Diggit.co.za student website now live

Making student life easier and less bewildering, Diggit.co.za has launched as a specific site for students in South Africa seeking vital survival information and as a direct line to 18-24 year olds, as a platform to promote student deals and discounts.

Replacing the antiquated noticeboard system, it has been specifically designed as a simple go-to place for all student needs, from finding accommodation, to books, tutors, jobs, cars and even cool fashion items. The site is reportedly not only great for students and their parents' wallets but also for brands and services with student offerings.

Students create a profile and then interact and transact with other students, much as Facebook does, and buy and sell things, like Gumtree. 

Extras

The site was built by an experienced technical team who included optimised search engines, geo-tagging and all kinds of other techie wizardry that makes it fast and efficient.

Other Diggit extras that are in the pipeline include a CV builder, an app incubator and a New Deals section. It also has a full hybrid mobisite, which allows it to work on all smart mobile devices. Plus the jokes and pranks section, vital to student survival.

To celebrate its launch, it is running a competition where someone can win an all-expenses paid trip for two to Thailand worth R60,000. For more, go to www.diggit.co.za.

Plagiarism Tutorials

As many students are receiving assignments that require of them to make use of a variety of sources, there is always the danger of finding yourself being guilty of plagiarism. I have scoured the net and found the following links to plagiarism tutorials that can help you better understand a) what is plagiarism and how to avoid it; b) how to use your sources for assignments:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/plagiarismtutorial.php

http://learni.st/users/maggiemessitt/boards/17694-plagiarism-a-student-guide

Remember when newspapers boasted of their sales figures?

Anton Harber writes:
Remember the time when newspapers used to crow about their quarterly circulation figures? They had a way of finding good news even when their circulation was down: if you compare streets sales with the last quarter of 1934, you will see that our circulation has shot up in Benoni – that was the kind of thing they would do, adorned with graphs that always pointed upwards and had their rivals’ sales pointing downwards.

Their rivals, of course, had graphs that showed the exact opposite, which they would achieve by comparing sales in Brakpan since 1963. It was a quarterly triumph of statistical creativity and a regular moment of the sunshine journalism these papers would otherwise disdain.

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for South African newspaper sales came out last week. You might not have noticed, as this time around most newspapers stayed absolutely silent. Not a word, not a graph, not a peep.

What does that tell you? That the news was so bad that they couldn’t find anything good to say. Not even about Benoni or Brakpan.

Here are the raw facts. Total sales for daily newspapers dropped from 1,68-m to 1,53-m (daily average) in the last year. Total sales of weeklies, went up slightly from 652 000 to 666 000 (weekly average) – but only because Soccer Laduma went up while all others slipped. And for weekend papers, the total fell from 2,42-m to 2,27-m (weekly average).

Ouch!

No wonder everyone is talking about digitalisation.

I hope Iqbal Survé of Sekunjalo sees these figures before his consortium parts with R2-bn for the Independent newspaper group. Their Star fell about 20% to 102 244; their Cape Argus fell nearly 20% to 32 337 average daily sales; their Cape Times also fell about 20% to 34 627; Daily News fell about 10% to 30 743; the Mercury had a terrific time, falling only 5% to 29 761. Pretoria News’ 20% fall to 17 576 means they can probably start printing it on the office photostat machine.

These figures include digital subscriptions and all the circulation-boosting tricks in the book, by the way. If you take out giveaways and bulks sales, the Star’s street sales and subscriptions, as an example, only number about 80 000.

Afrikaans newspapers continued their downward slide: Beeld down 10% to 66 132; Burger a small drop to 61 484; Daily Son about 10% to 96 598.

Even those newspapers which had been bucking the general trend, did not do so this time. isiZulu newspaper had mixed results, breaking their pattern of consistent growth. The shining star was Isolezwe, of the Independent group, whose daily, Saturday and Sunday editions all went up significantly. Ilanga and umAfrika, however, saw all their editions go down. Mail & Guardian had a small drop of about 3% (what in other times we would call a large drop), to 49 000.

The Daily Sun continued its downward trend from its peak of near 500 000, now down to 322 324. It is clear that that Media24’s sales have never recovered from their big subscription computer blow-up of two years ago.

Caxton’s Citizen had a modest drop to 64 627.

The Sunday Papers dropped less, but still dropped: the Sunday Times made a small dip to 449 799, but this continues a trend that has seen them slowly slide from around 500 000; Rapport lost 5 000 sales to hit 213 460; City Press lost around 15% to hit 126 400; Sunday Sun collapsed to 184 417, a loss of 14%; Sunday World dropped to 130 656.

So the only good newspaper news came from Soccer Laduma, Isolezwe and the Herald in Port Elizabeth, which went up a few hundred copies. There was also growth among free newspapers, which now total 6,1-m copies – but then to grow this sector all you have to do is give more away for nothing.

If you want to understand the long-term trends, total daily newspaper sales in 2009 were 1,96-m – and they are now 1,53-m. Between 2002 and 2009, the figures were boosted largely by the new tabloids, which found a new market and grew quickly over about five years. The older newspapers were generally staying in the same place or dropping. But since the tabloids have joined the downward trend in the last two years, this has brought total newspaper sales tumbling down. In the last year or two, the three isiZulu newspapers bucked the trend, as did some of the weeklies, but this seems to have come to an end.

