Dispatches from a Newsman: Blain Herman

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · Published March 16, 2023 · Updated March 15, 2023

SABC anchor and Catholic Blain Herman

Daluxolo Moloantoa interviews SABC’s Blain Herman

Blain Herman is at home in church — and has been so since he was a baby. When he was baptised, baby Blain was placed on the altar at the church of Our Lady of Vailankanni in Chatsworth Durban. As a small boy, he would often be left to play around the church while his grandmother and mother cleaned it. Many a time, after wearing himself out playing, he would be found sleeping under the altar.

His grandmother hoped that this was a sign that he would become a priest. It did not work out that way. Instead, Herman is now an award-winning television journalist and executive.

“I come from a small, tight-knit family with a strong matriarch in the form of my grandmother. She and my mother, both Eucharistic ministers, made me feel so proud to be a Catholic — so much so that I named my son Christian,” the executive producer and former co-anchor of SABC TV’s “The Agenda” told The Southern Cross. Married for 15 years, Blain and Melaney, and 11-year-old Christian are parishioners of the Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Rivonia, Johannesburg.

Herman studied journalism at the Durban Institute of Technology. He was a senior student there when, almost 20 years ago, an opportunity opened for a journalism internship at the SABC’s Durban offices. He successfully applied for the position at the public broadcasting corporation, and started out by reading hourly news bulletins on Lotus FM. Within a few months he was moved to field-reporting, doing live interviews for various current affairs programmes in the SABC stable.

He then became a producer and presenter for the current affairs programme “Newsbreak” on Lotus FM. This is where Herman came into contact with another inspirational figure in his life. “Veteran journalist Ashok Ramsarup mentored me when I started at ‘Newsbreak’. He taught me how to tell a story, and about the important role journalism plays in how people make sense of the world. He is now retired, but he is still my mentor and we chat almost on a daily basis,” Herman said.

SABC news affairs anchor and producer Blain Herman regards covering the funeral of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on New Year’s Day 2022 as a career highlight.

Move to television

During his time at “Newsbreak”, the programme became the fastest-growing current affairs radio programme in the SABC portfolio. Television news was his next port of call. In 2018 the Herman family moved to Johannesburg, and Blain became a co-anchor of “The Agenda”. In 2021 he relinquished the position as co-anchor of the programme in order to become its executive producer.

Earlier this year, he returned to the front of the camera to present the news programme “It’s Topical”, which Herman describes as “an interactive programme focusing on various relevant topics that made headlines during the week”. It is broadcast each Tuesday evening on SABC 3, and on the last Sunday of each month on SABC 2. The programme aims to “allow citizens to engage about issues and events which have a direct impact on them. It is a perfect news platform for South Africans from all walks of life,” he explained.

Herman cites four major highlights in his career this far. The first was when he co-anchored the SABC’s broadcasts of the funeral of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on New Year’s Day 2022. “He was a man who many regarded as the moral conscience of South Africa. His funeral was a big moment in history, and I was glad to be a part of it,” he said.

In 2009, Herman was voted KZN Broadcast Journalist of the Year. The prize was a trip to London to cover the World Travel Market conference, the premier global event for the travel and tourism industry. He counts this as a major highlight in his career. Another highlight was his posting to Libya in 2011 to cover the civil war. “It was gruelling, working under extremely dangerous conditions, trying to deliver the accurate story to our viewership,” he said.

The fourth milestone in his career was a posting to Beijing in 2014 to cover South Africa’s cooperation within BRICS — the economic association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and its implications for infrastructure development in the country. The many one-on-one interviews he has done with major international figures include one with then-United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon in 2011.

The committed Catholic from Durban, now a member of Rivonia parish in Johannesburg, with Melaney, his wife of 15 years, on a visit to St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

Great power of God’s grace

Herman credits his Catholic faith as an anchor in his career. “I have fallen many times. Sometimes so seriously, that I could see no way out. I would often ask myself, ‘How will I ever come out of this?’ But often, the answer lies not on earth, but up in heaven,” he said. “I have learned that God’s grace can save you from any situation. My grounding in the Catholic Church has taught me to never give up.”

His daily prayer routine, and the joint participation in it with his family, is a blessing, he said. “We pray daily. I would feel lost without prayer. I am blessed to have a wife and a child who share my joy in the faith. It is my faith which has helped me to keep on fighting, no matter what it is I am up against.”

As a journalist who is Catholic, Herman believes that the Catholic media in South Africa performs a crucial role in the dissemination of information to the faithful. “The universal primary role of Catholic media is to aid in the spiritual growth of the faithful. To communicate what is good and also to point out the bad. I see strides being made in this mission.”

“The Catholic media, like all other media, shoulders the responsibility to tell the truth. Sometimes polarisation can increase because misinformation spreads too easily. Therefore it is important to place a critical lens even on Catholic media,” he said.

Herman urges young Catholics starting in media to set high standards for themselves. “Ashok Ramsarup always used to say something that sticks in my mind: ‘Get it right the first time.’ This speaks directly to the high standards which you need to set for yourself. Real news matters. The truth matters. Do your best.

“These are the invaluable lessons that I have learned over the years — and I’m still learning.”

Published in the January 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine