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/ 15 December 2004

Fine Young Cannibals

Is there a niche, a valid gap in the market? Is the new title attracting new magazine readers to the pool, or is it simply cannibalising the audience and adspend of other established titles? Is the magazine more dependent on its advertising than its audience? It all comes down to the business plan…

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/ 15 December 2004

Dish Monkeys

For the many TV journalists trapped next to the performing circus of satellite dishes, getting off the hotel roof to confirm reports is impossible. So is live TV a far cry from real journalism?

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/ 15 December 2004

Cold Truth about Cold Type

No important content-based site has launched locally for several years, even as important mass-circulation titles and numerous independents have entered the print arena. Are South Africa’s online publishers losing their edge, even as revenues are finally starting to grow?

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/ 15 December 2004

Waiting outside the promised land

Disabled people say that progressive labour and equity legislation mean nothing without effective implementation strategies. In the six years since the Employment Equity Act was passed, the representation of black people and women in the workplace has grown considerably, but people with disabilities are still being left behind.

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/ 15 December 2004

Media brands: here today, gone tomorrow?

A media owner may put years of work into researching a market gap, but the reader, viewer or listener will only recognise the niche in hindsight. A media brand that awakens its target market to the post-the-fact inevitability of its existence, is a media brand that’s going to be around for a while, argues Kevin Bloom.

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/ 15 December 2004

Drug-resistant TB may have hit its sell-by date

The first promising tuberculosis (TB) drug in almost 40 years could be the best yet, according to the <i>Science and Development Network</i>. This is good news for Southern Africa, which is home to large numbers of people suffering from TB as a result of HIV/Aids. Animal tests indicate that the drug could also treat the disease faster, reducing costs, according to new research.

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/ 15 December 2004

Mother’s Many Helpers

Publishers have correctly identified pregnancy and parenting magazines as growth markets. It’s not just readers’ choice that’s growing: a glance at revenue figures indicates advertisers are spending more money too. But, are publishers ticking all the right boxes, or simply doing enough to get by?

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/ 15 December 2004

Profits from fresh air

Walter Brooke’s career advice in <i>The Graduate</i>, "Ben, I have just one word for you — plastics", was spot on. In the years after the film’s 1967 release, plastic manufacturing boomed. But if Brooke had to counsel a confused university graduate today, the word would be "emissions". South African business is preparing to cash in on the world’s fastest-growing industry — carbon management.

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/ 15 December 2004

Fallujah, forks and funny flaps

"In keeping with the holiday mood, the "oh, who cares about the horrific state of the world and all the suffering" theme more or less continues this week, with a selection of odd sites with which to kill time. (To help cover all the bases as the year winds to a close — if you’re curious about what you didn’t hear about in 2004, take a look at The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2004.)" Ian Fraser reveals these and much more.