Kevin Bloom

If you want to make a quick buck, so the saying goes, stay out of media. If your heart’s set, we could add, stay out of business media. The stumbling blocks to profit in the sector are legion, and it’s not as if there’s a lack of competition. Here Kevin Bloom looks at some brands that have come up with innovative responses to the challenges.

If the point of journalism is to "speak truth to power", the month of October reconfirmed the purpose of South African media. Expressions of surprise at the candour of certain editorial pieces (implying frankness is not something we’re used to?) were rife across the industry, followed closely by guesses as to what the eventual consequences might be.

This year, as a variation on the theme in last December’s African issue, we have decided to focus solely on the South African media companies doing business north of our borders. We have done this because it’s far more relevant to our readers.

The new CEO of the SABC Dali Mpofu has a plan to take the public broadcaster into Africa on an unprecedented scale. It involves two 24-hour channels in a range of colonial and indigenous languages. It involves content tailor-made for each of the continent’s economic blocs. It involves the aspirations of Nepad and the African Union. It will take massive political and financial clout to achieve. Kevin Bloom reports.

The breakfast jocks are the big hitters in adult contemporary radio – they have a big effect on advertiser demand and a station’s rates. Jeremy Mansfield has dominated the genre for almost a decade, but is his time up? Kevin Bloom reports.

Following a period of sustained criticism for cutting back or cancelling the air-time of gay and Christian groups, SABC national station Radio 2000 has reacted strongly with the assertion that their new programme schedule – implemented this month – fulfils the public broadcasting mandate as dictated by regulator Icasa.

The name of a company allegedly responsible for the unlawful felling of indigenous trees in Randburg recently, so as to give better sight to billboards located on the busy Hans Strijdom thoroughfare, has been confirmed to eMedia by Johannesburg City Parks and industry body Out of Home Media SA.

He says a conservative strategy has driven the group’s success, but what does Kagiso Media’s CEO Roger Jardine think about the view that his radio stations enjoy an entrenched monopoly and world-beating margins? And will Kagiso be going after the new commercial licences?

Clare O’Neil, general manager of SABC Television Sales, announced her resignation from the public broadcaster this morning. She will be taking over as managing director of research and data firm Telmar South Africa from February 2006. Jenny Potter, the outgoing head of Telmar SA, will be moving to the Telmar global office.

In a letter to <i>eMedia</i>, executive director of broadcasting at Kagiso Media, Omar Essack, has hit back strongly at communications strategist Clive Simpkins, who accused him in a column on <i>Moneyweb</i> last week of making "sanctimonious protestations" to the broadcast regulator over the last remaining FM signal in Johannesburg.

The January to June 2005 ABCs show that magazines are going through a period of major growth. There are 7-million more individual copies out there against five years ago, and it all seems to be because of the global swing towards personalisation. Kevin Bloom reports.

Taking a look back at the cover stories on South African media’s most powerful chief executives, Kevin Bloom reflects on what they told <i>The Media</i>, what we said about them, and which of us got it wrong. The results out of e.tv, SABC, Naspers, the defunct Nail, Johncom, Independent News & Media and Primedia are used as a guiding barometer.

In Cape Town yesterday, seven shortlisted nominees were interviewed by the portfolio committee on communication to fill two positions that become available on the Media Development and Diversity Agency board at the end of 2005. The shortlisted names, nominated through Parliament, are: Ms J Batjies, Ms S Goba, Dr T Jara, Mr GM Mkhize, Mr B Mukhuba, Ms AL Sitaram and Mr C Moerdyk.

A dispute between the Sector Education Training Authority for the media, advertising, publishing, printing and packaging industries and the leading institution for the training of professional printers, the Cross Media Training College is set to heat up when legal papers are served on the authority this week.

At a function held in Johannesburg last night the <i>Sunday Times</i> unveiled plans for their 100th anniversary in 2006, detailing the rollout of a nationwide “heritage project” and four 64-page centenary supplements. The project team, will create a series of outdoor "monuments" that bear testimony to the “people and events that have moulded and informed South African society” over the last 100 years.

Two impending court dates related to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Oilgate exposé, which revealed that Imvume Management diverted R11-million in public funds to the African National Congress, are set to severely test the rights of South African journalists to protect confidential sources of information.

Zwelakhe Sisulu’s major goal is to create a significant TV platform across the African continent. It’s a tough proposition that requires he draws on the lessons of a lifetime in media. Kevin Bloom speaks to the former SABC chief executive.

Moeletsi Mbeki has a strong background in journalism, with a resume that includes a Nieman Fellowship and time at the BBC. He was a media consultant for the ANC in the ’90s, and is currently the chairman of Endemol South Africa. Kevin Bloom gets the views of the president’s brother on the politics and economics of local media.

The first edition of government magazine Vuk’uzenzele was unveiled today at an event at the Constitutional Court, Johannesburg. Published by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), one million copies of the title will be freely distributed to readers in the LSM 1 to 6 categories.

The Electronic Communications Bill, the new name for the contentious and extensively deliberated Convergence Bill, has been redrafted to mixed reaction from media industry stakeholders.

A working coalition of six Non-Governmental Organisations connected to the LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) community is calling for the SABC to publicly explain their position on the recent discontinuation of Radio 2000’s <i>Tuesday Nite Live</i>.

It was announced today that Media24’s financial weeklies, <i>Finance Week</i> and <i>Finansies & Tegniek</i>, will be consolidated under one brand from September 28. The new brand, <i>Finweek</i>, will be published in both English and Afrikaans and will be merged with online financial portal Finance24, which will be rebranded Fin24.co.za.

Julie Kelly and Nicky Troll were finalists at this year’s CNN/Multichoice African Journalist awards for a hard-hitting television exposé on stolen police dockets. Their other stories have been equally formidable, one bringing on a serious physical assault by a gang of displeased thugs. Kevin Bloom speaks to two unbending journalists.