My Dear Americans, So very sorry to hear about your new president and the appalling way he’s treating you. I really, really feel your pain. But be of good cheer. You’re not alone. We, here in South Africa, know what it’s like to elect a paranoid, grandiose, delusional, narcissistic, demagogic and probably sociopathic president. Our […]
Read MoreSomething of Value
The Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) has commissioned me to train nine senior South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) journalists in the ways of interviewing. Following is the story of the first time I trained SABC journalists. Twenty-two years ago. At the time I was lead TV journalism trainer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Johannesburg, South Africa, 1994 Buildings reflect […]
Read MoreFall and Rise of Jimi Matthews
THE JIMI MATTHEWS who quit as the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) acting Group Chief Executive was once a fierce and dedicated defender of freedom of the press. I knew him back around 1994 when SABC lured me from Canada — where I’d been head of TV journalism training for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation […]
Read MoreBrexit — and How Soon We Forget
“The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe.” Nobel Peace Prize Committee, 2012 Just four years ago the European Union (EU) was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. In many ways the prize was a reward […]
Read MoreSometimes I Get it Right
It’s a full two-and-a-half years since I last practiced the dangerously dark art of political prognostication. I was living in Canada at the time and writing the weekly media column, Watching the Watchdog, for Huffington Post. The dying, third-place Liberal Party had just elected a new leader, one Justin Pierre James Trudeau, only 43, son […]
Read MoreGod, Spies and Lies
It’s 1993. A year before South Africa’s first-ever democratic election. Small groups of journalists secretly leave South Africa for intensive training workshops at Canada’s public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), in Toronto, Canada. You could call them voortrekkers (“those who go ahead”). They’re pioneers sent by the African National Congress (ANC) and other anti-apartheid political […]
Read MoreIf Zuma Quacks Like a Duck …
After fifty-four years away from South Africa, here is Tim Knight’s assessment of the country today, adapted from his article for The Canadian Daily. To date, it’s also run on all4Women, biznews.com and fn24.com. It’s been two years since Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela died. And every month that goes by moves South Africa further away from […]
Read MoreSo You Want to be a Journalist?
Tim Knight works out of Cape Town and for 10 years was head of TV journalism training at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). This column is the last of his series of Master Classes on the craft of broadcast journalism for The Journalist. Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be installed into […]
Read MoreKnight’s Theory of Bedtime Conditioning
This column is part of Tim Knight’s series of Master Classes on the craft of Broadcast Journalism for The Journalist. Knight works out of Cape Town and for ten years was head of TV journalism training at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) In our language, to understand means to feel Konstantin Stanislavsky Father of Method […]
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