The great Struggle journalist, Max du Preez, founded South Africa’s fabled anti-apartheid newspaper Vrye Weekblad back in 1998 and revived it in 2019 as Vrye Weekblad Online. He recently wrote an article deploring eNCA TV’s suspension of two of its most experienced anchor/presenters and quoted me. Here’s Max’s article: Yesterday, @XoliMngambi and @JaneDutton made an […]
The Thursday Evening Trot: Of Journalism’s Church, State and Thursday Evenings
It’s the mid-sixties. I’m 27 and have already survived reporting on anti-apartheid revolts and the Sharpeville funeral in South Africa, insurrections in Zambia, and three years and two bloody wars in the Congo. So I fly to America (Richard Nixon, Prop.) to find out if I can play the game with the big boys. With […]
Death of a Bang-Bang Man
Don North was a war correspondent. A bang-bang man, up there with the very best of that elite breed. He came out of Vancouver, worked at CTV, Global and CBC in Canada, and ABC, CBS and NBC in New York. He reported from more wars and insurrections than most of us can name or remember. […]
Morgan Almighty
My old friend Morgan Freeman has just won the American Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) Life Achievement award for his work in movies and — even more impressive — his humanitarian accomplishments. The prestigious award is given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession.” Learning how to be still, […]
Free Marketplace of Ideas vs Four Horsemen
So swiftly that not even the most prescient of us heard the distant thunder of their hooves, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have galloped into our lives . Their names are Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un and Bashar al-Assad. Together this megalomaniacal foursome — just like the Horsemen in the Book of Revelations — […]
Second Battle of Muizenberg
Some 220 years ago the British defeated the Dutch in the battle of Muizenberg and seized the Cape Colony for their king across the water. It was really more of a skirmish than a battle. Just a couple of soldiers killed. Even so, the battle of Muizenberg was a hugely important event in this country — […]
Jimmy Breslin
A man I taught to write wins a Pulitzer Prize for journalism a while back and dies just this week. The Puitzer is for newspaper commentaries “ … which consistently champion ordinary citizens.” This man wins the Pulitzer because be writes about ordinary women and men — people like you and me — as if […]
Of Trump, Zuma and “L’etat c’est moi.”
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 […]
Something 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 […]