Correspondent: Eyewitness News

The Oscar Pistorius case thrust Barry Bateman into the social media spotlight, gaining him 139 000 new Twitter followers in a week. He says engagement was the key. “Other journalists were there, tweeting the same information, but I made a point early on to engage with my followers; to answer questions as much as possible.” He takes this social media platform seriously, applying the same principles of journalism he would to traditional media. He is thrilled by the new media’s global reach, but true satisfaction comes from bringing wrongdoers to book, as happened with the metro police deputy chief exposé that led to criminal prosecution and earned Bateman a National Press Club award. Bateman has been commissioned to co-write a book on the Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp case, whose title is still to be confirmed. True to form, Bateman broke the story of the Gupta jet landing at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, giving his growing Twitter following the inside scoop on yet another scandal.

— Joonji Mdyogolo

Twitter: @barrybateman