A little thing called ‘freedom’

As this is my final blog, it seems only appropriate to wrap up with a note on the proposed national media laws. For those not in the know, government is planning on passing the following two laws through parliament:

• The proposal of a government-run media appeals tribunal (MAT) in place of the current Press Ombudsman and Appeals Panel
• The Protection of Information Bill which will allow for information to be easily classified, and, under initial drafts, warrants a 25-year prison sentence to any journalist who exposes such information

In Noob terms, freedom of expression is under threat and the so-called transparency of our democracy is about to become that much murkier. See The Media Institute of Southern Africa for more info: http://www.misa.org/

A note for the asking

Dear Readers

Firstly, if you are reading this please let me know. I am currently under the impression that only my lecturer and mother read my blog, and well, it would be lovely knowing that someone reads this because they actually want to. So first port of call after reading this would be to post a comment please!

A case of the tweets

Twitter has become a pretty useful tool for journalists; it’s the new platform in the race to break news first, especially when it comes to a series of events like the World Cup or Panjo the tiger running around. Lately, South Africans have been using Twitter to keep fellows tweeters up-to-date with the Jackie Selebi and Brett Kebble trials.

Amateur Hour

Citizen journalism is news, community news, information and content generated by users and readers of various media platforms; the digital age has made citizen journalism even more accessible for those with a computer and internet access- now you can discuss your thoughts and opinions on current affairs, international happenings, or local issues. Blogs, like this one, are just one of the ways you can facilitate discussion online.

FIFA’s Freedom Farce

Now I’m not one to be negative; the 2010 FIFA World Cup was phenomenal, and South Africa truly made us proud, but I recently heard someone refer to the next hosting nation as “unlucky”, and the more I think about the stress that lead up to the event, the more I realise that we were in a very unsymbiotic relationship.

FIFA created a big show and dance of 'granting' Africa its very first soccer world cup- Africa is then expected to bow down to the great football Gods in astonishment. And from there on it was a chaotic scramble to meet Mr Blatter’s demands. Where did this leave South African media?

Phishing Scams in Plain English

Online Identity Crime

The internet has introduced several new ways for identity thieves to access your personal information online; so while the ease of shopping and banking online may seem like a major time-saver, it has also put you at risk in many new ways.

Identity fraud can be committed by using identity numbers, a signature, name, address, phone numbers, banking and credit card information- almost any personal information can be used to help an criminal access your financial accounts and information.