The Oscar Pistorius trial has been named the National Press Club – North-West University Newsmaker of the Year for 2014.
This includes the roles played in the trial by Oscar Pistorius himself, Judge Thokozile Masipa, prosecutor Adv Gerrie Nel and defence lawyer Adv Barry Roux.
National Press Club Chairperson, Jos Charle says both in terms of impact and news value and media attention in electronic, print, online and social media the trial dominated the news in 2014. “For the first time in the history of South Africa, most of any trial’s court proceedings were broadcast live on a dedicated TV channel. An international Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel followed soon afterwards. At least four books have been published on the trial – with more in the offing.
“Media-wise the trial was bigger than the FIFA 2014 World Cup. Judge Thokozile Masipa’s banning of blogging and tweeting of graphic evidence by pathologist Gert Saayman prompted 2 500 articles. In 24 hours news and social media hit over 106 000 unique inserts. Pistorius having retched in court was carried in 2 300 news articles. In nine days the press hit the 750 000 article mark,” says Charle.
“Nothing could move the media attention away from Oscar,” says the media monitoring group Data Driven Insight.
“Media data was compiled from 6,2 million social media platforms including blogs, forums, social networks and commentary, 60 000 global online newspapers, 2 000 South African print publications and 66 radio and television stations.”
“A digital revolution has been in the offing for long, but this trial has finally drawn the line on the old mass media dispensation,” says Prof Johannes Froneman of the Journalism Department at the North-West University.
“The shroud of secrecy has been ripped off court proceedings. We could all see, hear and read – on TV, radio, newspaper and smartphones – how the trail was unfolding.
“How the media covers major stories now has a new pattern. The rumours of media convergence have ballooned. Media coverage during the trail was a combination of broadcast channels, printed newspaper, tweets, Facebook and blogs.
“Morning newspapers, for example, had to finally change its role as “reporter-in-the-morning” to a hybrid, day-and-night collector of news, views, highlights on social media and predictor of what will happen.
“Journalists now report on multiple platforms – simultaneously tweeting, taking photos, appearing in front of TV cameras and writing books. It also demands closer selection by the media user,” says Froneman.
Charle says the trial has irrevocably changed the manner in which news is compiled, covered and consumed.
“It is no longer a ‘one medium does one thing’ and ‘take it or leave it’. The trial has realised digital media presentation – both media producers and media consumers have become much more sophisticated – overnight.
“The extremely high media visibility of the trial also placed the tragic results of violent human behaviour in the forefront. The essential timeous attention to such behaviour cannot be over-emphasised. The National Press Club expresses its heart-felt sympathy to all the role-players that suffered from the actions that gave rise to this trial – especially the Steenkamp family,” says Charle.
The fourth annual Percy Qoboza memorial lecture was held on Sunday, 19 October.
Presented annually by the National Press Club in collaboration with the Department of Communication Science at Unisa, the lecture commemorates 19 October 1977 – or Black Wednesday – when the apartheid regime declared illegal 19 Black Consciousness organisations, banned two newspapers and detained scores of activists.
The World newspaper editor Percy Qoboza and other journalists were subsequently arrested and jailed.
Today 19 October is known as National Media Freedom Day.
Titled ‘Is media freedom safe in South Africa – or should we be afraid?’, this year’s lecture was delivered by Mondli Makhanya, City Press Editor-at-Large and renowned columnist.
Speakers, panellists and the Qoboza family
Participants in the panel discussion were Mpumelelo Mkhabela, Editor of the Sowetan, Antoinette Slabbert of Moneyweb and Herman Scholtz of Rapport.
As in the past, the lecture was attended by members of the Qoboza family.
The annual National Press Club bursary of R12 000-00, to an honours-level Unisa journalism student, was awarded to Yolani Goci.
Thank you press club!
It all started with an e-mail from the coordinator for the honours degree in the Department of Communication Science at Unisa, Mrs Sokie van Gass.
In the e-mail Mrs van Gass was inviting the best performing students who graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Science and who continued with an honours degree in Communication in 2014 to apply for the Percy Qoboza study bursary from the National Press Club.
