​GERSHWIN WANNEBURG

To be fair, this category consists largely of acts committed in my hot-headed, cocky 20s. That makes it all okay, right? :)

I once brought the entire newsroom into disrepute when I failed to get proper quotes from a business breakfast attended by Tito Mboweni, who was the Reserve Bank governor at the time.

To put the scale of the fiasco into context, this was when questions were being raised about the accuracy of domestic inflation data, which would of course have enormous implications for interest rates (then at historic highs) and financial markets as a whole.

What made this the most perfect storm for journalistic disaster? I was a newbie intern at an international news agency and, to say the least, completely out of my depth. I was the only available reporter in Cape Town and was sent along to hear Mboweni speak at a business breakfast and particularly to listen out for his views on inflation.

So green was I that I had placed my tape recorder too close to the microphone, leaving Mr Mboweni's entire speech and comments from a Q&A session distorted. Thankfully I was supported by a very understanding team of senior journalists who picked up the slack.

In all honesty, I've been a journalist for many, many years, so it's probably easier to list my professional successes than failures. 

I may have gained a few bruises along the way but on the whole my missteps have enriched me -- professionally, intellectually and perhaps even spiritually.

Here’s why I get a kick out of disasters of this sort: you can say, with some pride, ''I survived that.''