Allister Sparks

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Allister Haddon Sparks (born March 10, 1933 in Cathcart , † September 19, 2016 in Johannesburg ) was a South African journalist and non-fiction author. He was best known as the editor-in-chief of the Rand Daily Mail newspaper and as a political commentator.

Life

Sparks grew up as the son of a farmer near the Transkei border . His family goes back to the " settlers of 1820 ". In his youth he learned isiXhosa . He graduated from Queen's College in Queenstown in 1950 and began his journalistic career in 1951 with the Queenstown Daily Representative. From 1953 to 1954 he worked for regional newspapers in Great Britain. In 1955 he moved to the Bulawayo Chronicle in Bulawayo, then southern Rhodes . Together with Donald Woods , he worked from 1956 to 1957 as a sub-editor at the East London Daily Dispatch in East London , then in Great Britain for the Reuters news agency .

From the 1960s Sparks was employed by the Johannesburg newspaper Rand Daily Mail . The editor-in-chief at the time was Laurence Gandar ; the newspaper was against apartheid . In 1963 he succeeded in interviewing the defendants Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe, who fled shortly before the Rivonia trial , in Bechuanaland . In 1964 Sparks wrote columns for the paper for the first time. In 1972 he became its deputy editor-in-chief. From 1974 to 1977 he was editor-in-chief of sister newspaper Sunday Express before returning to the Rand Daily Mail , where he was editor-in-chief from 1977 to 1981. During this time, the public exposure of the circumstances of the death of Steve Biko and the " Muldergate Affair " fell through this newspaper. Sparks had to leave the Rand Daily Mail when it turned to the white community under pressure from its owner, Anglo American . From 1981 to 1992 Sparks worked as a South Africa correspondent for the Washington Post , The Observer , The Economist and NRC Handelsblad .

From 1992 to 1997 Sparks headed the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism he founded in Johannesburg. In 1995 he wrote and spoke for South African television, the three-part documentary series Death of Apartheid. In 1997 he became editor-in-chief of news and updates for the South African Broadcasting Corporation television . He founded the news channel SABC Africa, whose program could be received throughout Africa until 2008.

From 1990 onwards, Allister Sparks wrote numerous books on current developments in South Africa and a biography of the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu .

Sparks last lived in Johannesburg. He was hospitalized for an infection, where he died of a heart attack . He left four sons.

Awards

  • 1962/1963: Nieman Fellowship
  • 1979: International Editor of the Year of the World Press Review
  • 1985: Louis Lyons Award for "Conscience and Integrity in Journalism"
  • 1985: Nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for International Coverage
  • 1990: Sanlam Literary Award for The mind of South Africa: the rise and fall of apartheid
  • 1992: David Blundy Award for Foreign Reporting , Great Britain
  • 1996: Press Freedom Award from the Media Institute of Southern Africa
  • 2011: Allan Kirkland Soga Lifetime Achiever Award , Johannesburg

Non-fiction

  • 1990: The mind of South Africa: The rise and fall of apartheid. Knopf, New York, ISBN 0-394-58108-3 .
  • 1994: Tomorrow is another country: The inside story of South Africa's road to change. Struik, Johannesburg, ISBN 1-875015-11-6 .
  • 2006: Beyond the miracle: Inside the new South Africa. Chicago University Press, Chicago, ISBN 978-0-226-76859-5 .
  • 2008: First drafts: South African history in the making. Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg, ISBN 978-1-86842-346-0 .
  • 2011: Tutu - The authorized portrait of Desmond Tutu. HarperOne, New York, ISBN 978-0-06-208799-7 .
  • 2016: The sword and the pen: Six decades on the political frontier. Jonathan Ball, Johannesburg, ISBN 978-1-86842-559-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sam Roberts: Allister Sparks, South African journalist who challenged Apartheid, dies at the 83rd New York Times , September 20, 2016, accessed on September 22, 2016.
  2. ^ Allister Sparks: Journalist and lecturer . The Globalist, accessed September 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Speakers on the conference The Power of Culture - Amsterdam 1996: Allister Sparks Biographical Information . ( Memento of October 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) The Power of Culture (English).
  4. ^ RIP Allister Sparks (1933-2016) . bookslive.co.za, accessed on September 22, 2016.
  5. ^ A b c d Allister Sparks: Political Analyst . ( Memento from August 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Who's Who Southern Africa (English).
  6. ^ Joseph Lelyveld: Rand Daily Mail dismisses editor; move to gain white readers seen. New York Times , June 1, 1981, accessed September 22, 2016.
  7. ^ White flight from South Africa: Between staying and going . The Economist , September 25, 2008, accessed September 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ Allister Sparks dies at 83. ( Memento from September 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) The Citizen, September 19, 2016 (English).
  9. ^ Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism: Winners . The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University website, accessed September 22, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Sparks, Allister
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sparks, Allister Haddon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African journalist and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Cathcart (South Africa)
DATE OF DEATH 19th September 2016
Place of death Johannesburg