James R. Gaines is a distinguished journalist, editor, publishing executive and media consultant. He is the founder of a multimedia publishing company, Story River Media, and was editor-in-chief at the first multimedia online publication, FLYP. His reinvention of Life magazine, while acting as managing editor, won him widespread acclaim, and a position at Time magazine, saw him not only double magazine profits, but also win numerous journalistic awards. To date, he is the only person to have ever run three (People, Life, Time) Time Inc. publications simultaneously. He has consulted to various media companies and regularly tweets and blogs about the evolution of media.
The Media Summit, to be held on 11 November 2010 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, aims to bring local and international media industry leaders together, and has already attracted some of the leading names in South African media and advertising to speak on its various panels.
Jonathan Harris, chairman of the MPASA Media Summit , says: "I am very pleased that James will be our featured international keynote interviewee. He is a well-respected opinion leader internationally and has unique insight into the future of our industry through his extensive work with traditional print and multimedia."
Harris is equally pleased that Tim Modise has agreed to participate at the Summit, by conducting the interview with Gaines for the event. "Tim has become a local icon on the South African media scene, and I am sure that this interview will be one of the highlights of the Summit," he says.
Tim Modise is held in high regard as one South Africa's best-known journalists, and TV and Radio presenters. He was also chairman of the 2010 World Cup Organising Committee, the leader of the Proudly South African Campaign, and chairman of the BEE Scorecard for the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Modise conducted the world-famous Ubuntu Experience interview with Nelson Mandela, and holds numerous industry awards including: SABC's Best Broadcaster on Radio, GQ magazine's Presenter of the Year for 2001, and the 2001 Reconciliation Award from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. Modise was recently appointed as the CEO of the Sizwe Africa IT Group.
The Media Summit will give representatives from the Business to Business, Customer and Consumer magazine sectors, as well as advertising, branding and media specialists, a valuable platform to discuss and debate the challenges facing today's rapidly evolving magazine landscape.
"This is a not-to-be-missed media event," says Harris. "As a highly innovative industry facing new challenges, an event of this kind in South Africa is essential. I want to create a forum where the industry can come together and debate the most important and impactful issues and hopefully extract valuable strategic insights."
EVENT DETAILS:
MPASA Media Summit
Date: 11 November 2010
Time: 08h00 - 17h00
Bookings open 1 September
Panellist speakers to be announced in the coming weeks.
