In a letter to <i>eMedia</i>, executive director of broadcasting at Kagiso Media, Omar Essack, has hit back strongly at communications strategist Clive Simpkins, who accused him in a column on <i>Moneyweb</i> last week of making "sanctimonious protestations" to the broadcast regulator over the last remaining FM signal in Johannesburg.

The January to June 2005 ABCs show that magazines are going through a period of major growth. There are 7-million more individual copies out there against five years ago, and it all seems to be because of the global swing towards personalisation. Kevin Bloom reports.

Taking a look back at the cover stories on South African media’s most powerful chief executives, Kevin Bloom reflects on what they told <i>The Media</i>, what we said about them, and which of us got it wrong. The results out of e.tv, SABC, Naspers, the defunct Nail, Johncom, Independent News & Media and Primedia are used as a guiding barometer.

In Cape Town yesterday, seven shortlisted nominees were interviewed by the portfolio committee on communication to fill two positions that become available on the Media Development and Diversity Agency board at the end of 2005. The shortlisted names, nominated through Parliament, are: Ms J Batjies, Ms S Goba, Dr T Jara, Mr GM Mkhize, Mr B Mukhuba, Ms AL Sitaram and Mr C Moerdyk.

A dispute between the Sector Education Training Authority for the media, advertising, publishing, printing and packaging industries and the leading institution for the training of professional printers, the Cross Media Training College is set to heat up when legal papers are served on the authority this week.

At a function held in Johannesburg last night the <i>Sunday Times</i> unveiled plans for their 100th anniversary in 2006, detailing the rollout of a nationwide “heritage project” and four 64-page centenary supplements. The project team, will create a series of outdoor "monuments" that bear testimony to the “people and events that have moulded and informed South African society” over the last 100 years.

Two impending court dates related to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Oilgate exposé, which revealed that Imvume Management diverted R11-million in public funds to the African National Congress, are set to severely test the rights of South African journalists to protect confidential sources of information.

Zwelakhe Sisulu’s major goal is to create a significant TV platform across the African continent. It’s a tough proposition that requires he draws on the lessons of a lifetime in media. Kevin Bloom speaks to the former SABC chief executive.

Moeletsi Mbeki has a strong background in journalism, with a resume that includes a Nieman Fellowship and time at the BBC. He was a media consultant for the ANC in the ’90s, and is currently the chairman of Endemol South Africa. Kevin Bloom gets the views of the president’s brother on the politics and economics of local media.