Happy viewing for news junkies - 2 Jun 2008[Louise Marsland] For a news junkie like myself - most journos suffer from this affliction - the launch of e.tv's 24-hour news channel was the highlight of the week. It's sad I know, but for those of us who watch more news than entertainment on TV, getting a break from CNN's overkill on the American presidential election, traffic congestion on London's highways on the rather parochial SkyNews, the formality of EuroNews and the intensity of Al Jazeera; the prospect of in-depth, 24-hour coverage of our own backyard, is enticing. read more The power of community - 26 May 2008[Louise Marsland] If there was one thing that prevailed in the past week during the horrific violence that keeps the hope alive of the so-called rainbow nation and may salvage our tattered image within Africa and abroad, it is the generous and giving nature of the many South Africans, who, without fanfare, mobilised their friends and neighbours, companies and clients, to give - of their own time at refugee stations, of clothes, food, blankets and cash. The empathy and majority condemnation of the xenophobic attacks on immigrants is what will prevail as the minority criminal element is tackled. read more SA’s tarnished image - 19 May 2008[Louise Marsland] I am angry today, saddened and stunned at the images and news filtering through after days of utter barbarism in Gauteng: The Times front page pic of a man burning to death, while onlookers laugh, says it all. The video is up on its site but I couldn't watch it; we saw too much death in the late '80s and early '90s in South Africa and those are images I hoped we would never have to see again. read more No headline shortage, thanks to SABC - 12 May 2008[Louise Marsland] Well, thanks to the SABC, there was no shortage of news headlines last week - always a concern for a trade daily during/after public holidays! And as many pundits are saying - a better script couldn't have been written by any of the local soapie creators. In fact, it comes closer to resembling a Shakespearian whodunit like Macbeth or Hamlet, with brothers-in-arms doing each other in for the job of ruling ‘Kingdom SABC', pushing and shoving for power under a new dispensation-in-waiting. read more Questioning the creative pitching process - 5 May 2008[Louise Marsland] Should the creative pitching process continue as is or is it doing too much damage to the industry? These are questions asked by two different columnists on Bizcommunity.com recently, in case you didn't catch it, what with all the load shedding and public holidays that have kept many from regular hours at their desks! First, Thendo Ratshitanga, exec chair of Tshirundu Communications, outlined the arduous process Government puts agencies through in the pitching and tender process in a brilliant article. His view is that organisations must have stringent processes to evaluate bids and give sufficient time for agencies to submit their best effort, and that where there is apparent abuse in the frequency and shambles that seems to be the Government tender process that it should be reviewed by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Auditor-General as “fruitless and wasteful expenditure”. read more Vociferous Biz readers - 21 Apr 2008[Louise Marsland] While the Bullard saga is far from over, ending up as it may be, in court in the future - our readers have certainly posted vociferous views on the matter, second only to how they feel about radio programming line-ups, usually! While most have slammed the satirist's writing on that last column of his at the centre of the row, our dipstick poll on the home page shows that most readers feel Bullard shouldn't have been fired. Amongst the chaff and vitriol, there are some very good views from readers who have given the matter some thought, and as always, we appreciate the debate that is stimulated and participation from our informed readership base. read more Revolving doors of hirings, firings, losses and resignations - 14 Apr 2008[Louise Marsland] Last week in this industry felt like a revolving door of hirings, firings, losses and resignations of some of the key people in our industry. Yvonne Johnston leaving the International Marketing Council (IMC) is a massive blow and she will be hugely missed by those in the industry who have seen her raise South Africa's brand profile internationally. read more Women are market dominators - 31 Mar 2008[Louise Marsland] One of the most enjoyable events I have been privileged to attend this year was a seminar with Tom Peters, hosted by Global Leaders. In one of the themes of the day, he spoke about the rise of women in dominating the market - as consumer and leaders. read more So much to celebrate - 25 Mar 2008[Louise Marsland] How busy is this year?! There's so much to celebrate... Advertising media doyen and editor of Advantage, John Farquhar, who certainly transformed reporting on this industry and inspired this journalist years ago, turns 80 years young on 10 April 2008 . read more Calculating battery power... - 17 Mar 2008[Louise Marsland] Okay, so I'm thinking here, I'm pretty prepared for the threatened power cuts and approaching winter... I've made peace with the fact that I will have to forgo my electric blankie at times and we will be reading more and watching less TV (never a problem in my family, thankfully), we've got the hot water bottles lined up, the extra gas bottles for cooking, tin kettle for boiling water on gas, extra big pots, extra battery life for my laptop, battery operated lights, more tinned food and pasta than usual... read more Release of SAARF 2007B AMPS - 10 Mar 2008[Louise Marsland] The SAARF 2007B AMPS (All Media Products Survey) data was released in Joburg this morning, Monday, 10 March 2008, to those who attended the presentation - the specific data is embargoed until Thursday when the Durban and Cape Town presentations are done. A very interesting increase in consumption of media across the board has been recorded, with only outdoor and cinema measuring no significant change in this round of research. read more Go make a difference! - 3 Mar 2008[Louise Marsland] The current power crisis in South Africa set the context for the annual Design Indaba this year, in that the usual ‘change the world' and ‘save our planet's resources', from the very socially responsible and aware mainly European delegations, were even more meaningful for those of us present last week in Cape Town. Bottom line - it is up to all of us to make a difference and maybe it will start to sink in here as we face our own resources issue, because no matter who is at fault, we cannot take our planet for granted any longer. read more Online initiatives to increase engagement - 25 Feb 2008[Louise Marsland] It's always inspirational to take a step back once in a while. I was on final study leave for a week and then up a mountain with a whole lot of online media planners. read more The impact of B2B media - 4 Feb 2008[Louise Marsland] I started my career in daily newspapers 20 years ago and until 1994 had never heard of trade media (now known by the more fancy name of business-to-business/B2B media). Trade media didn't feature in our curriculum at the time and maybe we weren't all that interested because as journalism students, we all thought we'd end up in television or at the old Rand Daily Mail and change the world! Business-to-business media, like community newspapers and community radio, is, however, one of the best places to start in media as smaller operations mean you get to be more hands on and tackle the big stories. read more Don’t lighten up on the pressure - 28 Jan 2008[Louise Marsland] It is ironic that in the month that Oprah's magazine offshoot in South Africa, O, launches its ‘no complaining' campaign complete with trendy little purple wrist bands, that the lights go out and a cacophony of protest rings out. It's been very hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel these past few weeks and my column last week looking at the more humorous side of these dark days even drew its fair share of ‘hate' mail. read more |
