Staff Reporter

The seasonally adjusted total motor trading income of South African retailers in motor vehicles and accessories for the three months ended August 2003 increased by 7,9% compared with the previous three months, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.

The imminent closure of the tax amnesty coupled with the recent strength in the rand presents an almost unprecedented opportunity for investors to increase their offshore exposures, says Sasfin (SFN) managing director Alan Greenstein.

If you thought your job was bad, spare a thought for the fart-sniffers who had to do it for Science. Or how about melting down nuclear missiles to make medals and peddling them on the Net? For good (and not so good) ideas, read here. Ian Fraser investigates a range of unconventional business ideas this week.

The number of people seeking refuge as a result of environmental disaster is set to increase dramatically over the coming years. Ironically, given current attitudes, industrialised countries will resist accommodating them, and yet they will have become refugees as a direct result of the way the West lives.

The personal computer market in sub-Saharan Africa region totalled 1,247-million units in 2002, with a value of $1,4-billion, and by 2006 unit shipments will top 2,29-million, a report by ICT market analysts BMI-TechKnowledge shows.

Darrel Bristow-Bovey’s fans feel the plagiarism fiasco is driven by jealousy and schadenfreude. An irritated David Bullard says we either have rules or we don’t.

Can regional television save South Africa from itself? In this last article of a four-part series on black media in South Africa – newspapers, magazines, radio and now television – Graeme Addison and Refiloe Mataboge warn that elitist media are out of touch with a populist groundswell. Something has to give.

To coincide with national women’s day, The Media recognises the momentous lifetime achievements of one woman and honours the remarkable successes of another ten.

Many exceptional nominations were received for the inaugural ‘Sasol Women in The Media’ event, the chief criteria for final selection being outstanding contributions to growth and development across the commercial, governmental, academic and placement spheres of the media industry. The women listed here are the result of intense deliberations by members of The Media’s editorial board.

Once, when a female editor of a women’s magazine told him that a submitted piece wasn’t funny, David Bullard suffered the torment of a potency scare.

African language radio stations ain’t what they used to be –- they’ve emerged from decades of apartheid suppression as viable mouthpieces of the new democracy. But now the station managements need to project a vision of their ability to garner revenue, and marketers need to recognise the value in the public broadcast audience.

The leaders of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups vowed on Monday to retaliate against Israel for continuing attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The groups’ statement followed Israeli airstrikes on Monday in Gaza that killed two Hamas activists and a bystander.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=22257">Gaza strike kills three</a>

The introduction of strict new laws for better capital management and reduced exposure to risk as embodied in the Basel II Capital Accord presents financial institutions with something of a double-edged sword. While compliance will reduce operational hazards, it may also result in over-stressed systems and excessive pressure on financial technology systems.

Gidon Novick, marketing director of Kulula.com, argues that media placement needs to be decided before the creatives start cooking.

Greg Stewart, general manager of sales at the Citizen, disputes the supremacy of circulation figures when comparing newspaper brands. What does AMPS hold over ABCs?

Countless media brands run competitions to bolster audience figures and strengthen the offering to advertisers. As Karen Willenberg of RWR cautions, such strategies have recently come under the ambit of legislation.

Joel Netshitenzhe, CEO of the Government Communication and Information System and Head of the Policy Unit in The Presidency, is one of the most influential figures in South Africa’s leadership structure. What are his views on the relationship between government and the media two years after the tensions of the Cabinet-SANEF Indaba at Sun City? How does he see the media fulfilling its role in the broad vision for national development?

The Jayson Blair saga has heaped untold ignominy on the New York Times, one of the world’s most venerated newspapers. Tim Spira argues that the fall has less to do with affirmative action than one man’s dishonesty.

There’s a view that David Bullard is an elitist who’s unsuited to the new South Africa. His comeback: hedonism sells.

South African media company New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) said on Friday that its board has considered the terms of the offer by the Tiso consortium and believe that because payment of the consideration offered of R10,50 will be made within a relatively short period, and the relative certainty attached to the payment, that the consideration is fair and reasonable to Nail shareholders.

Eight months after his arrest on 14 February by National Intelligence Agency officers, journalist Bamporiki Chamira was still being detained at a prison in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a national media watchdog reported on Wednesday.

First the bad news: this week’s interest rate cut marks the end of the party for bond holders. Next, some mild consolation: another razzle is getting under way in the equities market, if you can just hang in. "I think it’s close to going home time. It’s been a long party," Jonathan Myerson, bond analyst at Rand Merchant Bank, said this week.