7 Feb 2011


Press freedom takes a knock in Egypt

It's been two weeks since anti-government Egyptians took to the streets of Cairo and other cities across the country calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Last week however, we saw a nasty twist in developments as the media became the target of certain factions. Press organisations worldwide including WAN-IFRA, the WEF and CPJ have all condemned the abuse and violence toward media calling for their protection and for media freedom to be upheld. Hopefully we see a firm resolution met this week as the country's economy is steadily falling to pieces.

Germany has taken a firm stance with regard to the repressive media law recently passed by Malawi's government, given the nod from President Bingu wa Mutharika. Germany has withdrawn half the planned budgetary aid to the country. This will hopefully send a strong message to the Malawian government that media censorship will not be tolerated.

Freedom of the press should be upheld and protected to the furthest extent in every country across Africa and the world.

Long live the free press!


Here's to the future, Sindy Peters, Africa editor

Responses to this column welcomed in our online editor's column archive. Send all your Africa marketing news africanews@bizcommunity.com.


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Editorial news

Special focus on media freedom


EGYPT
Egypt: WAN-IFRA, WEF address letter to Mubarak
In a letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) expressed concern at a series of attacks by government supporters on journalists covering the ongoing demonstrations in the country. Read more >>

EGYPT
Foreign journalists have "hidden agenda" - Egyptian media
NEW YORK: As journalists face ongoing attacks and detentions in Cairo, they are increasingly concerned that state broadcasts are creating an atmosphere that is encouraging violence against the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Saturday, 5 February 2011. Read more >>

EGYPT
Mubarak responsible for intensified press attacks - CPJ
NEW YORK: According to press freedom organisation, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak unleashed an unprecedented and systematic attack on international media on Thursday, 3 February 2011, as his supporters assaulted reporters in the streets while security forces began obstructing and detaining journalists covering the unrest that threatens to topple his government. Read more >>

NORTH AFRICA
Journalists censored, held in Sudan protests
KARTHOUM: Reporters Without Borders is concerned over the recent worsening condition of press freedom in Sudan. The country is already hostile to the work of journalists and seizures of journals and arrests of media professionals on Tuesday, 1 February 2011, in connection with popular demonstrations has raised fears of a major return of repression. Read more >>

EGYPT
Journalists under physical assault in Egypt
NEW YORK: Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak began violently attacking journalists reporting on the streets of Cairo on Wednesday, 2 Febraury 2011, a shift in tactics from recent media censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. CPJ has called on the Egyptian military to provide protection for journalists. Read more >>

EGYPT
SANEF condemns Egyptian media censorship
The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) has condemned Egypt's shutdown of Middle Eastern broadcaster, Al-Jazeera's operations in Cairo and the harassment of its journalists by detaining and then releasing them. SANEF is calling on Egyptian leaders to restore electronic communication and to remove the ban on Al-Jazeera immediately. Read more >>

COTE D'IVOIRE
Two TV reporters arrested as "rebels" in Abidjan
ABIDJAN: Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of two journalists employed by Télévision Notre Patrie (TVNP) - a pirate TV station based in the northern city of Bouaké that supports the former rebel New Force - who were arrested on their arrival in Abidjan late last week. Read more >>

NORTH AFRICA
Attacks on journalists in Yemen, Sudan amid street protests
NEW YORK: Journalists in the Middle East are experiencing increased harassment amid rapidly spreading street protests throughout the region, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday, 31 January 2011. CPJ is gravely concerned about reports of attacks against journalists not only in Egypt, as CPJ has previously reported, but also in Yemen and Sudan. Read more >>

Advertising


KENYA
Y&R get Jubilee Insurance PR account
[Carole Kimutai] Jubilee Insurance Kenya has appointed Young & Rubicam Brands to provide it with marketing and advertising support across the East African region, the Indian Ocean and West Africa. Read more >>

CSI


NIGERIA
Airtel adopts school in Lagos
LAGOS: Airtel Nigeria, last week in Lagos, Nigeria, formally announced plans to adopt primary schools across the country as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Read more >>

Digital


AFRICA
Three types of email authentication available
[Georgia Christian] It goes without saying that if you are a legitimate business, email authentication is vital to secure your brand and online reputation. Email authentication is, quite simply, a way to prove an email is not forged. Read more >>

AFRICA
News Corp. puts Myspace on the block
NEW YORK: News Corp. said on Wednesday it was exploring a sale or other "strategic options" for Myspace, the ailing social network which has been eclipsed by Facebook. Read more >>

NIGERIA
Nigerian jailed for Facebook insult of governor
Nigerian police detained a man for 10 days after he insulted a state governor on Facebook, traumatising him to such a degree that he has been hospitalised, his father said on Thursday (3 February 2011). Mukhtar Ibrahim Aminu, 24, posted a message on his own Facebook page on January 9 insulting governor Sule Lamido over the politician's support for President Goodluck Jonathan in April elections. Read more >>