Press club bursary winner Yolani Goci
We were required to write a motivational essay (the guidelines were provided) on why one deserves to win the award. I decided to send in my motivational essay the night before the due date as I was completing and submitting an assignment for one of my modules that was due the same week. I was shocked and overwhelmed when I received a phone call from the Chair of the Department of Communication Science, Professor Danie du Plessis on Sunday, 19 October informing me of my win. Unisa has thousands of students and an abundance of academic potential, so to be chosen among some of the best is a confidence builder.
The money will go towards settling my current outstanding balance of R4 600 at Unisa for this year. I still have two more modules to register for in 2015 to complete my honours degree in Media Studies and the rest of the money will go towards registration and text books in 2015.
Thank you once again. Yolani Goci
Wits Journalism releases second State of the Newsroom report
At a Media Freedom Day celebration and Black Wednesday commemoration, co-hosted with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) on 17 October 2014, Wits Journalism released its second State of the Newsroom report.
Continued decline of print circulation, on-going retrenchments, and an increased number of broadcast media, both television and radio stations, are some of the media landscape trends documented in the report, titled, ‘Disruptions Accelerated’.
Growing harassment
The report also highlights an apparent growing trend in harassment of and violence against journalists, particularly of photojournalists, while an ominous legislative backdrop – the impending signing into law of the Protection of State Information and Intelligence Bills, and the existing anachronistic National Key Points Act – casts a dark cloud. In addition, the Media Appeals Tribunal still lurks as an ANC resolution.
Senior Lecturer at Wits Journalism, Dr Glenda Daniels, who leads the State of the Newsroom research, said, “The independent media in South Africa is strong but we have to be very vigilant because there are threats all around us.”
Twitter ‘indispensable professional tool’
In a chapter titled: ‘Digital-First Developments: Experimentation and Promiscuity’, the report notes that as audiences transition from traditional to new media, they are growing more and more “platform agonistic”, showing decreasing loyalty to particular brands and demanding news from a variety of sources and in various forms. In turn, newsrooms are struggling to keep up. Digital offerings are still not bringing in sustainable revenue.
The use of social media in the newsroom has increased hugely but journalists and news editors feel that there is “too much pressure to do too many things.” Twitter is regarded as an “indispensable professional tool” with journalists spending, on average, at least 15 to 20 minutes per hour on Twitter – much more if they are live-tweeting events.
There is a large sector of community newspapers that appear to be making a valuable contribution to diversity of news in terms of content and plurality of voices. Further, there is an inspiring idealism among editors and journalists – for most, their driving force is to serve their communities. However, the sector struggles with sustainability issues and is in need of a viable financial model.
Community radio faces challenges
The report also contains a section on community radio that uses three case studies to illustrate the challenges faced, including commercial difficulties, political pressures, community power plays from religious and traditional leaders, language and cultural sensitivities and tensions and pressures from listeners – all trying to add their particular influence, and often even interfering directly with the stations. The report documents a case of arson that destroyed a station building.
The State of the Newsroom research is the first of its kind from any journalism school in South Africa. Daniels said it was of huge value to the industry because it provided facts where previously there had been only assumptions.
According to Wits Journalism’s Professors Anton Harber and Franz Kr�ger, writing in the preface to the Report, “Disruption in our newsrooms opens up opportunities as it shakes up institutions and leadership which may have become complacent, rigid and defensive. It can also be challenging and punishing, costing jobs, creating fear and uncertainty and sacrificing skills and experience.
“This turmoil is a global phenomenon as newsrooms take on the challenges of new technologies, but it has distinct local characteristics, particularly because of the on-going demands of social and political transformation needed to create a media which can best serve democracy and deal with the legacies of apartheid. State of the Newsroom aims to provide research that will inform and stimulate those engaged in these challenges.”
Bizcommunity.com
Public Protector hosted roundtable on role of ombudsman
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela recently hosted her Swedish counterpart, Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman Elisabet Fura, during a roundtable discussion on the role of the ombudsman in Pretoria.
Fura, whose country was the first in the world to establish the ombudsman more than 200 years ago, addressed the roundtable on the topic: “The role of an ombudsman in ensuring accountability in a democracy – lessons from Sweden.”
The roundtable discussion was facilitated by former National Press Club chairperson Antoinette Slabbert.
2015 MTN Radio Awards add ‘Field News Reporter’ to categories
Entries have opened for the 2015 MTN Radio Awards, which have added ‘Field News Reporter’ to the categories, following suggestions by constituents within the industry.
