Kenya’s First Lady, Lucy Kibaki, entered the offices of the country’s biggest-circulation newspaper on Tuesday, where she allegedly slapped a television cameraman and seized reporters’ notebooks and tape recorders to protest at stories about her eccentric behaviour.
The government is resisting the impoverished 4 000-strong Richtersveld community’s claim for the restitution of mineral rights in the vast stretches of diamond-rich coastal land currently held by state-owned miner Alexkor, citing changes in the mining rights regime. If the Land Claims Court agrees, the community may lose its seven-year legal battle to win restitution of the land.
Local labour voices have moved up from community initiatives to a slot on national SABC station SAfm. Sean Jacobs analyses this development in the context of the relationship between labour unions and media in the US.
Local media are uncritical praise singers of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, argues Professor Tawana Kupe. Should Manuel’s success not be judged on how his policies are sensitive to his context?
The case between Laugh It Off and South African Breweries pitted freedom of expression against intellectual property rights in the Constitutional Court. Reggie Manyakara outlines how parody is critical to the decision.
The number of print titles competing for space in the living room has burgeoned over the last few years, and the fight for readers and revenue is intense. Josef Talotta speaks to the sector’s leading editors about their USPs.
This week, let’s look at current events and oddities that perhaps indicate where we are heading as a gadget- and convenience-loving species. Despite the myths of humankind being "hard working", the truth is that throughout history, all the big leaps forward in technology seem to have happened because we are actually lazy as hell, and always looking for an easier way of doing things.
I’m going to use a couple of words that you might have been trained to switch off at and back away from: "culture" and "art". Don’t panic. Locally, "culture" and "art" tend to be rather primitive, grim and at best just a creative reaction to the various past and present oppressions in this society — regardless of the ethnic origins of whoever is doing it. Here’s some art that actually has a brain and is rather cool.
If it’s true that life imitates art, will the rival TV dramas <i>Scandal</i> and <i>Hard Copy</i> change life in the newsroom? David Bullard wonders if his editor is about to buy a white three-piece suit.
Why is it that the Cape is the hub of South Africa’s magazine publishing industry when the readers and revenues are up north? Kevin Bloom asks the question and looks at the media sectors where the region is lagging.