Right, so I've decided to try and give this a play through. The problem I'm having is at the start the journalist asked me to bring him any tapes I find, being the helpful person I am, I've found one. So I return to Mike's bar to discover the jornalist has nipped out, I figure maybe he'll be back after the next mission. I continue doing missions and checking back to no avil, I'm now in the south checking that bar and still nothing.
 
Is there a way to make him appear so I can hand over this damn tape or is he just trolling me?

He appears over the span of the storyline. Just collect as many as you can until the next time you encounter him, no rush.