The Boyle phenomenon

Watch part two

On The Listening Post this week, the singing sensation turned worldwide phenomenon and Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s future president, and his love hate relationship with the media.

Susan Boyle, in case you have just returned from Mars, is the 47-year-old Scottish woman whose audition on a British talent show rocketed her to a place that no Youtube phenomenon has gone before.

The Youtube clip of her audition on Britain’s got Talent has received 85 million hits on the site in just one week.

Thousands of people say they have drawn inspiration from – and shed tears over – the singer’s little piece of television history.

But was Susan Boyle’s rise to fame really a spontaneous multi-media event? Or was there something more contrived to this feel-good story? We take a closer look at the media’s role in this underdog’s story.

One of our interviewees for this report – the Toronto Globe and Mail’s John Doyle – has his own fascinating take on this story. Click here to read it.

The Listening Post examines Zuma’s relationship with the media [Reuters]

In part two The Listening Post covers the South African general election.

There was only ever one frontrunner – Jacob Zuma, the head of the ruling ANC, who is now set to be the next president of South Africa.

Zuma is a colourful character with a chequered private life and his relationship with the media has been short-tempered and ill-humoured.

The election campaign featured huge rallies that played well on TV and gave the impression that the election was more a coronation than a race.

While critics view Zuma as a corrupt throwback to the old politics of Africa, his backers portray him as a victim of an intrusive media machine.

We go behind the scenes in South Africa and take a closer look at Jacob Zuma the man – and the media reporting on him.

In this week’s Newsbytes: Time magazine wins its $93m libel case in Indonesia. US congress – headed by John Kerry – gets involved in the newspaper crisis there. Further restrictions are placed on internet users in Saudi Arabia. An Italian cartoonist looses his job over earthquake cartoons and a Moldovan blogger is under house arrest for her role in the riots.

Finally, here is one that really is not for amateurs. You may be familiar with the relatively new and dangerous sport of Parkour – that is the art of jumping from urban rooftop to rooftop with nothing more than your own self-confidence to support you.

The BMX bicycle crowd has got in on the fun – in particular one Briton named Danny MacAskill. His video was shot in Edinburgh and, although he has yet to rival his fellow Scot Susan Boyle in terms of web hits, it is proving to be very popular on the net. Inspired Bicycles is our net Video of the Week, with a warning: do not try this at, or even near, home.

This episode of The Listening Post aired on Friday, April 24, 2009 at the following times GMT: Friday: 1230; Saturday: 1030, 2230; Sunday: 0300, 1930; Monday: 0030; Tuesday: 0630, 1630; Wednesday: 0130, 1430, 1900; Thursday: 0330, 2330.