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/ 21 February 2006

AECI reports 23% increase in earnings

South African chemicals and explosives company AECI on Tuesday reported a 23% increase in headline earnings per share to 482 cents for the year ended December 2005, from 392 cents a year ago. On a fully diluted basis, headline earnings per share were 473 cents from 383 cents per share.

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/ 21 February 2006

Ringing up the Budgets

Since the banning of tobacco advertising, South Africa’s big three cellular providers have offered hope to media owners through substantial year-on-year growth in advertising budgets. They are now all in the top 12 in terms of local spend. Kirsty Laschinger finds out whether the upward trend will continue, and where this year’s money will go.

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/ 21 February 2006

Stymied Rights

In a look back at media coverage of the Cape’s "Manenberg Tornado", Sean Jacobs remembers that the local press can be as dismissive of citizens’ socio-economic right as US media were during and after Hurricane Katrina.

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/ 21 February 2006

Alarm Bells is Ringin’

The consumer has found out that repetition is boring, according to Harry Herber. In this indictment on the industry for their inability to get with the programme, he argues that media owners and agencies are way out of touch with evolving mindsets.

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/ 21 February 2006

Just Loathing Gonzo

Hunter S Thompson is dead. Long may it last, says Lin Sampson. Gonzo will not save local journalism, she argues, because there’s no shortcut to dying for one’s art – and besides, our own writealike Hunters go home to Ovaltine in the suburbs.

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/ 21 February 2006

Ethnicity on the Wane

Based on recent research conducted by his students, Dr Mashilo Boloka contends that public service radio is on the decline as racial and ethnic affiliations are becoming less important in determining loyalty to a particular station.

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/ 21 February 2006

The Real Boom

Matthew Buckland recently returned from an online conference in Madrid, where talk of the medium’s "boom" dominated events. Those words have been used before, but now even Bill Gates is saying all media channels will soon be powered by the internet.

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/ 21 February 2006

Cost Drivers

With the printing industry always acting as an accurate barometer of the state of the economy, what is the outlook for print media’s production costs in 2006? Will paper prices increase? Kirsty Laschinger looks at the macroeconomic and market-based indicators.

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/ 21 February 2006

Meet the Mayor

The date for municipal elections is looming, and still hardly any voters get media access to local government candidates. Professor Tawana Kupe suggests that opening the airwaves could go a long way towards addressing the protests on lack of service delivery.