Newspaper 10 2007

According to the latest ABCreport (Jan-March 2007), localdaily newspapers show a 10 percent growth (1 997 893 in total,including foreign papers). Localweekly newspapers have grownby seven per cent (726 135including foreign titles) and localweekend papers by 5.4 per cent(2 644 184 including foreigntitles). In total the newspapercirculation for Jan-March 2007 is 5 368 212, up from 5 112 879during the previous correspon-ding period. “We have seen verygood growth during the past fewyears and although three newtitles didn’t make it, there areothers that have proved theirpotential – Sunday Sun, DailySun, Daily Voice, IlangaLangesonto, etc. It’s significantthat these papers are all tabloids,”says Sarel du Plessis, generalmanager, RCP Media. FergusSampson, general manager,Northern Newspapers, Media24agrees. He believes that becausethe industry has had to reinventitself, “over the last five or sixyears, there has been a lot ofexcitement and life with regard tonew newspaper projects.”

Perhaps the most significantaspect of the latest ABC results isthe fact that tabloid Daily Sun isnow the biggest circulating news-paper in the country, with overhalf a million copies. Othertabloids that are aimed at the‘emerging black market’ also postregular and substantial circulationincreases, pointing to the incrediblestrength that this target demo-graphic is demonstrating.

According to local publishers,this target market growth is onlythe beginning. “We’re only seeingthe tip of the iceberg when itcomes to the emerging market –there is definitely room in the market for additionalproducts. Society is developingextremely rapidly and we haven’teven begun to discover the com-plexities of our market yet,”admits Sampson.

Arthur Konigkramer, managingdirector of Ilanga, South Africa’soldest Zulu newspaper, has beenbusy expanding the publication toinclude new supplements for thefirst Sunday Zulu newspaper andfor the youth market. While hebelieves that there is still consid-erable growth potential in theblack African market, a similarpotential for growth exists fornewspapers aimed at Afrikaansspeakers. The launch of Sondag,a new Sunday tabloid, now catersto the Afrikaans, Sunday andtabloid markets.

Local newspapers are no longerable to cover the whole marketand therefore products such asthe Daily Sun, Son and SoccerLaduma reach very specific niche target audiences. “Thesenewspapers have added a large audience of middle income, younger readers,” says

Francois Groepe, CEO, Media24Newspapers.

Peter du Toit, publisher andeditor of Soccer Laduma, believesthat there are big changes on theway, driven by newspapers andmotivated by the FIFA 2010World Cup, amongst otherthings. “Soccer is sexy and hip.What the rest of the media hasn’tcottoned onto as yet is the factthat our footballers are megastarsand that the World Cup willdrive a greater demand for niche newspapers such as Soccer Laduma.”

The rest of the industry are onthe look out for these niche gaps.Afrikaans daily, Beeld, for exam-ple, has found geographic nichegaps. Beeld currently offerssubstantial inserts for Mpumalanga,West Rand, East Rand andTshwane. “We are launching inthe North West and whereverelse we find hubs and communitypockets,” says Lucille vanNiekerk, general manager, Beeld.

Niche gaps are not the onlything on the cards for local pub-lishers. The last year has alsobrought about an attitude changetowards incorporating online.Publishers are scrambling to offerbetter designed websites that arefilled with multimedia contentand a positive outlook on citizen

journalism. “For newspapers toattract a younger audience, weneed to be online. The digitalgeneration are the readers of thefuture,” says Gisele WertheimAymes, general manager, adver-tising strategy & trade marketing,Newspaper Division, JohncomMedia Investments. The launchof the new daily, The Times – afully integrated print and digitaltitle – will demonstrate if themarket is ready for such innova-tion. Finding the right skillset forfull integration remains a majorchallenge. “As more publicationslaunch, our resources remain thesame. We absolutely have todevelop new skills such as writingfor print, podcasts, online andmobile – and the industry needsto work together in order to dothis,” says Greg Stewart, publisher,The Citizen.

The other big news of the day– over and above the launch ofthe two new titles, Sondag andThe Times – is the emergence ofthe first free commuter newspaper.The Citizen has launched CitizenMetro (which is not affiliated tothe Swedish group but to thename of our bus transportationcompany). Publisher GregStewart won’t be changing theinitial print run of 45 000 untilmore buses are introduced to the

Metrobus fleet. “We found a gapin the market, as bus commutersweren’t reading. Citizen Metrofills this deadtime. We also haveadvantages over the taxi marketin that 98 per cent of our readersare working and we know wherethey come and go,” he says.

