MALAWI

Fired Malawian radio journo gets death threats

[Gregory Gondwe] Joseph Mwale, the radio journalist fired for allegedly publicising a recorded audio interview with Peter Mutharika, Malawi's foreign affairs and international cooperation minister and brother to President Bingu wa Mutharika, is said to be receiving death threats. Read more >>

GHANA

Scangroup and Ogilvy announce a joint venture in Ghana

[Carole Kimutai] Scangroup and Ogilvy, associates of WPP, a global advertising and marketing services company, have announced the launch of two advertising firms, Scanad Ghana Limited and Ogilvy Ghana Limited. The move is aimed at expanding Scangroup and Ogilvy operations in Africa and to serve an existing demand for marketing and communication services. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Politicians' words can damage nation brand

[Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia] "Every time politicians open their mouths, whatever they say has the potential to market or de-campaign their countries," Zimbabwe deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara said, speaking at the Brand Africa Summit today, Thursday 29 September 2011, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Read more >>

AFRICA

Airtel signs agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks

Bharti Airtel, the telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, have entered a partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks to expand its 2G (GSM/EDGE) networks and deploy 3G networks in seven African countries. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Cybercrime increase worries, vulnerable groups targeted

[Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia] The 2011 Norton Cyber Crime Report says 431 million adults worldwide fell victims to cybercrime last year. Women, disabled people, schoolchildren and job-seekers continue to fall victims of cybercrime, which has reached significant proportions in South Africa and the rest of the world, worrying governments, internet experts and scarring users. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Finding an alternative to PR's broken business model

[Judith Middleton] How do you measure the value of PR? The ultimate business goal is to get the phone to ring, but PR is not sales and it's rare to be able to draw a direct link between a particular PR effort and a sale. The results show themselves in more subtle ways, in reputation and in visibility. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Help the media, and help yourself

[San Reddy] Editors everywhere - at least, traditional media ones - must be quaking in their boots. The advent of the Internet was difficult enough to survive. But the revolution that is social media, accompanied by the great technological strides of recent times, mean that media is more democratic and less in the hands of a journalistic elite than it has ever been. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Pick n Pay opens in Mauritius

Today, 29 September, Pick n Pay announced the opening of latest addition to its expanding African footprint - its first Mauritian store in Bagatelle's Mall. The company will open a further two stores in Mauritius in the next year. Read more >>

MALAWI

Malawi hit by counterfeit money

[Gregory Gondwe] Malawi's central bank has issued a warning to the country after being severely hit by counterfeit notes of its biggest bill of 500 kwacha, a situation the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) governor Dr. Perks Ligoya has described as undermining the integrity of the national currency. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Builders Warehouse launches in Botswana

Builders Warehouse has opened its doors Gaborone, Botswana - the brand's first store outside of South Africa. Read more >>

UGANDA

Kenya's Zuku TV targets 100 000 Ugandan viewers

[Carole Kimutai] Zuku TV, a consumer brand of the Wananchi Group has an ambitious plan to register 100 000 subscribers in Uganda in the next two years. Read more >>

ISRAEL

Israelis, Palestinians become "Blood Relations"

Israeli and Palestinian members of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF), a joint Israeli/Palestinian organisation for people who have lost an immediate family member in the conflict have been coming together over the past week in Israel to donate their blood, as a symbolic act of healing. Read more >>

VIETNAM

WAN-IFRA hosts media conference in Vietnam

HANOI: The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), has organised its first conference in Vietnam, with more than 140 Vietnamese media stakeholders gathered in Hanoi this week for a look at business strategies from a wide variety of markets worldwide. Read more >>

GLOBAL

Universal human rights logo revealed

The universal human rights logo was revealed earlier this month. From over 15,000 submission from more than 190 countries, a winner was chosen. The Human Rights logo will become an open source product, free to be used by everyone, everywhere, without restrictions - for the purpose of promoting human rights. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA

Jim Beam bourbon has gone cherry

[Evan-Lee Courie] Red Stag, the newest addition to the Jim Beam range of bourbon whisky, was recently launched in South Africa. I had the opportunity to have a taste of the new kid on the block. Read more >>