This just in, as they say, Media24 has announced in the most fashion forward way — through Twitter nog al! — that Die Burger has got a new editor: Bun Booysens, who was previously editing the Media24 travel magazine Weg & Go.
Bun is hugely respected in the industry as a very smart news hack and thoroughly decent individual so it seems an excellent appointment. I had the pleasure of having him as a guest lecturer on a Poynter journalism course I did many years ago and thought he was the bee’s knees. He clearly had an excellent nose for news and was very generous with his knowledge – so lucky folk at Die Burger in Cape Town.
It’s a little unclear what Booysens predecessor, Henry Jeffreys, will be doing. According to the Media24 on Bizcomminity (who were the first to pick up on the buzz on Twitter), Jeffreys will be “keep his ties with the company, writing a regular column for some of the newspapers and lecturing at Media24′s Journalism Academy”.
That’s the academy run by that Mathatha Tsedu, previously the City Press editor and who also did a short stint as editor of the Sunday Times between Mike Robertson and Mondli Makhanya. It does suggest that — like Makhanya very recently at the Sunday Times — Jeffreys is being sent quietly on his way to more ephemeral pastures.
I guess the musical chairs at Media24 and Avusa may well be a consequence of last year’s recession, when many newspapers were hit by declining circulation and a fall in advertising. All media house owners are chastened by the experience and are probably looking for more bang for their buck when it comes to editors.
Click here to read my previous post on the Avusa reshuffling and here to read Anton Harber’s take on it.
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Your sentence – “It does suggest that — like Makhanya very recently at the Sunday Times — Jeffreys is being sent quietly on his way to more ephemeral pastures.” -refers: Please note that Jeffreys did not allow the company to send him anywhere – that is why he decided to leave, his integrity intact.