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heat South Africa publishes last (known) Reeva Steenkamp interview

by Herman Manson (@marklives) heat South Africa has published the last (known) interview with Oscar Pistorius’ deceased girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, conducted 7 days before her death.

Andre Neveling, editor of heat South Africa, was a boarding a flight to Johannesburg from Cape Town when he received the news of the shooting death of Steenkamp. His reaction was one of utter shock – his team had a good relationship with both Pistorius and Steenkamp and the couple had agreed to an exclusive photo shoot together scheduled for later in the year.

It was only well into the flight that he realised his magazine might well be sitting on a global scoop. It had secured and conducted an exclusive interview with Steenkamp several days before her death.

Magazine covers we love (this week): sex in London & win R500 in iTunes vouchers

MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them.

Tech Law: Your Oscar Pistorius conjecture could get you sued

by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) The Oscar Pistorius case has enthralled South Africans who are torn between supporting their hero and their disappointment at seemingly being let down by a South African icon. The discussion has practically overwhelmed my Twitter stream and people have expressed opinions on Pistorius’ guilt and innocence well before a court has reached any conclusions of its own.

Who is Dr Iqbal Survé – future owner of Independent Newspapers?

by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) Who is Dr Iqbal Survé, the man who is about to become South Africa’s newest media proprietor if the sale of Independent Newspapers goes through?

Yesterday it was announced that the Irish owners of Independent Newspapers had agreed to sell their South African division to Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium led by Survé for R2-billion.

The deal, said a story in Business Report, is still subject to the final agreement being signed by both parties, shareholder approval by the Irish owners and approval by the Competition Commission.

Independent Newspaper is the biggest collection of English newspaper in the country and includes The Star, Cape Times, Cape Argus, The Mercury, Daily News, Pretoria News as well as publishing phenomenon, the isiZulu Isolezwe.

This is not Survé’s only venture into media ownership and Grubstreet revealed last week that his company, Sekunjalo, was backing a new medium-wave radio station for Cape Town, Magic AM.

Newspaper front pages dominated by Pistorius arrest

by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) It’s the same splash today – the sensational Oscar Pistorius shooting – so it’s really interesting to see which South African newspapers came up trumps in the design and headline department in our daily round-up of front pages.

Nike, Oscar Pistorius and weaponry – more ads deemed inappropriate

“Nike extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to all families concerned following this tragic incident. As it is a police matter, Nike will not comment further at this time.”

Commentators are already questioning the appropriateness of ad collateral produced for Nike including its ‘Nike – My body is my weapon’ campaign that featured Pistorius.

Magazine covers we love (this week)

M-Net pulls Oscar Pistorius ‘Oscar’ campaign from screens

M-Net has confirmed that it has pulled an ad campaign featuring paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius. Pistorius was arrested following the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp early Thursday morning. Pistorius has since been charged with murder.

Conflict at The Sunday Times: why Ray Hartley resigned

by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley resigned from the flagship Times Media Group (TMG) newspaper, Grubstreet can reveal, because of conflict over the paper’s editorial direction with TMG MD Mike Robertson.

Two well placed sources have told Grubstreet that Hartley and Robertson – a previous editor of the Sunday Times himself – had been at loggerheads for some time.

Grubstreet approached Robertson for comment on Friday and today but he has not responded. We will update with his comment should it come.

While Hartley himself would not comment on the claims, staff members at the paper say one of the flashpoint issues was the future of one of the sections of the newspaper.