To coincide with National Woman’s Day, The Media magazine celebrates the remarkable women chosen as South Africa’s “top 10 women in media” for the last year. Each woman listed has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the media industry in an economic, political, social or cultural sense, and each has therefore easily fulfilled the criterion for inclusion.
The final list was drawn from nominations submitted by readers, by The Media‘s editorial board, and by the top 10 women listed in The Media‘s 2003 women’s issue. The editorial board’s decision on the list was unanimous.
Charlene Deacon
When Charlene Deacon joined Kaya Fm as general manager in October 2000 the station was firmly against the ropes. Shareholders had already sunk R25-million into the project, and it looked highly unlikely that they’d ever see a return. So without a budget to speak of, Charlene began cleaning up the mess. She formulated a strategic plan and fuelled it by driving the work ethic, developing staff, and coaching and training management.
In March 2001 Charlene was promoted to managing director, and although much of the haemorrhaging had been staunched the station still ended the 2001 financial year R4,5-million in the red. But at the close of 2002 that had been converted to a R500,000 profit, and for the 2003 fiscal Kaya were R5,5-million to the good.
The listenership figures have also grown dramatically under Charlene’s guidance. Rams 2003b results showed a 20% growth to 938,000 listeners against the corresponding January to December period in 2002, making Kaya the fifth largest regional radio station in the country.
Says Coen Gous, managing director of Radmark, Kaya’s sale’s house: “If there is one person in the media industry that has a difficult job, it is Charlene. The obstacles and problems she had to deal with are almost impossible to comprehend. Yet, when you speak to her, even as a close friend, it is extremely rare that you will ever hear a hint of a complaint, sadness, or anything whatsoever that will give you a message that she’s ‘had enough’. To the contrary, I have never met a person in this industry (and I deal with many), who has more drive, and willpower, than Charlene.”
Kaya’s shareholders must be smiling now. Sure, Kaya is coming off a low revenue base into an advertising environment that’s transforming in its favour, but it’s thanks to Charlene that these shares are now some of the most valuable in South African radio.
Ann Donald
The “me too” paradigm in local women’s magazines comes across most clear on the covers, where the safe international faces of Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz reflect the editors’ common fear of not flying off the shelves. So the July 2004 issue of Fair Lady was yet one more example of why editor Ann Donald is far from common. Ann’s “cover girl” last month was Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu, host of SABC TV’s 3Talk, and the cover barker explained her decision perfectly: “Keeping it real.”
It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot – and it’s firmly in the category of cliché -but that barker is also a pretty appropriate description for Ann’s tenure at Fair Lady. Since taking over the title in January 2002, she has consistently delivered editorial that reflects a country in flux. As Ann explained in an interview with Graeme Addison last year: “We help our readers to see that they are not alone, show them where to get help, and actively encourage the open discussion of subjects and social conditions that might otherwise battle to get beyond the official political agenda.”
This policy is clearly heartfelt and genuine, and it’s won Ann a number of industry accolades. Fair Lady is current holder of the Pica award for best consumer magazine and best women’s magazine, as well as the Admag award for best women’s magazine. Admag also named Ann best editor of the year for 2003.
As for the numbers, after floundering for years Fair Lady posted a 45% increase in quarterly circulation at the beginning of 2003 and is currently the fifth largest circulating women’s title at 93,607 (ABC July – December 2003).
But most importantly, Ann is connecting with her readers where it matters and reflecting the real lives of South African women. After all, how many other editors in this space have carried disabled swimmer Natalie du Toit on the cover?
Gwen Gill
“I wonder if the Sunday papers know what disappointing coverage they gave to the Vodacom Durban July. Not the race itself, but the schlebs and fashion and fun that goes with it.” That’s the opening gambit from one of Gwen Gill’s recent columns; and it couldn’t be an opening from anybody else. For starters, it has a word that belongs to Gwen – “schlebs,” her term for “South African celebs,” which implies (appropriately) that we’re a bit wanting in the glamour stakes.
