[Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] Is it really good news that maybe, just maybe, TV licences could be a thing of the past, when there are murmurings of a 1% increase in our taxes to make up the shortfall? Our taxes are already high, and there is no guarantee that every taxpayer owns a TV or radio - don't forget the licence covers radio as well.
The public has until 7 December 2009 to submit written comments on the draft Public Service Broadcasting Bill [which is supposed to be available from www.doc.gov.za, not that we could find it yet, but thank you to the little bird who told us to try the Parliamentary Monitoring Group]. Tell us what you think in our poll this week.
On the awards front, the Bookmarks Awards and Bizcommunity.com are this year launching the People's Choice Award. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] It's a tragedy when anyone is murdered, but the shock is harder when the deed happens in ‘your own world'. Hence the shock when the media loses one of its own… This weekend, TV journalist Shadi Rapitso was held against her will and then savagely knifed to death by a besotted individual, also from the media industry, who apparently had a fixation on her. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] Happy birthday, MINI! This past weekend, MINI celebrated 50 years of cool with the help of VWV in the picturesque arty mountain village of Clarens in the Free State, with hundreds of MINIacs and their MINIs, both old and new, partying up a storm. [And forget Sun City, Margate and Cape Town - we can just imagine the Loeries being hosted there!]
Also cool is SAB, which has enlisted the services of Vanilla Ice (come on, you remember him, don't you?) to chill fans of their beers by performing a reprise of his number one hit single from the '90s, Ice Ice Baby.
On a much less cool note, the SABC is back in the wars. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] Another year has come and gone and once again it's time to congratulate all the overall winners of the 2009 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards, who were announced on Friday night, 9 October 2009, at a curiously under-attended but nevertheless enjoyable gala event at Vodaworld. Yet while the media is honoured on hand, on the other, media freedom and freedom of expression in this country continue to be under threat when an online editor has a petrol bomb, albeit unlit, but complete with a warning note, chucked into his house. read more [Rod Baker] Whereas the Mother City was pretty quiet this weekend - probably recovering from The Loeries - Joburg was clearly in a party mood, what with Sexpo, Taste of Joburg, Rocking the Gardens, Joburg Pride, and more on the go.
Meanwhile, the SABC issued a statement on the meeting it had with the ANC Youth League; the latter apparently eager that when soccer fans arrive for 2010, they will get a good dose of exposure to local music. All in all, therefore, it should be a pretty loud visit - what with kwaito et al, and vuvuzelas. read more [Rod Baker] The Mother City came to the party this weekend for what many reckon must have been the best Loerie Awards ever. Not even Cape Town's notoriously unpredictable weather could dampen spirits - even if a downpour did exactly that to a hairdo or two.
What came across clearly was the wealth of talent and creativity that we enjoy in South Africa - even the ‘losers' could hold their heads up high. read more [Simone Puterman] Bizcommunity.com is saddened by the news of the tragic deaths this past weekend of both Johann van Loggerenberg, editor/owner of Leisure Wheels magazine, and Thabo Motene Marera, film director at Velocity Films, and we extend our condolences to their families, friends and colleagues. Both will be sorely missed.
On a different note, congratulations go to Draftfcb Johannesburg, which scooped with a nine Gold, two Silver and a Prestige Pendoring at the 15th annual Pendoring Advertising Awards for excellence in Afrikaans and Truly South African advertising on Friday night, 18 September 2009, mostly for its Vodacom Player 23 campaign. read more [Simone Puterman] Once again, Caster Semenya has hit the headlines and it is the opinion of Colleen Lowe Morna that the media is failing Semenya and that, apart from needing to be more ethical in its choices, the media must get out of the armchair and do some real investigative reporting and start asking wider questions.
Meanwhile, just over two years since its last makeover and over a year since its multimedia portal was revamped, the Sunday Times and The Times has once again revamped and rebranded its online presence. Now called Times Live, timeslive.co.za replaces the existing web domain of thetimes.co.za. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] ...call for desperate measures, but the jury is probably still out over the TVIEC's rather theatrical protest action last week. Did it work? Did it have any effect? The short answer to both questions is, regrettably, probably no. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] Many, if not most, South Africans are basking in the reflected glory of the performance of District 9 [see our stories, galleries and review] which has gone down unbelievably well in the US - and is still trending on Twitter. Will it do the same in South Africa once it opens this Friday, 28 August 2009, nationwide? The premiere last week in Johannesburg was certainly something SA had never seen before, with Ster-Kinekor at The Zone @ Rosebank completely packed to the rafters as the who's who in the country's creative industries and Ster-Kinekor Movie Club cardholders turned out to hobnob and party with the cast and crew.
Not everyone appears to be happy, however, with one commentator to Bizcommunity.com describing District 9 as ‘racist'. read more [Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] According to the latest TVIEC statement, a payment plan has been devised whereby producers who are owed monies by the national broadcaster are to be paid... at last! As a counterpoint to that, however, has been the news that only a fraction of the production work for the next year or so has been accepted by the SABC. read more [biz editorial team: Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] For some of us affirmative action is anathema, but today we carry a report on something that some might consider is the opposite - namely the appointment of pale male Jon Hooper to the YFM lineup. When Hooper heard about the YFM search in June 2009 to find a "hot white boy" to add to its lineup, he saw the chance to move from his trade - that of baker - and realise his passion to be in broadcasting. read more [Bizcommunity.com] You know the calibre of someone like Di Paice by how she touched and enriched the lives of those with whom she worked, and knew. Clearly, Di was a person apart... read more [biz editorial team: Simone Puterman & Rod Baker] South African banks have generally never been slow to embrace new technology, with the result that the average South African is probably more adept at doing transactions and other banking business online and on their mobiles than bank customers in many other countries. Where members of the public have sometimes had issues, however, is in the ease - or lack thereof - of use of the banks' sites, and the communication - or perceived lack thereof - from the banks to their customers. read more | Rod Baker Rod Baker has been a journalist since before computers. He worked on a wide range of magazines and in his youth rose through the ranks from being a lowly and abused sub-editor, to a high and still abused editor and publisher. He has been editor and publisher of a number of magazines as well as a newspaper. He has edited many books, and written a number as well. Rod is also a website editor for a major South African website and content manager for a number of portals. Rod can be contacted on rod@bizcommunity.com.
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