AFRICA
FCAT film library to be available online
TARIFA: The African Film Festival of Tarifa has entered into a partnership with AfricanFilms.tv, a video-on-demand internet platform with its headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, aiming to help the platform build up its catalogue of African films. Read more >>

EGYPT
Egypt's last working web provider goes offline
WASHINGTON: Egypt's last working internet service provider, the Noor Group, went down on Monday (31 January 2011), a US web monitoring company said, leaving the country completely offline. Read more >>

EGYPT
Google, Twitter set up voice-to-tweet service for Egypt
[Jeremy Daniel] As the Egyptian government feverishly tries to cut off all contact with the outside world, Google, working in collaboration with Twitter, has set up an innovative service for Egyptians desperate to communicate and stay in touch. It's a service called voice to tweet, and relies on software from a company called SayNow that Google purchased only last week. Read more >>

EGYPT
Egypt's internet shutdown draws fire in US
WASHINGTON: The Egyptian government's unprecedented shutdown of internet access came under fire on Friday (28 January 2011) from the White House, social networking giants and digital rights groups. Read more >>

Direct Marketing


AFRICA
Inactive subscribers - six reasons why
[Georgia Christian] There may come a time in your email marketing career when you realise that the campaigns that you have been working so hard on are starting to fall on blind eyes. Some of your subscribers, you now realise, haven't opened or clicked through your emails in quite a long time. Read more >>

Education and Training


AFRICA
SMART aids Global Connections, Exchange-Africa
CAPE TOWN: SMART Technologies plans to support Global Connections and Exchange-Africa with the donation of educational technology to schools in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia as well as in the USA. Read more >>

Eventing


WEST AFRICA
World Social Forum: Kenyans rekindle old flame
[Mary Itumbi] NAIROBI: "One of the things we will be taking to Dakar," says Onyango Oloo, "is [knowledge of] how not to organise a World Social Forum." Oloo was the national coordinator of the World Social Forum when it was held in Nairobi in January 2007, and observed firsthand the acrimonious controversy that surrounded the first WSF to be held in Africa. Read more >>

WEST AFRICA
Senegal: IPS reports from World Social Forum
DAKAR: The IPS news agency IPS TerraViva is currently in Dakar, Senegal to report from the World Social Forum, the annual global gathering of social movements dedicated to building alternatives. The forum, currently underway, will conclude on Friday, 11 Febraury 2011. Activists and thinkers from around the world are expected to attend. Read more >>

AFRICA
Barnard College hosts Women Changing Africa
JOHANNESBURG: The Barnard College of Columbia University will host its third annual Global Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa on 15 March 2011. This half-day event, Women Changing Africa, aims to host exceptional women from across the continent, including leaders in government, commerce, academia, media, and the arts for two panels; Conversations on Leadership and Voices of the Next Generation. Read more >>

Exhibitions


SOUTHERN AFRICA
Loeries Travelling Expo opens in Cape Town
The Loerie Awards Travelling Exhibition will open at CityVarsity in Cape Town on 14 February 2011. The exhibition, sponsored by Adobe, showcases winning work from The 32nd Annual Loerie Awards (2010) in a gallery format. It will stop at educational institutions, expos, museums and public spaces in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. Read more >>

Media


MALAWI
Germany freeze aid due to repressive media law
[Gregory Gondwe] The German government has frozen aid money to the Malawi government because of concerns regarding the recently endorsed repressive media law and human rights abuses. Federal Development Minister of Germany Dirk Niebel announced the aid freeze in a letter to the Malawian Minister of Finance Ken Kandodo. Read more >>

KENYA
Kenyan media on the spot over slanted coverage
[Carole Kimutai] Kenya Union of Journalists and Allied Workers secretary general Eric Orina has accused the media of slanted news coverage and unprofessionalism. In a letter to media owners and editors, Orina called for objectivity from the media rather than subjectivity. Read more >>

Mobile


MALAWI
ZBS joins hands with Cellulant for mobile news
[Gregory Gondwe] Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), which also operates an online service, has entered into a partnership with Cellulant Malawi - a mobile commerce company that manages, delivers and bills for digital content and commerce services actualised over telecom networks - to start mobile news. Read more >>

NIGERIA
The mobile banking race begins in Nigeria
[Erik Hersman] Last week I got a visit from Peter Afam Emeleogu, an old contact from TED Africa in 2007. We've both been busy in the intervening years, exploring how technology can be used to overcome inefficiencies in the system. Peter's journey started when he realized the market value of mobile credit as a currency. Read more >>

Production


AFRICA
Durban International Film Festival announces 2011 dates
The 32nd edition of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will take place from 21-31 July 2011. The festival plans to present over 200 screenings of films from around the world, with a special focus on films from South Africa and Africa. Read more >>

Recruitment


ZIMBABWE
Softline VIP expands into Zimbabwe
Omni Africa, based in Harare, has signed an agreement with Softline VIP, a supplier of business software and related services, that will see the company increase its footprint into sub-Saharan Africa by establishing a partner network in Zimbabwe. Read more >>