The opening contains something else that’s unique to Gwen: the authority to define, for readers and the media itself, the essence and exploits of South African “high society”. Take what she writes further down in that column, after explaining how a few pictures of unknowns in pretty dresses was a lame excuse for coverage of the Durban July: “[Readers] were after a huge page of what the CELEBS were wearing. Who’d designed for whom, who looked great, who looked awful. Whose bum looked big in her chosen designer suit—”
So how does Gwen come by this authority? How is it that organisers of social events are continually paraphrasing that great philosophical question (the one about trees falling in forests): if you have an event, and Gwen is not there to write about it, did you really have an event?
Anton Harber, in a column for Business Day pronouncing Gwen “the most powerful and influential journalist in SA”, describes her clout thus: one part the muscle of the Sunday Times (where her column appears), and four parts her own hard work, accuracy, readability and integrity. These last qualities were sorely missed when Gwen suffered a bout of ill health last year, but thankfully it was a fleeting absence.
Harber again: “She is the certifier of celebrities. She is more reliable than the African National Congress deployment committee for knowing who is rising and who is falling, and most important of all whether they are suitably attired for the occasion.”
Pippa Green
If there’s another South African journalist with a resume like Pippa Green’s, The Media would like to know about it. She won a Fulbright Award for graduate studies in journalism at New York’s Columbia University in 1987, and converted that into the Henry N. Taylor Award for the best international student the following year. In 1996 she was a founding member of the South African National Editors Forum. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University from 1998 to 1999, and for the last four years has served on the South African Nieman Fellow selection committee, having been chairperson in 2002.
Pippa’s been the associate deputy editor of the Financial Mail, the deputy editor and political editor at the Sunday Independent, the acting editor of the Pretoria News, and the political editor at SABC. She’s written for The Nation of New York and Les Tempes Modernes of Paris, and has done work for CBS News, the BBC World Service and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
But as impressive as all that is, it’s not entirely why Pippa is on this list. As the head of Radio News at the SABC, a position she’s held since July 2002, Pippa is the boss of the biggest news service in the country. Her daily battle is to inform 15 million people in 13 languages, and to do so without succumbing to the various political pressures endemic to the public broadcaster.
In a speech on Media Freedom Day last year, Pippa demonstrated (yet again) why she is probably the most qualified person to win this battle: “Our challenge, not only for SABC but for the SA journalistic community, is to make radio news credible, to make it interesting, to bring the world to our furthest rural corners and to bring the rural corners of SA to the centres of power here. Because, as [Barney] Mthombothi put it, to give up on the public broadcaster is tantamount to giving up on democracy.”
Ferial Haffajee
When Ferial Haffajee took over as editor of the Mail & Guardian in February this year, it had been mere weeks since senior Sunday Times reporter Bongiwe Mlangeni had asked the following in an article in The Media: “Will the day come when a woman will be editor of a popular newspaper like The Star, Mail & Guardian, City Press or even Johncom’s cash cow, the Sunday Times? Or will the owners hold tight to the “boys club” mentality that rules the industry?”
Trevor Ncube, owner of the Mail & Guardian, may or may not have read that article. Either way, he showed that he’s no member of the “boys’ club”, and he emphasised talent and worthiness (not gender) when making the announcement. “I think it was a bold decision, one that the market was not expecting,” said Ncube. “The first black woman editor is a milestone, but it was not about being politically correct. It says a lot about Ferial – she has the intellect, passion and focus to take the newspaper forward.”
Ferial has only been at the helm of South Africa’s rabble-rousing weekly for six months, but already Ncube’s words are proving prophetic. The hard-hitting exposés for which the M&G is famous (and feared) continue – amongst others, Nelspruit mayor Jerry Ngomane was plastered on the cover for awarding tenders worth R2-million to his wives, and council man Mdu Msomi was forced to quit after the paper probed a R1-million bribe allegation – but the investigative bent has been tempered by a renewed focus on features and photojournalism.
And then there’s the issue of gender equality, which is way up on Ferial’s agenda. “The ‘thinkers’ cited in the [news] pages; the talking heads are all men,” she told Dr. Jyoti Mistry in an interview for The Media in May. “The challenge is now to look for women figures of authority and to find out what they think.”
