If we don’t want unethical behaviour to infect African journalism, we should urge media houses to embrace the AMI Principles, says Guy Berger.
No image available
/ 19 October 2011
The 200th edition of Converse is also its last: a swansong timed to coincide with South Africa’s National Press Freedom Day.
No image available
/ 15 December 2010
What do the following have in common: A cartoon about rape, a song about killing boers, and a photo mash-up of teachers and gay bodybuilders.
No image available
/ 2 December 2010
There’s renewed focus on newspaper ownership by the ANC, even as they’re becoming less hardline about the Media Appeals Tribunal and the Secrecy Bill.
No image available
/ 18 November 2010
Imagine a forum on agriculture without the farmers present. The same logic applies to a bunch of people discussing a new law for the SABC.
No image available
/ 4 November 2010
Wouldn’t it be grand if health journalism became the healthiest trend-setter for the whole family of journalism?
No image available
/ 21 October 2010
National Press Freedom Day on October 19 is a fitting anniversary to take stock of threats to South African journalism.
Many people don’t want to talk about it. Newspapers have been hammered for featuring an artist’s musings on it.
No image available
/ 23 September 2010
Faced with mega-messes in education and joblessness, the ANC conference this week thought it could make easy headway with regard to media freedom.
No image available
/ 9 September 2010
It’s a re-run: rather than only reporting on South Africa, the SABC is itself once again a news story. And for all the wrong reasons.
The ANC’s control-oriented steps have unleashed an even greater cacophony. So where to from here for the ruling party?
Pinch me, somebody! Are the unprecedented protests by newspaper editors unnecessary hysteria? Is the press watchdog crying wolf?
<b>Guy Berger</b> is now a professor of journalism. Part of his early training for the job was a mission for <i>The Weekly Mail</i>.
Everyone, each ANC tendency included, needs a space where news that is officially out-of-favour is free to try its luck within the arena of public opinion.
We all stand to benefit from direct and ongoing exposure to journalism education — and not least about the reporting of Africa.
Four months in jail with hard labour is hardly the kind of punishment you’d expect to be meted out to a mere journalist.
Hundreds of thousands of viewers will be watching the World Cup kick-off on a pirate basis, and there’s not much that Fifa can do about it.
At root, Fifa wants to protect its mega-revenue flow of selling live broadcast rights to TV networks, writes <b>Guy Berger</b>.
The media helped make Julius Malema a celebrity. What the media now needs is to make its own star who can champion the cause of media freedom.
As one of the many stranded by the ash cloud over Europe, and unable to get home for five days, <b>Guy Berger</b> found himself on the internet a lot.
Titled <i>The Feet of the Chameleon</i>, Ian Hawkey’s recent book on African football could equally be dubbed the "feat" of the chameleon.
East Africa’s powerful media house, The Nation Group, celebrated its 50th birthday last week with a major media conference.
No image available
/ 24 February 2010
Karl Marx famously said the first time history repeats itself is tragic; the second is farce.
No image available
/ 10 February 2010
If you lived in an oil-rich country like Angola, you would certainly want to have transparency in the mining contracts signed by your government.
No image available
/ 27 January 2010
When a church bans a bishop from speaking to the media, you have to wonder what’s next. Blocking the man from addressing his parishioners?
No image available
/ 14 January 2010
This isn’t a movie for rugby nuts. All you need is a soft spot for letting a classic narrative lead you through an epic and emotional journey.
No image available
/ 28 October 2009
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was reported as saying that the Cup had “great power” to present “a different story of the African continent".
With digital options increasingly available, why would any journalist attend a conference in person? And especially when budgets are tight?
South Africa’s broadcast industry is doing well in terms of black ownership, but the same can’t be said for our newspapers.
Take many thousands of people attending the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, give them access to new media tools, and see what happens.
A bail-out by government seems the only solution, but what’s to stop the SABC sliding into the deep red once again?
No image available
/ 5 February 2009
The problems for most African journalists are not the absence of a continental Media Watch body. They are the lack of pressure on problematic governme