John Matisonn
John Matisonn is a South African political journalist and author. He was one of the founding councillors of South Africa's Independent Broadcasting Authority and from 1986 to 1991 was the South Africa correspondent for National Public Radio in the United States.[1][2]
Matisonn grew up in the suburbs in Johannesburg and began his career as a political journalist on the Rand Daily Mail.[3] In 1979, when South Africa was under the Apartheid regime, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail for refusing to reveal his sources for an article which led to exposure of the Muldergate Scandal. He resigned as president of the Southern African Society of Journalists and left for the United States where he became the Washington correspondent for six South African newspapers.[4] [5] Matisonn was given a presidential pardon by President P W Botha on the day he was to fly back from Washington to South Africa to serve his sentence.[6]
At the dawn of South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, he was the Executive Editor for Elections at the national broadcaster, SABC Radio[7].
He co-founded the P-B-I, Public Broadcasting Initiative, to train and recruit South African journalists for the SABC to teach them about balance and fairness in the media.[8]
He was sent by the United Nations to be the Chairperson of the Electoral Media Commission in Afghanistan in 2005[9].
He helped launch ThisDay newspaper in South Africa in the post of editorial director which he left in 2004[10].
Accolades
In 1991 Matisonn and Ira Glass, host of This American Life, were jointly awarded by the National Association of Black Journalists for their four-part series comparing race relations in South Africa with those in the United States.[11]
William F Benton Fellow in Broadcast Journalism, University of Chicago - 1992.
References
- ^ Horwitz, Robert B. (2001). Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9781139428699.
- ^ National Public Radio (25 April 1994). "South African journalist Matisonn". Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ^ News24 (21 August 2013). "Who's who on day two of the SABC board interviews". Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ^ Klein, Dianne (28 April 1981). "John Matisonn, a South African journalist sentenced to jail". UPI. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- ^ "John Matisonn - The Arab Revolution Of 2011 @ The Commodore Hotel". Cape Town Press Club. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ^ Business Day (2 August 2006). "South Africa: Making the Most of the Media". Retrieved 1 October 2015 (subscription required for full access).
- ^ "Who's who on day two of the SABC board interviews". Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ^ "South African journalist JOHN MATISONN". Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ^ Matisonn, John (2010-12-03). "How the west failed Afghan democracy". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ^ "Independent Online". beta.iol.co.za. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
- ^ KCRW. "Ira Glass". Retrieved 1 October 2015.
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