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What WikiLeaks means for the SA govt’s assault on media freedom

The South African government has announced a triple play to clamp down on media freedom in South Africa, a move which might force journalists to adopt the WikiLeaks model when it comes to publishing sensitive information.

Concern is mounting over the apartheid-inspired Protection of Information Bill, which will give government sweeping powers to declare virtually any information ‘in the national interest’ (and classify it), making it illegal for journalists to accept, possess, investigate or publish this information.

There is discussion of a government-sponsored media tribunal which would aim to adjudicate on cases brought against the media and finally there is the Criminal Procedure Act which is being amended to force journalists to disclose their confidential sources. At the moment, sadly, the debate around these proposed laws are happening in the media only rather than amongst citizens.

At the same time, the online world is abuzz with news of the massive intelligence leak suffered by the United States government when WikiLeaks published 90 000 internal US military logs relating to the war in Afghanistan. The leak proved the ineffectiveness of legislation designed to clamp down on the free flow of information and the press. The leak happened anonymously, on a global stage, and was covered by international media with the affected governments powerless to plug the leak.

Read the full story on Memeburn.com

#zamediafreedom ANC vilifies journos in attempt to quash free speech

The ANC has made public its plans for the future of South African media in a discussion paper prepared for the ANC National General Council 2010, to be held 20 – 24 September in Durban. The discussion paper makes it quite clear how the ANC views the media – it unashamedly vilifies journalists as dishonest scoundrels – and rather disconcertingly notes the success of the apartheid regime in staying in power through censorship and media control.

The discussion paper claims “fractions” of the media still adopt an “anti-transformation, anti-development and anti-ANC stance”. Questioning ANC policies, or more likely aspects on the implementation of those policies, remain unwelcome. Dissenting voices gets tagged with the “anti-transformation and anti-development” label, an overused and now meaningless smear tactic of politicians unable to adapt their language to the reality of a post-apartheid society.

As an example of successful “independent broadcasting regulation”, the ANC holds forth the SABC. It positions the near-bankrupt state broadcaster as an example of a “competitive broadcast industry forged in the crucible of the struggle against apartheid control, repression and censorship”.

This is the same organisation rocked by a ‘blacklisting’ scandal in 2006 when then news and current affairs MD Snuki Zikalala was caught out banning then Business Day political editor Karima Brown (who recently made the news when she joined the soon-to-be launched pro-ANC newspaper The New Age) from the broadcaster, as well as for taking analyst Aubrey Matshiqi off-air.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.com

EXCLUSIVE: SA business school looks beyond eBook hype with new research project

The University of Stellenbosch Business School has teamed up with online retailer Kalahari.net to investigate the impact and value of making content available in eBook format to academic institutions. The project aims to ensure that South African academic institutions base future decisions around the adoption of eBooks as a viable alternative to printed text on fact rather than hype.

The project, details of which will be officially announced to the media on Monday, will seek to “determine what the extent of the consumption of e-books in the academic environment is and how it impacts on student learning.” Kalahari.net will be sourcing the digital content and appropriate software.

Senior Lecturer at USB, Martin Butler, will drive the project. Butler says research will focus on “both the business model for future distribution and profit/cost sharing from an author/publisher/distributor/consumer perspective and the academic perspective on the suitability for student consumption and how it impacts student learning.” Butler hopes the researchers gain insights on the entire ‘content value chain’ as well as how students react to digital content.

According to Butler, print continues to be the preferred medium for academic content at his institution. Even within the pilot project the students’ printed textbooks will not be replaced by eBooks, merely supplemented or duplicated. “Students receive all core textbooks in printed format, some in electronic format as well and then some additional textbooks in eBook format only,” says Butler.

Cultural norms of both students and faculty will play a role in the adoption of eBooks and is this is one of the aspects the project will also explore. “At this very early stage we are pleasantly surprised that 100% of the students, from 14 different countries and across all demographics, have opted to participate in the project,” says Butler. “Faculty support has been encouraging.”

Butler believes that if the research project is both sufficiently critical and scientifically robust enough to allow for informed business decisions to be made, decisions that are also in the interest of the students, the schools full faculty will come aboard.

If eBooks take on more interactive features Butler agrees it could play an important role in aiding educators. He also agrees that academic institutions should push for such interactivity in eBook products offered by Publishers.

“You have to appreciate that our business students are all about application, not regurgitation of content,” says Butler. “Interactive content (embedded links to cases and even ‘live’ financial information) promises a richer learning experience and ultimately a better application of knowledge.”

The research project will run for four months with its first feedback sessions scheduled for early August. Finding relevant digital material for the project which includes prescribed and additional content, digitised course content, etc. is the main challenge facing the research project, according to Prof John Powell, Director of the USB.

The study constitutes an important first step in articulating the value eBooks can offer and the challenges that need to be overcome for it to be widely adopted at academic institutions in South Africa.

The rise of eBooks and the myth of affordability

Major drum roll from the guys at Amazon.com for their announcement that “Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books (eBooks) than hardcover books.” The group went on to claim that for every 100 hardcover books sold, it has sold 143 Kindle books.

The statistics given out by the giant online retailer don’t look quite so amazing when put in proper context. In fact, quite a different story emerges that indicates the traditional publishing business is unprepared to embrace the new dynamics eBooks bring to the market.

