Media News South Africa

Media moguls meet

Representatives of 14 media companies and associations met last week to discuss the merits of the formation of a media owners' association with the purpose of providing a platform for media owners to discuss issues of common commercial interest.

The meeting was held at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton on Thursday 5th of December 2002, under the Chairmanship of Barry Sayer, Group Chief Executive of Clear Channel Independent (Pty) Ltd.

Among the items discussed were: cooperation with other industry bodies, the relevance or structure of the commission system that exists between media owners and advertising agencies, the funding of the South African Advertising Research Foundation through the Marketing Industry Trust (MIT) Levy, media owner's role in the promotion of empowerment within the advertising industry, self-regulation, ways to enhance the value of advertising placed with media companies through better service and added value and the looming threat of advertising restrictions on alcohol advertising.

Sayer commented as follows: "The body has no mandate as yet, but enjoyed a well supported exploratory meeting from a broad spectrum of media owners."

A report-back meeting is scheduled for Thursday 13th of February 2003, at the Print Media SA offices, 5th floor, Nedbank Gardens, Bath Avenue, Rosebank, at which a mandate to formalise the proposed association will be sought. The meeting will be open to all media owners.

"The proposed association would provide a convenient, common contact point with all media owners for the other industry bodies, such as the Marketing Federation of South Africa (MFSA), the Advertising and Media Forum (AMF), the Association of Communication and Advertising (ACA) and government structures alike," Sayer said.

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