Retail


AFRICA
Anvil Knitwear joins Cotton made in Africa initiative
NEW YORK, USA: Anvil Knitwear has become the first US-based apparel manufacturer to join the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative. The CmiA initiative is a public-private partnership project to promote sales of sustainably grown cotton from Africa, overseen by the Aid by Trade Foundation, an organisation that aims to reduce poverty and promote economic development through market-based incentives. Read more >>

EGYPT
Egypt's central bank to close for third day
CAIRO: The Egyptian Central Bank announced on Monday, 31 January 2011, that it would be closed for a third day on Tuesday amid unrest in the country. Read more >>


International news
UNITED KINGDOM
Closing the loop
LONDON, UK: In the first of a series of three articles, Robin Jaffray from Inferno discusses social media and its role in retail. Read more >>

UNITED STATES
ICIJ accepting entries for Daniel Pearl Awards
WASHINGTON, DC, US: Entries for the 2011 Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting are now being accepted. The awards honour the world's best cross-border investigative journalism. Submissions must be postmarked no later than 1 July 2011. Read more >>

UNITED KINGDOM
Call for entries - the world's best 100 marketing campaigns
LONDON, UK: Cream, the online resource for media and marketing professionals, is searching the globe for the 100 best marketing campaigns for a new book. The final 100 campaigns will be published in a glossy coffee-table-style book, launched at the Festival of Media Global, 8-10 May, in Montreux, Switzerland. Read more >>

UNITED STATES
Best in digital advertising to be awarded
NEW YORK, US Submissions from around the globe have been flooding the New York headquarters of The One Club, the non-profit organisation dedicated to elevating creative work in the advertising industry. Now, after a week of intense judging, the One Club is ready to announce third quarter finalists for One Show Interactive - their award show celebrating the best in digital advertising and new media. Read more >>

GERMANY
The right navigation system for every application
NUREMBERG, GERMANY: According to findings of a GfK survey on usage behaviour, both pure navigation devices and mobile phones with navigation features will continue to hold their own in the future. Consumers tend to opt for whichever device is best suited to the intended use. Read more >>

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Dubai Lynx juries announced
More International news...


Company news

PR & Communications


SOUTH AFRICA
Bookings for QVC's courses are open, book your seat now! - Quo Vadis Communications
Get all the training you will need this year to improve your communication and presentation skills through the exciting courses offered by Johannesburg-based, marketing communications company, Quo Vadis Communications. Read more >>


Galleries
SOUTH AFRICA
J&B Met 2011

More
SOUTH AFRICA
Southern Ink Xposure 2011

More


Motoring
SOUTH AFRICA
Volvo's new sizzle-wagons
[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] If there is still any doubt about Volvo's ability and determination to produce exciting cars please note the Swedish brand has just dumped the last remains of its stodgy, fuddy-duddy image on the scrapheap with the introduction of one of the most exciting sports-wagon ranges yet to arrive in this country. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA
New car sales up again
[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] The year got off to a good start with the sales figures for January showing an encouraging growth of 18,6% ahead of the same month last year. Read more >>

More Motoring news...


Travel
SOUTH AFRICA
Smart travel options from Air Mauritius
Today, 2 February 2011, Air Mauritius launches its Travel Smart Program, aimed at enticing more South African visitors to this tropical paradise in the low, cool seasons through value added benefits such as increased luggage allowances, free trips for children and discounts for honeymooners. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA
Long Beach Hotel offers opening specials
The brand new Long Beach hotel opens on the east coast of Mauritius on the Belle Mare Peninsula in April 2011 and is offering special deals for anyone who loves luxury a pace or two from the beach. Read more >>

More Travel news...


BizLounge
SOUTH AFRICA
Fleur du Cap nominees announced
Fleur du Cap has announced its 2010 nominees for the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, which are given to outstanding individuals for theatre excellence. The annual awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, 20 March, 2011, at 6pm, at the Artscape Theatre, Cape Town. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA
The Inventiveness of Richard III
[Daphne Cooper] The Tragedy of Richard III is performed with great ingenuity and resourcefulness at Artscape's Arena. Eighteen characters are handled by three actors and two puppets, made by Hillette Stapelberg. David Dennis, Marcel Meyer and Anelisa Phewa handle the many roles with the aid of masks, and bosoms (for the women) - made by Izelle Grobler. Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA
Screamingly funny musical showcase
[Debbie Hathway] If you're up for some bellyaching laughs and great musical talent, don't miss Gino Fabbri and Donna Africa in Completely Nuts at On Broadway in Cape Town until 12 February. It's a comedy review that sets out to prove that "madness, like stupidity, is an entirely subjective affair". Read more >>

SOUTH AFRICA
Large larger largest
[Ilse van den Berg] One of the biggest highlights on the South African horse-racing, social and fashion calender took place on Saturday, 29 January. The J&B Met celebrated its 34th anniversary this year and took place at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town. It's a well-known fact that this is the one day in the Mother City when you are guaranteed to be blown away by super-spontaneous personalities and stunning designer outfits. Read more >>

More BizLounge news...


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Quotes
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