This is not to say that newspapers will disappear, just that they will shrink and only thrive as part of multiplatform news operations. But that’s an issue for another day.

* I should highlight the one article which found an hilarious way to trumpet the growth of newspapers, in the face of all this evidence. The Saturday Star’s marketing page had a piece by an anonymous writer which told us that newspapers are NOT dying because “the print sector is growing in SA and India”. Never mind the conflation of newspapers and print (because there is growth in some print, like consumer magazines); never mind a confusion when it says that much of the growth is in fact in non-print platforms. It cited a total circulation growth since 1970 from 3,8-m newspapers to 22-m today – but with no indication of what was included in these remarkable figures. It made no allowance for changes, such as the fact that free newspapers – currently the biggest sector – were not counted in 1970. Nor that we had far fewer newspapers then, most of which had come in periods of growth which had reversed in recent years. Nor did it tell you that most of our major newspapers now have significantly lower sales than they had back then when they mostly only catered for white readers. In 1960, the Star sold 183 000 copies and it is down to almost half that; the Cape Argus sold 105 000 and now sells 32 000… It was a masterpiece of self-serving obfuscation. Who says sunshine journalism is dead?

This article appeared on Anton Harber's blogsite, The Harbinger

Media Law Blog links

Codes, Constitutions and Guidelines

The BCCSA Codes

http://bccsa.co.za/images/pdf/bccsa%20broadcasting%20code%20new.pdf

http://bccsa.co.za/images/pdf/CODE%20FOR%20SUBSCRIPTION%20BROADCASTERS.pdf

The South African Press Code

http://www.presscouncil.org.za/ContentPage?code=PRESSCODE

Die Burgers Code of Conduct

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Die_Burger_-_Ethics_code_Afrikaans.pdf

The SABC Editorial Code

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Editorial_Code_of_the_SABC_1.pdf

The Code of Professional Practise

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Press_Code_of_Professional_Practice.pdf

The Press Code of Conduct

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Press_Code_Aug_2006_1.pdf

The SABC Legal and Policy framework for broadcast news

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/SABC_Legal_and_policy_framework_for_broadcast_news.pdf

The Sunday Times staff policy guide

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Sunday_Times_Staff_Policy_Guide.pdf

The Star Code of Ethics and Conduct

http://www.sanef.org.za/images/uploads/The_Star.pdf

The Declaration of Table Mountain

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Declaration-of-Table-Mountain.pdf

SANEF Constitution

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Constitution_of_the_South_African_National_Editors.pdf

The BCCSA Constitution

http://www.bccsa.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=26

                                                 

Relevant Acts

The Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996

http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/a108-96.pdf

                 

The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000

http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2000-004.pdf

The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000

http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2000-002.pdf

The Safety at Sports and recreational Events Act 2 of 2010

http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/commonrepository/Processed/20100802/274809_1.pdf

The Noise Control Regulation to the Environmental Conservation Act 73 of 1989

http://www.ehrn.co.za/download/reg_noise.pdf

The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=99961

The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act 70 of 2002;

http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/acts/2002/a70-02.pdf

The Film and Publications Act 65 of 1996

http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=181000

The Films and Publications Amendment Act no 3 of 2009

http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=182728

The Protection of Information Bill Gazette No. 32999 of 5 March 2010

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=118894

The Divorce Act 70 of 1979

http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1979-070.pdf

The Maintenance Act 99 of 1988

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70757

The Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

http://www.rtia.co.za/ruploads/criminal-procedure-act-458.pdf

The Childrens Act 38 of 2005

http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2005-038%20childrensact.pdf

The South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70987

The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70651

The Protection of Information Act 84 of 1982

http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1982-084.pdf

The Nuclear Energy Act 46 of 1999

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70613

The Public Protector Act 23 of 1994

http://www.pprotect.org/legislation/docs/PUBLIC%20PROTECTOR%20ACT%2023%20OF%201994.pdf

The Commissions Act 8 of 1947

http://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/docs_gen/1947_08_Commissions%20Act.pdf

The Defence Act 42 of 202

http://www.dod.mil.za/documents/acts/New%20Defence%20Act%2042%20of%202002.pdf

The Independent Broadcasting Authority Act 153 of 1993

http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=218750

The Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998

http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=70646

The Petroleum Products Act 120 of 1977

http://www.energy.gov.za/files/policies/regulations_petroleumproducts_retail_2006.pdf

Suggested reading Links

The Sub Judice Rule

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Sub_Judice_Rule_March_2005.pdf

“Watching the watcher: recent developments in privacy regulation and cyber-surveillance in South Africa”

http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol3-4/ncube.asp

“ISPA ADVISORY 10: The Regulation of Interception of Communications and

Provisions of Communication-related Information Act, No. 70 of 2002”

http://protea.tenet.ac.za/ISPA_Advisory_RIC%20Act.PDF

Inforrms Blog

http://inforrm.wordpress.com/about/

“Do we need a jury system?”

