Not all writing is worth reading
Greetings,
When my father started the newspaper Southern Star in Lesotho in the mid-1990s, I didn’t think that the media would be an industry that I would later become submerged in. It was a personal passion business for my father, picking up from a magazine he ran, also in Lesotho, in the 1980s. I worked on the management of Southern Star and had a weekly column, which I maintained even after I had moved to Johannesburg until the newspaper business was shut down around 1999.
In the time since then, I have blogged, worked in television production, edited and written for magazines, and had a stint in radio. In that time, the industry has evolved (or devolved) immensely, especially around the time I edited a men’s business and lifestyle magazine called Destiny Man.
All of a sudden, we were having to write for print and digital and had to think about things like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). And clickbait became the status quo with a lot of online media platforms, which I have always struggled with. I decided then that I would write the way I know how, even if it meant the audience for my writing would be small. I am not sure whether that decision has been vindicated but it does feel, today, like there is a shift back to content with more substance/depth.
In Master Your Attention: Schopenhauser’s Strategy Against Clickbait on FS, this statement stood out for me, “Not all writing is worth reading. Just because someone can put words on a page doesn’t mean they are worth reading or add value.” It is relatively easy for me to string words together competently but what’s more important, personally, is being able to produce writing that is worth reading and/or adds value.
South Africa’s media have done good work with 30 years of freedom but need more diversity provides a decent summary of the state of media in South Africa. For me, what stands out as significant, having worked in the media in the country is “Transformation of the media to represent the diversity of people and their perspectives has not been achieved.” This comes across in how stories are framed, who is given voice and platform, and what is left out.
For my most recent podcast, I had the opportunity to chat to actor, storytelled and fashion icon Sthandiwe Kgoroge.
I just finished reading Anansi’s Gold by Yepoka Yeebo on recommendation from Kobby Graham (who was on my podcast in 2022) and it puts so much of Ghana’s history into perspective. It’s the story of one of the greatest conmen of all time.
It has been about three years since I started writing a cigar (and motorcycle) column for Wanted Online. In March, I wrote about Aganorsa Leaf and was invited to Bruce Whitfield’s show on 702 to talk about the cigar as well as cigars in general.
I am part of what has been defined as Generation X and, while context tends to be from an American perspective, I am entertained by a flurry of videos, particularly on Instagram, about my generation.
I am working on a project with some friends that is music related. As part of our brainstorming session, it was agreed that we each need to create a playlist of 30 songs that have significance in our lives. It was so difficult choosing 30 songs - I did cheat a bit by including a song that’s over an hour - but here’s mine.
That’s it for today. Please share, subscribe and/or comment.
Also, check out my podcast and book Listen To Your Footsteps.
Easy
Kojo