Janet Smith The debate raging over the V-chip (violence=20 chip) in the United States has resulted in=20 compelling academic and social research=20 into American children’s viewing habits -=20 and a powerful condemnation of many of=20 their favourite shows. The V-chip – introduced in the=20 Telecommunications Act of 1996 – allows=20 American parents to block TV […]

Janet Smith South African children watch very little=20 children’s TV, and one of the most=20 important reasons for this could be that=20 most South African children are not home=20 and free to watch television until after=20 supper. When superb productions like the specially- packaged import Open Sesame (now broadcast=20 in Zulu and Sesotho) and the […]

Beeld journalists are strongly in favour of=20 testifying before the truth commission, but=20 management does not want to know, writes=20 Hazel Friedman With only 17 days to go before the media=20 are called before the truth commission,=20 journalists at Beeld – South Africa’s=20 largest Afrikaans-speaking daily newspaper=20 – have urged editor Johan de Wet to […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi The National African Federated Chamber of=20 Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) has called=20 for a national stakeholders conference=20 between the government, established=20 business and small enterprises before the=20 year-end. Nafcoc wants the summit to=20 formulate a programme that will ensure full=20 participation of emerging business in=20 economic reform.=20 The call forms the core of […]

Justin Arenstein and Leonard Ndzhukula Senior Mpumalanga Tender Board officials shredded highly confidential letters detailing an alleged R16-million tender fraud two weeks ago and are still attempting to keep a high-level investigation into the dubious contract under wraps. The independent investigation, headed by an external auditor, was launched three weeks ago after Senoko Chemicals, also […]

TV or no TV? Or restricted, V-chipped,=20 sanitised TV? Our reporters channel-hop=20 through the good-vs-evil debate Janet Smith Ready D of Prophets of Da City has a five- year-old son whose favourite TV show is=20 Rescue 911. He’s one of nearly 800 000=20 South African children who find America’s=20 international hit about near-death=20 experiences rather […]

FRIDAY, 2.30PM MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, the leading contender to replace outgoing National Party leader FW de Klerk, was a paid agent of military intelligence during his student years at Rand Afrikaans University in the 1980s. Van Schalkwyk was president of Afrikaans student organisation Jeugkrag (Youth Power), where his salary was paid from covert SA Defence […]

Lawsuits threaten to stifle public debate=20 as the Greenpeace action shows, writes=20 George Monbiot Every month, the weapons mobilised in the=20 public relations battle over the future of=20 the planet become more sophisticated. A few=20 weeks ago, a leak from the PR company=20 Burson-Marsteller revealed that it has been=20 advising biotechnology companies to “stay=20 off […]

Government considered breaking the diamond=20 cartel to boost black economic empowerment,=20 writes Mungo Soggot The Ministry of Minerals and Energy has=20 investigated using apartheid-era=20 legislation, which gave local diamond=20 cutters a special deal, to promote black=20 empowerment in the cutting industry. The=20 strategy, which would have involved=20 restricting De Beers’s exports, reveals the=20 ministry’s antagonism […]

An initiative to promote young black=20 talent, spearheaded by advertising=20 stakeholders, could change the future of=20 the industry, writes Hazel Friedman When Relopile Magagula matriculated two=20 years ago, her ambitions extended no=20 further than a secretarial position in one=20 of those starchy corporate environments.=20 But when she walks into work next week, it=20 won’t be […]