Stations and individuals have a 3-month window to submit examples of their finest work by 20 January (manual submissions) or 27 January 2015 (online submissions).
“The new category of Field News Reporter was suggested to us and we feel that it will add value and generate some compelling entries for the adjudicators to evaluate,” says CEO of the MTN Radio Awards, Lance Rothschild.
There have also been some changes to the rules for entry into the awards, with some restrictions being placed on the number of submissions in each category by individuals and stations.
Rothschild also called for nominations for additional adjudicators. “With the growth of entries, it is necessary for us to continually evaluate the adjudication panel and to ensure that we have a broad range of skills and knowledge amongst the panel. I’m pleased that we have already managed to recruit some new members to the panel and I hope to have a panel of about 60 adjudicators for 2015,” he says.
The National Press Club welcomes the following new members:
Jaco Visser – Farmer’s Weekly, Clive Mboyi – SABC, Lebogang Selibi – National Credit Regulator, Ananias Ndlovu – North West News Online, Zintombi Nicolite – student.
We look forward to seeing you at a press club event soon!
Thank you for paying membership fees
Thank you to those press club members who have paid their membership fees for 2014.
Despite numerous reminders, a number of members have not yet paid their fees and will be removed from the membership list.
Membership fees are R220 for full members, R350 for associate members and R150 for student members.
Members are requested to use their surname as reference when payment is done, so that it can be picked up easily by the secretariat.
Feedback
Please send any news, suggestions or information for this newsletter to Martin van Niekerk at the secretariat on martin@junxionpr.co.za, 082 257 0305. Website | Facebook | Twitter
The fourth Percy Qoboza memorial lecture will be held on the morning of Sunday, 19 October 2014 at Unisa.
In 1977 Percy Qoboza was the editor of The World.
Arranged annually by the National Press Club in partnership with Unisa, the lecture commemorates ‘Black Wednesday’ – 19 October 1977 – the day the apartheid regime declared illegal 19 Black Consciousness organisations, banned two newspapers and detained scores of activists.
The World newspaper editor Percy Qoboza and other journalists were subsequently arrested and jailed.
This day is now also marked as National Press Freedom Day.
Members will receive particulars of the memorial lecture soon.
Press club winners do it again!
The 2013 National Press Club – North-West University Photographer of the Year, Paballo Thekiso of the Saturday Star, is a finalist in the 2014 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards. So is the club’s Journalist of the Year for 2009, Joy Summers of Mnet Carte Blanche.
Other finalists from South Africa are Susan Comrie of Mnet Carte Blanche, in a joint entry with Summers, Sean Christie, freelance for Landbouweekblad and The Mail & Guardian and Vinayak Bhardwaj and Tabelo Timse of the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The competition, now in its 19th year, received entries from 38 countries, including French and Portuguese speaking Africa. There are 28 finalists from 10 countries.
The finalists are:
Press club award winner Paballo Thekiso is a finalist in the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards.
Daniel Biaou Adje, ORTB, Benin
Safia Berkouk, El Watan, Algeria
Vinayak Bhardwaj & Tabelo Timse, M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism, Mail & Guardian, South Africa
Rom�o Brand�o, Jornal OPA�S, Angola
Sean Christie, Freelance for Landbouweekblad and The Mail & Guardian, South Africa
Obinna Emelike, Business Day, Nigeria
Ben Ezeamalu & Emmanuel Ogala, Premium Times, Nigeria
Bob Koigi, Farmbizafrica.com, Kenya
Joseph Mathenge, Freelance for The Saturday Nation, Kenya
Anne Mawathe & Rashid Ibrahim, Citizen TV, Kenya
Patrick Mayoyo, Daily Nation, Kenya
Christine Muthee & Oliver Oscar Ochanda, Media Development in Africa (MEDEVA), Kenya
Brito Simango, Televis�o de Mo�ambique, Mo�ambique
Joy Summers & Susan Comrie, Mnet Carte Blanche, South Africa
Suy Kahofi, Freelance for West Africa Democracy Radio, Senegal
Paballo Thekiso, Saturday Star, South Africa
Bento Venancio, Jornal Domingo, Mo�ambique
Evelyn Watta, Sportsnewsarena.com, Kenya
The finalists will enjoy an all-expenses paid four day programme of workshops, media forums and networking in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania culminating in a gala award ceremony on Saturday, 18 October 2014.
