The Revolution Will be Televised

Thanks to television, for the first time the young are seeing history made before it is censored by their elders.

(Margaret Mead, anthropologist)

Paula Slier

Founder and Owner: Newshound Media International

Founder and Owner: BRICS Global Television Network (BGTN)

Channel Head: News 1

Channel Head: Sports 1

Founder and Owner: Newshound Academy

Polonius: What do you read, my lord?

Hamlet: Words, words, words

(William Shakespeare, ‘Hamlet’)

Paula Slier

Paula is the founder of Newshound Media, a global media production company. In September 2024 she launched Brics Global Television Network (BGTN) and News1. A month later she launched Sports1. A veteran journalist, Paula has worked in broadcasting for over 30 years in various capacities including head of channel, war correspondent, anchor woman and news editor. Paula has received numerous awards for her work, including being a finalist in the TEFI (Russian Emmys) for her reporting in Libya in 2011 and from the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) for being one of the first women to report from inside a Gaza tunnel in 2008. Her assignments have taken her across the globe and for two decades she reported from the frontlines of Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Egypt, Gaza, Israel and Lebanon. In 2015, she was the Southern Africa winner in the media category of Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government Awards, having twice been recognized as one of the most influential women in South Africa. Paula has twice been recognized by the Russian President Vladimir Putin for “her professionalism in covering issues of paramount importance.” She has participated in various working sessions of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) for human rights and democracy dedicated to the work of journalists in conflict zones. Paula is passionate about inspiring young talent and in 2024 set up the Newshound Academy.

PROFESSIONAL

ROLE JOURNALISM IN AN EVER-CHANGING WORLD

News is what somebody, somewhere, wants to suppress.

(Lord Northcliffe, British newspaper publisher)

I don’t believe much has changed since our ancestors sat around fires listening to stories centuries ago.

Journalism, at its heart, is story-telling and I’m lucky enough to have carved out my life’s work as one of those storytellers.

In the twenty five years (and counting!) that I have worked as a journalist, starting in my home country of South Africa and moving to the Middle East and beyond, I’ve been privileged to share people’s most intimate moments: from the Djoumati family who lost their daughter Yasmin in the 2003 Algerian earthquake, to Paseka Mathlodi, a homeless South African schoolchild whose interview with me led to him being sponsored by the Thabo Mbeki fund for a three-year university degree.

The Second World War radio journalist, Edward Murrow said of TV, “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.”

I am humbled when people invite me into their homes to illuminate their tragedies and their joys. I take seriously my responsibility to tell their stories as accurately and honestly as I can.

Do you have a story that needs to be told? Please get in touch.

A Tale of Me

EXPERIENCEO

A tale of me

I followed the war wherever I could reach it.

(Martha Gellhorn, author and campaigning journalist)

More than 20 years ago I started my career as an eager young journalist at the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation.

I’ve been based in the Middle East since 2005, working variously as a foreign correspondent, anchor-woman and news editor.

I am the founder and CEO of Newshound Media, an international media production company as well as the Middle East Bureau Chief for Russia Today. My stories for Russia Today can be found here.

My work has also appeared on Reuters, CNN and South Africa’s Carte Blanche.

My assignments have taken me across the globe - I’ve reported from the frontline in Gaza and Lebanon and elsewhere.

I’ve reported live under fire in Tripoli and crawled through tunnels with Hamas smugglers in Gaza.

I was drawn into journalism as a means of giving a voice to the voiceless and empowering those who are all too easily forgotten or ignored.

I believe in the power of pictures and words to change people’s lives.

Speaking is Believing

The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought,

sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
(Buddha)

For the past ten years,I have been a speaker on the international circuit, presenting papers and facilitating sessions at the Global Editors Network (GEN), Eurasian Media Form and MENA (Middle East North Africa) Journalism Forum.

Topics include:

* Film Festival Talks

* Women in War zones

* Behind the lens of the Middle East

* Has the Arab Spring turned to winter?

* Journalism 2.0 : the rise of the citizen journalist

* Behind the headlines: cutting it out and keeping it in

Feedback

Please accept my sincere gratitude for your participation and involvement in this year's National Arts Festival. Your presentations and inputs at the discussion panels have been the highlight of the Think!Fest programme and have contributed greatly to promoting Russia Today here in South Africa.
(H.E. Ambassador M.Petrakov, Russian Ambassador to South Africa)

Your presentation last night was brilliant. You explained a hugely complicated situation in a credible way, and the audience were captivated by your personal account.
(Joan Joffe, South African Entrepreneur and Businesswoman, Former Vodafone South Africa GM Marketing, Corporate Affairs)

I sobbed right through the documentary and your speech but then again most people did.
(Howard Sackstein, Director, Saicom Holdings)

I can't tell you how much I (and everyone in the room) loved your talk today. I haven't stopped thinking about some of your stories. Crazy. Mad. Inspiring.
(Mark Levy, Managing Director, Digital Planet)

It was great to meet a South African that is on the frontlines and hear your awesome stories.
(Nasief Manie, SA Photographer)

It is always such a thrill to have you talk at the Centre & provide us with the human side of life in the Middle East. Once again thank you for taking some time from your very busy schedule here to afford our audience these precious insights. I have had fantastic feedback - you are a very engaging speaker and people loved hearing your stories.
(Hazel Cohen, Operations Director Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre, Johannesburg)

If you'd like me to talk at your event
Please get in touch.

Articles