Thanks to a complete revisioning (which included changing the venue, black tie dress codes for both nights and rearranging the categories per evening ie radio and TV were split up), the Loeries ceremonies were short and sweet this year, and the two MCs, Riaan "I'm on a stage" Cruywagen and David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff, had their audiences eating out of their hands. This certainly left a lot of time for partying, of which there were plenty, judging by all the invitations and tweets. Congrats to the deserving! However, it saddens me that no-one seems to have thought of asking the advertising industry as a whole to join in the Right2Know march to Parliament - to protest against the contentious Protection of Information Bill - that took place on Saturday morning, 17 September 2011. Now that would have been a powerful statement. The Secrecy Bill as it currently stands will not just affect the media, but all citizens, all sectors, all industries. But the breaking news via Twitter as I write this editorial column is that the contentious bill, which was due to be voted on tomorrow, has now officially been withdrawn from the parliamentary programme so that there may be further engagement before it is tabled! Note that this does not mean scrapping the bill; the intention is to finalise it before the end of the year. A most welcome outcome after a jam-packed weekend of media conferences, also in Cape Town: Highway Africa, Pan African Conference on Access to Information, Digital Citizens' Indaba, the African Forum for Media Development, various editors' forum meetings, and workshops for African journalism educators. Congrats also go to Prof Guy Berger, who will be leaving Rhodes University to become the new director of freedom of expression & media development at UNESCO. Lastly, at the annual Nat Nakasa Awards dinner, it was announced that, instead of an award this year, that slain photojournalist Anton Hammerl would be honoured instead. Viva, Right2Know, viva! Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz) Managing editor PS Look out for something new from Biz tomorrow! PPS Find out about South Africa's history of brands and branding and the challenges of sports branding, plus tributes to Deon du Plessis, by listening to the latest Biz Takeouts podcast from the Bizcommunity.com/Chai FM Marketing & Media radio show. PPPS The third article in our "Google AdWord Free Trial" series is now up. Don't forget that Bizcommunity Marketing & Media | South Africa readers can get R400 worth of pay-per-click advertising on Google through this campaign.
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