Tony Maddox, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of CNN International said: “I have witnessed the quality and excellence of work in this competition strengthen year on year, and am proud that it continues to maintain its place as the most prestigious Pan African journalist awards. Just as CNN encourages, promotes and recognises excellence in journalism at all levels, we are particularly pleased to be able to support journalists who represent our future.”
Print circulation data shows disturbing trends
Publishers of newspapers and magazines have been bleeding, and are taking desperate measures to cling on to their share of a shrinking market.
However, the strategies they are deploying do not meet with the universal approval of advertisers, who need precise circulation figures in order to pitch their message as accurately as possible to their target markets.
Circulation and readership figures are the main determinants of advertising rates.
One of the most disturbing trends is the number of publications being sold at below 50% on average of their cover price, a sure sign of an industry under stress.
The trend was identified in the latest circulation figures for the second quarter, recently released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations of SA (ABC).
The most striking example was Finweek, the business magazine in the Media24 stable. The magazine boasted an enviable 99% rise in circulation to 23 782, due largely to the 12 637 copies that were sold at 50% below its cover price. (The Financial Mail‘s circulation fell from 23 400 to 19 866 quarter on quarter, as the number of free copies distributed at airports was cut by about 3 000.)
Several of the titles of the Independent Newspapers group adopted the same strategy as Finweek. In the case of its flagship, The Star, 13% of its total circulation was sold at less than 50% of its cover price, while for the Pretoria News the number was 22%.
Bundles
Another method being used is to sell a number of magazines digitally in a single bundle, but claim circulation for each individually. Media24 confirmed that it sells the digital versions of its magazines in bundles, and has declared this in its report to the ABC. The bundle includes Finweek.
According to Media24 magazines division CEO John Relihan the group’s Kaboedel/The Bundle offer, which was launched in April 2013, provides access to the digital versions of 14 Afrikaans titles or 22 English titles at a fixed monthly subscription rate.
The current rate is R110/month for all 14 Afrikaans magazines, or the same amount for all 22 English titles. This is a substantial discount to the R80/month subscription for the digital version of Finweek if bought individually or the R27 monthly cost of a subscription to women’s magazine Sarie.
It’s up to the user to decide what’s relevant
These kinds of sales provide an advertiser with absolutely no information about which individual magazines within the bundle are being read.
ABC general manager Charles Beiles says the bureau’s rules allow bundled titles to be sold, as long as this is declared. “Categories of sales below 50% are legitimate classes of circulation. Free circulation is as well. It is up to the user of the data to decide which classes of circulation are relevant.”
But ABC vice-president and business director of Omnicom Media Group Gordon Patterson does not believe this method of distribution assists marketers and advertisers, who see it as a way of “bulking up” circulation figures.
He notes in a presentation on the circulation figures that “almost 5% of total consumer magazine paid circulation comes from distribution at less than 50% (on average) of the title cover price. On closer investigation [it can be seen that] this development is being driven mainly by one publisher across several categories.
“It is very clear that distribution at less than 50% of the cover price has less value than circulation to people who are prepared to pay the cover price.”
The reality is…
The marketing, advertising and media agencies view this form of circulation as self-promotion and don’t see why they have to fund it. It enhances the perceived performance of those titles and deceives unsuspecting individuals who may not do their homework properly.
Unsuspecting marketers and advertisers may well be influenced to support a publication based purely on its reported growth in circulation.
Patterson believes promotional material should not be presented as true sales. The advertising industry devotes a lot of time to ensuring the right advertisement is placed in the right environment. The price and content of publications filter consumer interest and allow advertisers to pinpoint their target market. “The reality is that the only viable circulation in the long term is circulation that is paid for based on the value and content of the title. All other forms of circulation are short term,” he says.
Bizcommunity.com
Zuma to preside over Nakasa’s reburiel
President Jacob Zuma will preside over the reburial of renowned journalist Nat Nakasa’s remains at Heroes’ Acre in Chesterville, Durban, on 13 September.
Nakasa’s remains were brought back to South Africa earlier this month from the United States, where he was buried 49 years ago.