Beatrice Kubheka
Last June Beatrice Kubheka launched African Response, one of the first black owned and managed BEE research companies in South Africa. At the time of the launch the Sunday Times quoted her: “The field is not a well-known career choice for black people. This results in a shortage of qualified researchers and analysts in the market.”
Of course Beatrice herself is one of the most qualified (and successful) researchers around. Born and educated in Sophiatown, she entered the market research field as an investigator for DSI. In 1977 she was invited to join Bates Advertising as research executive, where she acquired a high profile in the industry and was commended for efforts in highlighting the ignored and underestimated potential of the emerging black market.
So thanks to Beatrice, Bates earned a reputation as a leader in understanding the black market, and by 1989 she had been promoted to research director and holding board director. In 1996, when Bates merged with AM&C (a subsidiary of Hunt Lascaris) to form DDB, she retained both these positions.
From 1999 to 2002 Beatrice was managing director of Marketing & Media Research, the research arm of Independent Newspapers. She was instrumental in the launch of the Zulu tabloid Isolezwe, now the largest selling daily newspaper in KwaZulu-Natal.
And how is Beatrice doing now that she’s a shareholder and managing director of African Response? Pretty good, naturally. Earlier this year her company was part of a consortium that won a lucrative Saarf contract from amongst 26 companies that tendered. The consortium is tasked with the main Amps, Rams and Product Brands surveys.
Says Jos Kuper, renowned media researcher who’s also part of the consortium: “No-one could embody a spirit of tenacity and sheer will to succeed better than Beatrice Kubheka, a person who has earned the respect of all her know her for her strong, professional contribution to both the research and media industries.”
Unathi Nkayi
“When we do research among our listeners, the first thing they say to us is, ‘Why are you trying to label me?” That’s Yfm DJ and pop diva Unathi Nkayi, quoted in Time magazine’s special report on South Africa in April this year. And you shouldn’t try label Unathi either—this girl has a habit of redefining herself.
Unathi has had a charmed and diverse life for a 25-year-old. After graduating from Rhodes University’s journalism department, she came to Jo’burg in 2001 to “catch a break” and landed a job as presenter of the hit Castle Loud television show. The show’s creators reckoned they were onto a winner, so they gave her another job as part of Castle Loud’s production team.
Greg Maloka, then Yfm’s programme manager, also reckoned he could spot talent -after proving herself as a fill-in presenter, Unathi now had her own radio show, the Sunday afternoon Y Jazz. The jazz programme, which had become a Yfm flagship, was moved to a different slot in 2002 and Unathi was rewarded with a drive time show, Kamikaze Heat, alongside Rudeboy Paul.
It would be an understatement to say that there aren’t many shows that challenge and capture South Africa’s urban youth like Kamikaze Heat. Rudeboy and Unathi have a unique talent for getting anonymous callers to discuss their darkest secrets and fears on air, and the result is a revelation of this country’s emerging cultural zeitgeist. The chemistry between the two allows them to engage with HIV/Aids sufferers and kwaito king Mzekezeke with equal ease.
Then there’s Unathi’s musical career. She made her entrance with the single Sana Lwam alongside Zola, a debut that got her a coveted SAMA award. In December 2003 there was another accolade confirming Unathi’s orbital trajectory: The Star voted her one of the 10 most influential South Africans in the arts.
Judi Nwokedi
What’s it like to get up every morning and know that for the rest of the day you will have a huge chunk of South Africa’s population listening to you? As the managing director of public broadcasting (PBS) at the SABC, this is Judi Nwokedi’s life. She commands the largest radio listening audience in the country, at 60% of all yesterday listening (19,9 million listeners).
Judi joined the SABC in 2002, after four years conceptualising and implementing loveLife, South Africa’s largest Aids awareness campaign. Her leadership strategy at the broadcaster over the past two years has focused on the rejuvenation of PBS radio to redress a long period of historical inequality and non-investment in resources, and it’s clearly paying off.
