On June 12, 1964, ANC leader Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in jail. Sentenced with him was Denis Goldberg and other Rivonia trialists. Goldberg, now 80, spent 22 years in jail. being the only white person to be sentenced, he was sent alone to Pretoria Central prison, while the others went to Robben Island. He was released in 1985, a few years before Mandela and the other treason trialists were freed. Upon his release, Goldberg went into exile to continue his role in the struggle, returning in the new SA. I chatted to him on June 12 this year, at his home in Hout Bay, exactly 49 years after the Rivonia trialists were sentenced. A humble, witty intellectual and activist who is a qualified engineer, we spoke about his good friend Mandela, who has been in hospital for the past week, but also about his hopes - and vision - for the new South Africa.
Here is the interview published in the Cape Times on his thoughts about Madiba.
Goldberg celebrates a life of Struggle - Cape Times | IOL.co.za
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
25 themes of survival from the World Editors Forum
There was lots to think about at the World Editors Forum in Bangkok, June 2013. Here are my 25 quick take-home sound grabs .
1. Don’t
tweak, rather reinvent
2. Get
buy-in from newspaper owners, or you are wasting your time.
3. Have
a shared vision, across all departments, between editorial and management
4. Communicate
with management, show respect - but keep up the wall
5. Focus
on your role - good journalism: The platform is just the platform, the bottle.
Journalism is the wine. It’s the wine that counts, that’s your core business. (credit:
Juan Senor)
6. Encourage
management to expand revenue opportunities – the rats & mice all add up as
traditional advertising declines
7. Hire
more reporters
8. Protect
reporters, ensure their safety, fight for them, don’t let owners take control
of editorial
9. Hire
a digital/data developer/data wrangler (1 developer to 5 journalists)
10 Do what you do best, link to the rest (credit:
Jeff Jarvis)
11 Take
risks, but learn from the mistakes and successes of countries in a state of
advanced crisis – ie the US media
12 Have
a presence across as many platforms as possible: print, digital, social media. Right now, mobile is the IT medium.
13 Hire
young upstarts, disrupters, with good ideas, different skills that add value
and help transformation
14 Train
experienced journalists, inspire them to learn new skills, they are invaluable
15 Discard
outdated ideas, structures and deadlines
16 Interact
with your audience
17 Use
simple tools like wordpress and scoopshot
18 Know
your audience: Analyse response and
traffic, and respond accordingly
19 Reorganise
your newsroom and deadlines accordingly
20 Be
quick, but add value, it’s impossible to compete with social media, so first
verify
21. Shake
things up, it’s now or never
22. Visualise
stories from early on, not just at production stage
23. Don’t
replicate print content and design, do it differently, make it relevant for
digital platforms
24. Leadership
is 20% journalism, 80% ability to inspire others
25. Don’t
despair. Do something radical, innovate.
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