The motivation for the third anniversary issue is not to pat ourselves on the back for having survived thus far. Rather, our decision to dedicate this month to a retrospective was driven by a strong suspicion that the South African media industry has undergone an immense shift since late 2002; a suspicion that was confirmed by an in-depth examination of our archives.
Starting with our inaugural issue in October 2002, we went back and considered the statements made in this magazine by the country’s top media influencers – the aim was to ascertain, with the benefit of hindsight, what we got wrong and what they got right (or vice versa), and to come up with some suitable explanations for the discrepancy. But instead of the ”we said/they said” angle we found something more interesting: interviewees’ quotes, which in the earlier issues were mainly promises or excuses, had by the second half of 2004 become statements of success. With all due respect to the skills of the personalities quoted, the underlying explanation here must be the economic boom and consequent rise in adspend that kicked in early last year (see media growth table, page 12).
Attendant with the above is that most of the chief executives featured on The Media‘s covers over the three-year lifespan of the magazine have indeed fulfilled their earlier pledges to the industry, their 2005 financial results being the final word on the matter. There were of course those that failed, but we felt the contrast was what ultimately made the feature on page 29, ”The Chiefs: Then and Now”, worth doing.
A similar process was followed by our columnists – we asked them to take account of their monthly pieces over the period and provide a wrap-up focusing on the important changes in their specific areas of expertise. Amongst some of the other revealing contributions we’ve got Harry Herber (page 53) commenting on shifts in client spend (plus what’s influencing how they spend it and the demands being made on the media agency), and the laywers looking back at the wins and losses to freedom of expression.
Our entire ”Motley Media” section is also dedicated to the exercise, and here we’ve mixed the serious issues with some of our lighter moments (starts page 9). One to note is ”Hits From the Archives”, which will remind readers of the contemptuous exchange of insults that took place on these pages between Stephen Mulholland and David Bullard in April 2003.
The effect, if we’ve succeeded, should be a relevant stocktaking of South African media almost six years into the new millenium. An absolute bonus for us would be if this issue were to be used as a reference point in the years to come.