http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/do-we-need-a-jury-system/

Guidelines for Journalists covering elections

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Helpful_Guidelines_For_Journalists_Covering_The_Election_Prepared_By_The_SA_National_Editors.pdf

Reporting on HIV/AIDS: Ethical Guidelines for South African media

http://www.journalism.co.za/component/content/article/57/208-reporting-on-hivaids-ethical-guidelines-for-south-african-media.html

SANEF Desk Guide – Glossary and more

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Desk_guide__glossary.pdf

SANEF Handbook – more info on Court reporting

http://sanef.org.za/images/uploads/Handbook.pdf

Suggested Links

Print Media South Africahttp://www.printmedia.org.za

Magazine Publishers Association of South Africahttp://www.mpasa.org.za

Newspaper Association of South Africahttp://www.printmedia.org.za

Association of Independent Publishershttp://www.independentpublisher.org/index_beta.php

Media Institute of Southern Africahttp://www.misa.org

Advertising Standards Authorityhttp://www.asasa.org.za

Press Council of South Africa, the Press Ombudsman and the Press Appeals Panelhttp://www.presscouncil.org.za

Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africahttp://www.bccsa.co.za

MAPP-Setahttp://www.mappp-seta.co.za

Rhodes Journalism Reviewhttp://www.rjr.ru.ac.za

Journalism.co.za (Wits)http://www.journalism.co.za

National Press Club of South Africahttp://www.nationalpressclub.co.za/index.html

International Media Organisations

World Association of Newspapershttp://www.wan-press.org

Index on Censorshiphttp://www.indexonline.org

Unescohttp://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1657&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

American Journalism Reviewhttp://www.ajr.org

American Press Institutehttp://www.americanpressinstitute.org

Poynterhttp://www.poynter.org

The American Copy Editors Societyhttp://www.copydesk.org/index.php

Pew Resource Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism

http://www.journalism.org/

Mantungwa Ndlangamandla’s ‘Pastor Banda’

Mantungwa Ndlangamandla’s (an old student of ours) ‘Pastor Banda’ will broadcast on Mzanzi Magic at 21h00 tonight.

South Africa announces the Best Liked Ads of 2012

Issued by: Millward Brown

 

Millward Brown's Best Liked Ads list celebrates the countries favourite TV commercials and their advertising agencies in South Africa. These are the ads that have been rated as the 'most liked' by the South African audience, whom we believe to be the most important critics. There are lots of awards out there, but this one is chosen by the consumer - the person who ultimately chooses to buy your brand or not.

Rank	Advert	Agency
1	Spur - 'Sign Writing'	Haas Advertising
2	Wimpy - 'Missing Lunch'	Draftfcb
3	Vaseline Total Moisture Body Lotion - '3 Layers'	The Hardy Boys
4	Volvo S60 T3 - 'Wolf'	The Arnold Team, Boston
5	Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - 'Creativity'	Cheil USA
6	MTN - 'Lullaby'	Metropolitan Republic & Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg
7	Nando's - 'Reason 2 (Anthem)'	Black River FC
8	Debonairs Pizza - 'Master Piece'	Morris Jones
9	Romans Pizza - 'School Kids with Barry Hilton'	Blue Planet
10	Pantene Pro V - 'Mends Instantly with Liv Tyler'	Grey
11	Bells Whisky - 'The Search'	King James
12	Samsung Galaxy Notebook - 'New Way'	Cheil USA
13	Nando's - 'Reason 15 (Fire)'	Black River FC
14	South African Reserve Bank - 'New Bank Notes (Nelson Mandela)'	The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg
15	Johnsons African Nurture Products - 'Beauty Secret'	140 BBDO
16	BMW - 'Connected Drive E-mails'	Kirschenbaum, Bond, Senecal & Partners
17	Lexus RX 300 - 'Amazing'	Draftfcb
18	Castle Lite - 'New Cold Rush'	The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg
19	Nando's - 'Reason 24 (Close to Europe)'	Black River FC
20	Wimpy - 'Grand Grillster'	Draftfcb

2012 appeared to be 'the year of the fast food outlet/quick service restaurant (QSR)', with eight out of the top 20 ads falling within this category, and five out of the top 10. Looking at 2009 to 2011, only one QSR ad made the top 10 list each year. 

Could the huge increase in the number of QSR ads on the list be a sign of the times? The economic environment is still quite tight post the 2009 recession, and consumers are searching for small, affordable treats for their families - relevance is therefore key in engaging the South African public and some categories are more relevant than others.

Regardless of the category, some of the key ingredients in great advertising that we see are humour, kids, animals and celebrities. Of all the QSR ads on the list, humour is the common thread - something that the South African market tends to resonate with quite strongly. TV ads are increasingly seen as 'entertainment' and if you can make us smile or laugh, you are entertaining us. And if you entertain us with a brand that is very relevant, you may just have a winning combination...

One way to ensure relevance is to 'localise' the ad - all of the QSR ads on the list had a distinct South African flavor. MTN, Bells and Castle Lite were also very strong in this regard. This isn't to say that locally produced ads are better than internationally produced ads, we just need to caution the importance of the ability of the ad to 'travel'