#HuffPostSA

What a setting it was to celebrate the launch of the Huffington Post in South Africa on a Sunday afternoon. Katy's Palace Bar was buzzing with some of the really biggest names in the country present. 

Media personality Anele was our emcee for the afternoon and she sure knows how to get the crowd going and after cracking a few jokes and trying out her high school afrikaans speech on us, Esmare Weideman, CEO of Media 24 took to the stage. She believes that they have put together the strongest team of editors & journalists in the country & wishes them the best of luck in what she is hoping to be a wonderful partnership with a wonderful brand.

Huffington Post CEO, Jared Grusd, originally born in Johannesburg then went on to explain why entering the South African market was their next move. South Africa has a big, diverse population with many different perspectives & many different languages. Many of these need a platform to express themselves. The Huffington Post aims to focus on 2 elements. The first - World class journalism and the second to create a platform for people to articulate their voices so that people can all make more informed choices. 

Verashni Pillay, Editor in Chief of Huffington Post SA hosted a panel discussion with famous political puppet Chester Missing, EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi & DA's shadow minister of communications Phumzile van Damme. Jokes were made about Gareth Cliff, Des van Rooyen, the Prophet of Doom, Julius Malema & AKA. But some serious points were discussed as well. Ndlozi believes what the media could do better in South Africa is to give a voice to the most excluded, exploited people in SA & getting the message across in people's own languages.

Key note speaker for the day was the esteemed Trevor Manuel. Speaking about the media and the role of continuity of our responsibility to each other seemed to be the base of his thoughts. 

Image - IC-Creations - Ilan Ossendryver

What I like about Huffington Post is that they have always told the story as it is. If you go onto www.huffingtonpost.co.za you will see what I mean. 

Some of the attendees included Ruda Landman, JJ Schoeman, Nataniel & Annie Malan, who all enjoyed a magnificent traditional Sunday lunch. (Very fitting for the launch in my opinion) 

Image - IC-Creations - Ilan Ossendryver

Image - IC-Creations - Ilan Ossendryver

And naturally, we were Trending at Nr. 1 in the country. #HuffPostSA