'News junkie' joins Telkom Media

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 27 May 2007

Telkom has appointed Jimi Matthews to run Telkom Media’s 24-hour news channel.
 
Who’s Jimi Matthews?
 
‘Jimi Matthews, former head of e.tv and SABC TV news and who resigned as head of SABC TV Sports Production at the end of February, has been appointed by Telkom Media to run its 24 hour news channel’ (Jimi Matthews joins Telkom Media, 24 May 2007).
 
In other words, Jimi Matthews is a guy that knows a lot about getting news onto TV screens.
 
Is he a suitable candidate?
 
Yes, if we can take CEO of Telkom Media, Mandla Ngcobo’s word for it.
 
Ngcobo said in reference to Matthews: “He’s been in the trenches for over 20 years, from production to management, and has built a formidable network of news contacts from all over the world. Jimi has an instinct for what makes news, a flair for the visually exciting and isn’t scared to adapt to the latest technologies, the latest being IPTV” (Jimi Matthews joins Telkom Media, 24 May 2007).
 
In other words, Jimi has been around for many years and got a lot of experience.
 
Furthermore, ‘…Matthews had amassed experience unique to his South African counterparts, working for an international news agency (Reuters), a commercial station (e.tv) and a public broadcaster (SABC). He helped transform the evening news at both e.tv and SABC into the most popular bulletins in the country’ (Jimi Matthews joins Telkom Media, 24 May 2007).
 
In other words, there’s no doubt that Matthews is the man for the job.
 
“Jimi is also known for developing loyal teams with an inclusive management style” ” (Jimi Matthews joins Telkom Media, 24 May 2007).
 
In other words, employees love him.
 
What’s Matthews saying about his new job?
 
“Our news service is going to be entirely different. It will be interactive and on-demand. Consumers are no longer keen to wait for news in the traditional way - for scheduled TV or radio news bulletins, or their daily newspaper. Our news will be constantly updated, and available through many formats. Through IPTV, viewers will be available to retrieve any news segment they have missed” (Jimi Matthews joins Telkom Media, 24 May 2007).
 
In other words, Matthews’s new job gives him the opportunity to jump on a new bandwagon and explore uncharted terrain.
 
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) wishes Matthews all the best.