If Rupert Murdoch is synonymous with the worst in global media over the past 15 years, his direct opposite is Alain Modoux. Unlike the infamous mogul, Modoux is a little-known figure — retired in Geneva yet still serving various media causes. It’s an extension of his earlier work that single-handedly enriched the life of every journalist on the planet.

There are three moves afoot that add up to a reduced role for autonomous institutions in the communications arena. Should we be worried? As regards the Film and Publications Act, proposed changes seek to scrap an existing provision that has exempted the news media from censorship.

Back in 1994, Steve Outing — doyen of online media columnists — began assessing the internet’s meaning for newspapers. Reflecting on his early musings, he recently wrote: ”Geez, I feel old!” Well said, fellow scribe! It has indeed taken many years to reach the point where, as you put it, there’s no longer cause to gripe about newspapers’ poor grasp of online.

A barrage of criticism burst forth after the South African Broadcasting Corporation was accused of operating a politically motivated ”blacklist” to exclude controversial commentators. But there’s a need to get beyond knee-jerk responses and still-to-be-tested allegations.

This month sees the launch of the revived news agency of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) — a move that hopes to put more information into global circulation, but which also highlights problems in African initiatives. The NAM service comes into being seven months after a meeting of its member countries’ information ministers.

Do South Africa’s media avoid sensationalism? Do the media make a good contribution to addressing poverty and HIV/Aids in South Africa? What influence do the media have on South African society at large? This week, take part in an interactive quiz with 10 checkpoints to rate the health of South Africa’s media.

Essop Pahad has a communications headache. In public he’ll only talk about the media’s problems. In reality, it’s him who has the bigger challenge. As President Thabo Mbeki’s right-hand man, Pahad is Minister in the Presidency, in charge of government communications. Last week, he told Parliament how all this was going (very well), and assessed the media’s performance (not doing too well).

Some South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) content is tripe. But depending on your view, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At least, that’s what emerged at a Johannesburg colloquium held by the public broadcaster last week. One speaker referred to tripe as a delicacy in his culture.

Massive abuse has been hurled at the media for coverage around Jacob Zuma. It comes mainly from his supporters. Though there was fair cause when the media robbed Zuma of his privacy in regard to rape charges, there’s no justification for coverage that partly identifies the alleged survivor of a gang rape, writes Guy Berger.

Hat’s off to a job well done by our journos. They brought us the buzz about the local elections and gave us good insight into the significance of the event across the entire nation. Pity that one can’t say the same about the political parties who insulted voters with rhetorical generalities that took us not an inch deeper in our democracy.