Media news, opinion & analysis • Sections •

Radio enjoys a healthy second life online

In the second of a series of columns on the future of music, ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK explores the impact the Internet’s Audio streams have had on radio.

As one traditional delivery channel for music, namely the record store, faces its demise, another is thriving. Radio was meant to be an early victim of the Internet revolution, given how easy it is to deliver an audio stream online. Instead, it remains the most pervasive mass medium in the world, reinventing itself again and again as it migrates onto cellphones, and uses the Internet to intensify its engagement with listeners.

NewsNow misses chance for print/digital integration

The launch issue of NewsNow/NuusNou has hit the newsstands. The new weekly, published by Media24 Magazines, publishes on Fridays and retails at R20.

Any new weekly print product means serious money invested, even if, as in the case of NewsNow, content gets aggregated from various sources by a handful of editors, minimising investment in content.

New business focus, units build a braver RamsayMedia

RamsayMedia has been undergoing a strategic transformation over the last three years under the management team lead by MD Stuart Lowe.

Hair affair

South African Township Barbershops & Salons

A new book explores the township barbershop as cultural and social hub

Social media use in journalism still evolving, as new award shows

The Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards is among the most prestigious and richest in the country. The awards, now celebrating its 10th year, rewards outstanding reporting and excellence in journalism, with the overall winner walking away with R125 000 in prize money.
The Vodacom awards have various categories by media such as print, radio, television and by niches such as sport, financial/economic reporting, consumer journalism etc.

TBWA, Zille deny Sunday Times tender scandal report

The Sunday Times has published allegations that the office of Western Cape premier Helen Zille has awarded the province’s communication budget to agency TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris without following proper tender procedures. It values the contract at R1 billion over two years. The newspaper is basing the story on information supplied by an anonymous “whistle-blower.”

John Brown wins triple play, challenges for top content marketer spot

John Brown has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the South African custom marketing field. It launched in 2007 with Pick n Pay as a client, producing its monthly food magazine, Fresh Living, which has since emerged as the bestselling food title in the country. Now, suddenly, it has grabbed Cell C, Edgars Club and Discovery Health in short succession, shaking up the local custom marketing industry.

Oliver Hermanus on critics and Skoonheid’s marketing strategy

In the second part of our interview with Oliver Hermanus, he discusses Skoonheid’s marketing strategy, the critical reaction of the major trades and South African critics, his reasons for making the film and the faults of the local film funding system. By Roger Young

Oliver Hermanus on filming Skoonheid

Oliver Hermanus’ Shirley Adams was an assured debut, his follow up Skoonheid is a far maturer and bleaker work. Skoonheid is an important new work in the South African canon because it starts a process of interrogation that has been lacking in local film for so long. We had a lengthy chat with him at the DIFF about the process of making the film, the state of film as art in South Africa, funding and the perception of Skoonheid as a “gay” film. Here is part one by Roger Young (for Mahala)

Wine mag bets service content will pay when journalism didn’t

Wine magazine, the wine-focused consumer monthly published by RamsayMedia, will be publishing its last edition in September 2011, after nearly 20 years in print. The magazine has only turned an annual profit three times in its existence.

RamsayMedia MD Stuart Lowe says the group had been considering for many years now what to do about Wine magazine. For years it has been building a series of conciliary activities to extend the Wine brand, including books, wine tastings and expos. All these businesses made money, but never enough to offset the losses on the magazine side, says Lowe.