The Media magazine and Sasol to honour the most influential women in South African media

Over twenty nominations have already been 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.

According to The Media's editor Kevin Bloom: "Although South Africa has an incredibly progressive constitution when it comes to the protection of equal opportunity, women still lag way behind men in terms of the top power positions in media. Looking at the effect some women have had on this industry, not to mention the remarkable drive and talent that we would all agree is out there, it's really not a justifiable scenario. Hopefully, our August issue and the Sasol sponsored event will do something to highlight the concerns."

Bloom points out that this past year has seen women making invaluable contributions to the parliamentary debates around racial transformation in the media value chain, and that these individuals should be given due prominence. There are also, he says, women executives who have steered their media organisations to impressive financial success, women journalists who have won esteemed national awards for their proven courage and dedication to their craft, and women media strategists who have faultlessly led their clients in selection of the most effective communication channels.

Sasol Ltd will be sponsoring a luncheon on the 29th July in Sandton where the ten most remarkable women will be honoured.

Sandra Gordon, The Media's publisher and herself a woman of great influence in the media industry, says: "The quality of the nominations we have received reinforce the perception I had: that women have played an exceptionally important role in this most influential segment of the South African economy. Our judges have an extremely tough task ahead of them this week in sifting through the motivations and selecting the top ten. Then there is the formidable challenge of agreeing who the most influential woman in the media for 2003 will be!"