Kevin Bloom
Guest Author
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/ 15 July 2005

Markovitz on cooling-off period

It was announced last week that Michael Markovitz, former special advisor to Icasa chairperson Mandla Langa, has been appointed director of convergence at listed private media company Primedia. Markovitz informs <i>eMedia,</i> that he began as an official Primedia employee on July 1, which is one day after his six-year contract with the regulator ended.

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/ 6 July 2005

Documentary claims Zuma innocent, media guilty

A <i>Citizen</i> lead story entitled “Documentary claims Zuma was plot victim”, written by executive editor Martin Williams and published on July 4, has elicited a range of animated responses from the media industry. The piece, which refers to “an explosive TV documentary alleging former deputy president Jacob Zuma is the victim of a trial by media orchestrated by people within the ANC."

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/ 28 June 2005

Multichoice to sideline advertisers?

In Kenya on Saturday morning, Multichoice SA CEO Nolo Letele announced the pending launch of technology that could eventually allow subscribers to skip commercials on the DStv bouquet. The feature is part of the new Personal Video Recorder decoder, and is the local conglomerate’s response to the growing popularity of TiVo in the Unites States and similar devices in Europe.

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/ 28 June 2005

Great “white male” read “Afrikaner”

In the Mondi Magazine Awards supplement distributed with this issue (we produce and design the booklet on behalf of Mondi) the winning piece by Rian Malan, a riveting profile of JM Coetzee, contains the following: "Our ancestors bestrode Africa like giants, slaughtering game, digging holes for gold, subjugating everyone. "

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/ 21 June 2005

The Politics of Influence

Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert’s position on Afrikaner culture, as influenced and reflected by the Afrikaans press, accords a unique perspective on a country in flux. Kevin Bloom questions the former politician on these matters, and gets his views on contemporary politics, media freedom and Caxton.