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said the repatriation of the journalist’s remains marks the culmination of a journey that began 50 years ago when Nakasa left his motherland on an exit permit, making him a stateless person.
“We are proud to say we have restored his dignity and given him back his citizenship. This occasion is the fulfilment of his dream for a free society, where every man is treated with respect and dignity.”
Nat Nakasa’s remains arrived in South Africa earlier this month.
Nakasa was buried near Malcolm X’s grave. The two had first met in Africa and became friends. Ultimately, they died within months of each other in 1965. The same cemetery is the final resting place of American novelist James Baldwin.
“There is no doubt in our mind that Nakasa was a complex figure, an articulate journalist and a highly gifted writer. In fact, he was a man who defined his time through his lived experiences and writings,” said Mthethwa.
He said Nakasa returns to a South Africa that is remarkably different from the one that he left 50 years ago and that he was sure Nakasa would be happy that South Africa is celebrating 20 years of freedom, for which he fervently fought.
“We are repatriating Nakasa’s body and spirit back to his ancestral land just over a month after the passing away of his dear friend, colleague and fellow writer, Nadine Gordimer,” he said.
Gordimer was the last person to see him off at the then Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg. Nakasa died on 14 July 1965. Gordimer died on 13 July 2014.
About Nakasa
Nat Nakasa was born in Durban in 1937 but moved to Johannesburg to work as a journalist for Drum magazine. He also worked for the Golden City Post and was the first black journalist to work at the Rand Daily Mail, where he provided a black perspective for the newspaper’s predominantly white readership.
He was awarded a Nieman Fellowship in 1964 to study journalism at Harvard College in the USA. However, the apartheid government rejected his application for a passport. As a result, he was forced to leave South Africa on an exit permit, which meant that he could not return.
Nakasa soon found that racism existed in America as well, albeit more subtle. He did not like New York and soon moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he spent his time at Harvard steeped in the sombre business of education.
His death by suicide was an apartheid tragedy, and a tragedy of exile. He wrote articles for several newspapers after leaving Harvard, appeared in the television film The Fruit of Fear and was planning to write a biography of Miriam Makeba. But two days before his death, he told a friend: “I can’t laugh anymore and when I can’t laugh, I can’t write.”
IPRA world congress comes to South Africa in 2015
The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) will, for the first time, be hosting its world congress in South Africa in 2015, choosing Johannesburg as its preferred venue.
IPRA was established in 1955 and will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2015, an important milestone for the premier international association that serves individual public relations practitioners in more than 80 countries.
IPRA is the principal source for codes of conduct governing public relations across the globe and other host cities in the recent past have included Chicago, Istanbul, Beijing, Lima and Dubai.
The 2015 congress will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from 27 to 29 September.
The South African organisations that are involved with this project are The Council for Communication Management (CMM), the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), the Department of Communication (DoC), South African Airways (SAA), the South African National Convention Bureau (SANCB), the Gauteng Convention Bureau and the Johannesburg Convention Bureau.
Congress Chairman Johanna McDowell said: “It has been wonderful to have the support of South Africa and all of the local organisations in order to host this congress. Without the support of PRISA and CMM, IPRA would not have been able to move forward with this bid.”
New members
The National Press Club welcomes the following new members:
Shaun Sishuba – PlatMedia Group, Sibusiso Dubazana – TNA Media, Nthabiseng Maphanga – UFL Magazine, John Sukazi – Gauteng Provincial Treasury, Anika Sharma, Telestream Communications, Karin Blignaut – Tame Communications, Harold Shobane – 5wh media Solutions, Trevor Hattingh, Office of the Military Ombudsman, Kavitha Kalicharan – Taurus Communications, Kabelo Thelele – Unisa Radio, Kgomotso Makinta – North West Department of Health.
We look forward to seeing you at a press club event soon!
Thank you for paying membership fees
Thank you to those press club members who have already paid their membership fees for 2014. Members who have not yet done so, are requested to pay their fees as soon as possible, to avoid their names being removed from the membership list. Membership fees are R220 for full members, R350 for associate members and R150 for student members. Members are requested to use their surname as reference when payment is done, so that it can be picked up easily by the secretariat.
Feedback
Please send any news, suggestions or information for this newsletter to Martin van Niekerk at the secretariat on martin@junxionpr.co.za, 082 257 0305. Website | Facebook | Twitter
