No news would be good news for ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma right now. But if he could choose, what model for a pan-African TV news channel would reduce his humiliation in the eyes of the continent?

First, a journalist on the trawl constructs a story about something. Second, it is repeated and annotated by other media in the pack. Third, unless it’s rebutted, it turns into established fact. In this way, interpretations and even errors are confirmed as historical realities. The problem has become a bugbear for David O’Sullivan of 702 Talk Radio, who voiced his concerns during a speech in Johannesburg last week.

Publisher Deon du Plessis likes to see newspapers as pure business. I first heard him warm to the theme more than 10 years back. It was a workshop debating ”the role of the media in the new South Africa”. His take, seemingly crass at the time, was very simple. The role was nothing more than to make money.

So, a freelance cameraman films a National Women’s Day address by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. He captures people protesting in favour of her predecessor, Jacob Zuma. South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) news fails to broadcast the incident.

Revelations in Zimbabwe about spy shenanigans in the privately owned press there revive distant memories of South African equivalents — and point to what’s needed for the future. An article in the Zimbabwe Independent last week disclosed that the country’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) seems to have secretly taken control of three papers.

After strong debate, South African editors last week embraced the rise of tabloid journalism in the South African newspaper industry. This unusual step came at the annual general meeting in Cape Town of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef). A press statement described the tabloids as ”a vibrant element of the changing media landscape”.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation is almost too bulky to run and now it’s going to get even bigger. The 900-pound gorilla gained formal approval from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa last week to put on extra weight. Thus, implementing government policy, the regulator has given the green light for SABC TV 4 and 5, pending funding — probably from Parliament.

Respected writer Mandla Langa seems set to leave the comparative quiet of heading the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and move over to the punchbag post of CEO at the public broadcaster, where he should look to a new international standard to settle the matter of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s independence.

Ah yes, the media, we ought not to forget about it. This appears to be the after-thought sentiment in the Blair commission proposals for Africa, released last month. But perhaps there is more than amnesia about the media that explains the downplaying of independent journalism in this British response to African underdevelopment.