Martie Meiring
Martie Meiring (1934-2024) was an influential journalist, critic and cultural commentator.
Also known as Martie Retief, Martie Retief Meiring, or Martie Retief-Meiring
BEING WRITTEN
Contents
Biography
Born Martie Retief, Martie Retief was born on 26 December 1934 in Johannesburg (CV 2017). She completed her school career in 1951 at Port Natal High School in Durban. In 1954 she obtained a BA at SU. She started working at the Eastern Cape newspaper Die Oosterlig (later only Oosterlig, then Die Burger Oos) in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) in 1955, which means her journalistic career already spans almost seven decades, as she is still active as a journalist is. After her two Oosterlig years from 1957 to 1959, Retief Meiring worked at Die Vaderland in Johannesburg. From 1960 to 1961 she was with NewsCheck, a South African news provider of the time. She left for London in 1962, where she did freelance work for the next two years. In 1964 she was appointed to the London office of National Newspapers and National Magazines, the two subsidiaries of National Press at the time. She returned to Die Beeld (the Sunday newspaper) in Johannesburg in 1967, where she went to Huisgenoot after six months. In 1975 she started working at the newly founded daily Beeld. From 1978 to 1981 she was editor of Bonanza, the then National Magazines' first magazine aimed at a black female market (Retief Meiring 2013). Here she literally pioneered the content and the collaborators who were willing to work for a Naspers publication (even if it meant for the publisher to capitalize on the growing black market [Spies 1992:428–9] ). As Spies put it: "Naspers increasingly took notice of new markets that were waiting to be exploited." (The theoretical view of the political economy of the media, as in the case of the "women's market" which was important to the early Die Burger, is again in question.) The black population's purchasing power, which despite being "modest on average" individual income, which was large in total, was part of the motivation for establishing the page, which was available free of charge (Spies 1992:429). Thanks to Retief Meiring's network of contacts, she was able to recruit several influential collaborators. Among them was Leah Tutu, wife of Desmond Tutu, who contributed as a columnist (Retief Meiring 2013). A well-known journalist and later editor of The Sowetan, Aggrey Klaaste, as well as the physician, businessman and activist, Nthato Motlana, were collaborators of the paper thanks to Retief Meiring.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
Sources
Lizette Rabe 2024. "Voorlopervroue in die Afrikaanse joernalistiek: Een eeu, drie baanbrekers, drie generasies", LitNet (Seminare en essays), 2024-06-26 [1]
https://maroelamedia.co.za/nuus/sa-nuus/jou-spore-le-mooi-hier-huldeblyke-vir-martie-retief-meiring/
https://www.netwerk24.com/netwerk24/nuus/aktueel/martie-retief-meiring-sterf-20241006
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