitable publications are in significant loss, and with Saki Macozoma ultimately to guide them, they will increasingly go the way of the profits of the South African Airways, which is down and out.” (Though you’d never think so as South African Airways, also under Saki Macozoma’s guidance, launches its new R30-billion Airbus spending spree.)
Nigel Bruce finished off with a few grenades. He argued that one of the principal reasons for a drop in advertising revenue is when a newspaper loses its focus, something critical, not only to advertisers who want to appeal to a tangible readership, but to the newspaper itself. Newspapers will not survive mindless writing and content, poor distribution and indifferent management. “If the editor is confused, so will be the reader and the advertisers will demur.”
At this stage Frene must have been getting uneasy and Nigel had only seconds left to suggest that the competition authorities should examine the business practices of some newspaper groupings (guess which one in particular) and that they could well begin with the acknowledgement that there are such things as the intellectual rights of journalists.
Almost needless to say Nigel Bruce’s contribution to the parliamentary debate was not reported in any Independent newspapers. In response, however, the Irishman’s South African footman, CEO of Independent Newspapers, Ivan Fallon, wrote an embittered letter to DA leader, Tony Leon, saying he thought Nigel Bruce’s comments were “drivel” and that he’d always had a low opinion of his intelligence.
Clearly Nigel had taken the day.
Archive: Previous columns by Robert Kirby