As at April 2004, PBS radio’s total projected revenue grew by 26%, with increased listenership in the higher LSMs and increased listener loyalty across all thirteen stations. Judi’s stated revenue aim is to see her brands eventually “standing side-by-side with stations like 5FM and East Coast Radio”, an objective her rejuvenation strategy is no doubt meant to realise. The message of the strategy – “you can eat your oysters and drink your champagne, South Africans still love their boerewors and sorghum beer” – is an unrestrained sideswipe at the richer enclaves of the broadcasting world.
Which is a good thing, because the PBS portfolio plays a significant role in nation building, with the stations mandated to empower and embrace the diversity of the South African landscape. It’s underpinned by the principles of democracy, where public participation is invited.
As for gender transformation at the SABC, Judi describes her own experience as “one of seamless transition, one that has brought to life the gender and race equity principles faced by all businesses in South Africa.” But she’s very much part of the collective experience, too – the successful group project held by the SABC last year, “16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence”, was all Judi’s doing.
Debora Patta
On a Thursday evening in January this year a well-known face appeared on the e.tv 7pm news bulletin. Nothing seemed untoward at first, just another hour of live prime-time national television that, like every bulletin, would be handled with composed professionalism by e.news managing editor and chief anchor Debora Patta. But it soon became clear that tonight Debora had an axe to grind.
This was the week when South African media had collectively “outed” a prominent judge accused of rape, and had called e.tv “silly” for not jumping on the bandwagon. So on that Thursday, the day the charges against the judge were withdrawn, Debora announced to the e.news audience that the channel was taking the “unprecedented step” of delivering an editorial on the matter.
“Had the media obeyed the law in this case,” Debora glared into the camera, “nobody would know either the name of the victim or the man she accused of raping her. And an innocent man’s reputation would have been protected. Instead, newspapers, radio and TV ran this story with no checks, no balances, simply because it made such fabulous sensational copy.”
Debora has her detractors – some commentators speak of “Patta fatigue,” some accuse her of being “too stiff”, and columnist-beyond-reproach Darrel Bristow-Bovey has even called her “orange” – but maybe that’s just because she’s a catalyst for local media’s “tall poppy syndrome”. There are many reasons Debora will remain on South Africa’s television screens, one being: she has too much respect for her profession to make the mistakes many of her colleagues seem unable to avoid.
Debora is also widely recognised as Mandela’s favourite journalist, and when asked recently what her defining moments as a journalist have been, she said: “Covering the 1994 democratic elections and following Nelson Mandela around the country on his election campaign. And then being around to cover the third elections ten years later.”
Who can dispute that on April 14th 2004 nobody did it better?
Erna Storm
Erna Storm started Media By Storm with R7,000 and a stake in a horse called Catch 22, which won enough money for her to capitalise the start-up phase of the freelance media consultancy. That was in 1993. By 1999, as Tony Koenderman wrote in Adfocus, the agency “took over the media operation of Young & Rubicam, nearly doubling its billings in the process to R300-million a year and lifting its rank among media buying agencies from 15th to fifth.”
Then, in May 2000, Media By Storm became the official African and Middle East partner of The Media Edge, the world’s third largest media agency with billings (at the time) of US$10-billion. The final transformation happened last year, when the agency became Mediaedge: cia after a transaction with Tempus Cia, part of the world leading WPP Communications group. So a stake in racehorse and a whole lot of skill had taken Erna all the way to an affiliation with a global communications services group who’s client list includes more than 330 of the Fortune Global 500.
As for Mediaedge: cia’s local clients, they include the likes of Caltex, Plascon, Panasonic, Visa, DHL, Eskom, Spoornet and Telkom. Which means that Erna, together with co-managing partner Michelle Meyjes, is managing annual client media spend in excess of R500-million per annum.
Exactly how did Erna get this far? For starters, she’s got two honours degrees, one in marketing (advertising and public relations) and another in industrial psychology. She also has 24 years experience in the industry, having worked for McCann Erickson, Lindsay Smithers, Colett, Dickenson & Pearce and BLGK before setting out on her own.
But all that doesn’t count for much if there’s no vision and drive to back it up, and here Mike Vincent, former managing director of AME, sums it up: “Erna has proved that she knows where growth lies – and she has staked her reputation on it. So when she says that she sees her company in the top three, competitors better take notice.”