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Zuma pips Malema as newsmaker

15 Jan 2010

The National Press Club-Glenrand MIB Newsmaker of the Year for 2009 has been awarded to President Jacob Zuma, for outperforming ANC Youth League president, Julius Malema, athlete Caster Semenya and ex-Springbok rugby captain Joost van der Westhuizen in headlines.

National Press Club chairperson, Yusuf Abramjee made the announcement in Pretoria on Thursday 14 January 2010 and stated that it was based on the grounds of impact, news value and media attention.

“There was much discussion as to who made headlines almost every day last year. President Zuma was in the news for various reasons throughout 2009. He dominated the centimetre column space in the print media and much of the airwaves in the electronic media,” said Abramjee.

According to Monitoring SA, Zuma was mentioned no less than 22 300 times in the South African print media, nearly 33 000 times in the broadcast media and over 12 500 times on online media during 2009

Previous newsmakers

Zuma is the fourth head of state to be named newsmaker. Previous recipients were F W de Klerk, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. In 2005, Zuma was named by the Press Club as Newsmaker of the Year when he was deputy president of the ANC. At the time, he was entangled in legal battles.

Previous recipients also included Hollywood star Charlize Theron, Zachie Achmat and the Treatment Action Campaign, the late Hansie Cronjé and various other sporting personalities, the DA's Helen Zille, Eskom and Cope.