Firstly, thank you to those members who gave their time yesterday to complete my questionnaire on the way ahead for BizNews Premium. When I checked in this morning we’d had 337 respondents – with some brilliant suggestions, most of which we’re jumping onto, three of them immediately:
* Following a sensible suggestion, we’ve inverted our approach to community comments under BizNews stories. In the past we moderated all of them before publishing, only occasionally “whitelisting” regular commentators. To promote rather than stifle discourse, a more vibrant we’re “whitelisting” everyone – ie allowing them to post without being moderated. Those who abuse the privilege will obviously be “un-whitelisted”.
Read also: Alec Hogg: Lockdown saved 16,000 lives – at a cost of millions of rands each
* As you’ll see below at the end of this letter, we’ve also picked up on other suggestions relating to accessing the excellent but sometimes overwhelming volume of content available through our partners at the Wall Street Journal. A smart idea was why not republish a piece daily in this newsletter. Why not indeed?
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* There were numerous comments about confusion caused through the volume of emails sent by myself, Jackie and Stuart – with requests to identify them better. So from today, the subject of every emailed newsletter will start with “From Alec Hogg/Jackie Cameron/Stuart Lowman…” so you can tell at a glance which of the BizNews team is reaching out.
Read also: Alec Hogg: 2Q GDP plunge quantifies cost of SA’s lockdown
On a broader scale, following your guidance we’re engaging with our partners to work out how best to take the “BizNews Club” into the future. News on that coming soon.
For your attention today…
The new format for the Rational Radio webinar worked a treat yesterday, with Aspen CEO Stephen Saad in great form and our quizzers David Shapiro and Adrian Saville (above) pinging all the right questions. I was sufficiently impressed to now be doing further homework on whether to add Aspen to the BizNews portfolio. The company has come through a tough period of restructuring, is in fine shape and the shares look great value. It’s also in an industry perceived as a lot more important post the Covid-19 pandemic. David and Adrian are clearly big fans. After watching the recording, you may well join them.
Here’s the link to the recording of yesterday’s Rational Radio webinar featuring Aspen CEO Stephen Saad: https://youtu.be/4-vUW48g6fM