See the full story on Memeburn.com

Redesigning the web so consumers benefit

Broadly speaking, consumers find the online experience disappointing – embarrassingly so, according to Andy Budd, a founding partner and MD of UK-based user experience agency Clearleft. In fact, we only take the treatment we receive online as we do because we have come to expect so little, says Budd, who’ll be a speaker at the Tech4Africa conference being held in Johannesburg, 12-13 August 2010.

Just think about the time and money most companies spend on crafting the user experience of a retailer or a hotel and match that with the time and money being spent on crafting the online user experience (UX). It doesn’t quite add up, does it?

Websites often continue to be driven by technological capability rather than by a design solution, and this needs to change, Budd believes, as more and more consumers make more and more of their purchasing decisions online.

If consumers actually enjoyed using a website, they might actually come back more often – that would be money well spent! Improved user experience design also offers companies a source of opportunity in terms of differentiating themselves from their competitors and in how they approach and build customer relationships. It can turn redefine also-rans into cool, user-centric brands.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.com

Paywalls an act of desperation

A move by Rupert Murdoch to stash the content of his global media empire behind a paywall, and the rather unseemly rush with which any number of publishers desperate for new revenue sources followed him, serves as but another indication that all is not well in the world of media.

There have always been publishers who, with varying levels of success, have charged for their content. They tend to be specialist products, or offer high powered financial content like the FT.com or the Wall Street Journal does, but the commoditisation of news and the strategic decision by independent online publishers to embrace and publish high quality opinion and analysis (something newspapers have claimed will be their saving grace) have meant that most content stayed free.

The debate has now spilled over to South Africa since Avusa, publisher of the Sunday Times, The Times, Sowetan, Sunday World plus regional titles such as The Herald, Daily Dispatch and others, announced its intention to introduce paywalls on certain of its content properties.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.com

How the world cup came to redefine the Daily Dispatch

The 2010 FIFA World Cup threw up some formidable obstacles for editor Andrew Trench and his team at East London daily, the Daily Dispatch (owned by Avusa Media).
Port Elizabeth, whose stadium played host to a number of world cup games, rests on the edge of the newspaper’s circulation footprint, and is also the home of rival The Herald (also published by Avusa). Residents of East London felt a keen sense of disappointment after having had to witness Buffalo City Municipality’s flopped attempts to try and lure a world cup team to use the city as a base says, says Trench.

Trench decided his city needed to capture some “gees”, and that his paper and his community needed to find a way of tapping into positive mood around the world cup enjoyed by most South Africans.

In an editorial to readers, Trench outlined his editorial vision for his paper during the cup. “Readers who haven’t been living on Mars the last couple of weeks will have noticed an unusually patriotic tone to the Dispatch in our coverage, columns and commentary around the world cup,” Trench wrote on his blog. “This is entirely deliberate I must confess. I have been curious to see how readers respond to such an approach.”

Trench is the first to admit that it “takes a lot for journalists to put their natural cynicism to one side and to wave a flag for their country and not all my colleagues are entirely comfortable with this.”

While some in the media may take issue with Trench’s stance strategically, it does make a lot of sense, as Trench takes time to explain below. He also explains why the world cup should serve as a wake-up call for South African media in finding new relevance and hope in the communities it serves.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.com

World cup: The Mercury takes on Babel

In Durban, The Mercury’s editor Angela Quintal grabbed the 2010 FIFA World Cup as an opportunity for some creative thinking and innovation at her paper. Quintal decided to use the event to show the market (and her readers) that “as a newspaper The Mercury was not the conservative business read of old and could lead the way in terms of a fresh and different approach.”

She did this quite brilliantly through a series of ‘twinning’ projects in conjunction with newspapers from spanning from Lagos to Seoul. Essentially, Quintal forced her newspaper to embrace the globalised nature of news and media, and then took it one step further, integrating it into the print experience.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.com.

World cup: newspaper editors innovate amid circulation decline

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has been the biggest South African news story so far this year. The tournament dominated media coverage over several months, both in the build-up to and during the actual event. Newspapers sat between a rock and a hard place during the world cup, as television ruled with its live broadcasts and online was first with live commentary, opinion and blow-by blow recounts.

In this country, online news doesn’t do a lot of investigative journalism – it’s the obvious niche if you are a newspaper man defending your circulation from online’s straight-up reporting and opinion. National weekly Mail & Guardian took this approach, one that editor Nic Dawes describes as dancing SA’s complicated rhythm and which combined vigorous investigation with some flag-waving, nation-building and partying. Others, such as KwaZulu-Natal’s The Mercury, grabbed the opportunity to think outside the box and re-engage with visual journalism.

Read the full story on BizCommunity.

This gets fucking tired man

The latest anti-BP ‘ad’ to go viral comes from the guys at www.UnFuckTheGulf.com. Some of it is pretty funny. But four fucking minutes of people going fuck you gets fucking lame 40 seconds in.

The last time fuck was a ‘dangerous’ word was on the playground in kindergarden. Nothing novel about it. Anger doesn’t come packaged in neatly produced videos. I’m not sure why we pretend it does? Fuck BP. Yeah. You had me at “Birds are fucked, fish are fucked, sea turtles are fucked…What the Fuck…”