An interesting aspect of thisnews is that as little as a year agoall publishers shied away from thefreesheet and announced that itwas not in their plans. Newspaper10 has heard rumours of a freenewspaper for the taxi commutermarket, although no publisherhas laid claim to it yet.Nevertheless the attitude towardsfreebies has made an about-turn.“We will probably see more ofthese newspapers being launched.I do however anticipate that the business models will have to be refined: they will need toevolve in order to make theseventures sustainable locally,” says Groepe.

Du Toit expects that there willbe more free newspapers and thatadvertisers will drive them. Deondu Plessis, publisher of the DailySun, agrees that they’re on theway, even though a free taxipaper would go head-to-headwith his publication. Sarel duPlessis on the other hand, islooking with interest at the freemodel that The Times (existingsubscribers only) is employing.

Overall, the South Africannewspaper is vibrant and growingand the next few years should seesome interesting innovations andshake-ups. This really could be acase of ‘Who Dares Wins’.

Sponsored by:

NEWSPAPER 10June/July 2007

NEWSPAPER 10 • PRINTED ON MONDI ENVIROTEXT 60gsm

SA in the news

Overall, the South African newspaper is vibrant and growingand the next few years should see some interesting innovationsand shake-ups. This really could be a case of ‘Who Dares Wins’.

The South African newspaper industry is doing well and shows no signs of slowing down.

4 • NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2006

Local reflections

News

When Maggie M leaves home tocatch a bus to work in themornings, she stops to buy anewspaper. This is a new experi-ence for her. Ten or 15 years agoshe didn’t bother. She admits thatalthough she would occasionallylisten to news reports on theradio, she wasn’t particularlyinterested in them because thenews did not affect her.

”We lived in a different worldthen,” she says. “At that time Ihad problems of my own. Whyshould I have worried about awar in Bosnia or a rail accident inIndia when I didn’t have moneyfor lunch? I think that newspa-pers have changed since then. Ialso have a different job now andI am expected to be informed.The paper that I buy looks atmatters that concern me. It tellsme what’s happening in mytownship – not just what is hap-pening in Joburg.”

Maggie, a mother and officereceptionist, reflects the views ofthe changing newspaper reader-ship in South Africa. Not thatlong ago, the readers of mostmajor newspapers in this countrywere white and the content ofthese publications focusedperipherally on issues that wereof interest to black readers.

The change in reading patternshas had another effect as well.While black readership of news-papers has increased significantlyin South Africa in the past 10years or more, in many instanceswhite readers have tossed theirpapers aside, irritated because thenews focuses too much on ‘black’issues. Forging a common SouthAfrican identity is proving difficult.While this is a local issue, thequestion of readership is ofconcern to publishers and editorsaround the world. The growth ofhourly radio news reports, onlinenews services and (more recently)cellphone news flashes, couldwell be impinging on circulation.These media provide an immedi-acy that newspapers cannotmatch. The question is: are theythe threat to daily newspapersworldwide that they are generallybelieved to be?

While some internationallyknown newspapers have indeedclosed down, there is a flipside tothis coin.

Mathatha Tsedu, editor of CityPress, sees the online componentas a boon. In many instances theonline version is growing morerapidly than the newspaper itself.“The online version of theGuardian in the UK makes more

money than the printed edition,”he says. “The one has not takenadvertising from the other.Rather a new stream of revenuehas been created. It only requiresa slight adjustment. The twomediums exist comfortably sideby side.”

Trevor Ncube, president of theNewspaper Association of SouthAfrica and chief executive andowner of the Mail and Guardian,agrees. “We need to leverage theopportunities that are offered bynew media. We shouldn’t seeblogging or the Internet as athreat. I have great faith in thefuture of the newspaper industry,”he says. “If we all focus on deliv-ering credible, analytical contentto our readers, I have no doubtthat we will survive.”

While newspapers cannot pro-vide readers with immediacy,their websites can – and whilewebsites are not geared to pro-vide lengthy reports, newspapersare able to fulfil this need. Thishas prompted a change in theway that news is published.According to Tsedu, althoughreaders may turn to websites forinstant information, they buypapers for background materialand analysis. They want in-depthinformation across a range of

matters that affect them.He views the growth of black

readership as a natural progression.“It was inevitable that black

people would start reading papersas they moved out of poverty andinto the middle class,” Tsedusays. “You become sensitisedwhen you see issues that affectyou being reflected in a publicarena. In this way, the paperspeaks to you and you begin buy-ing it on a regular basis.”

The emerging black middleclass is now recognised as a seri-ous target market for newspaperpublishers. Yet despite the grow-ing black readership, newspaperpenetration in South Africastands at only 13 per cent. Anenormous potential for growthexists with regard to the newspa-per readers of the future.

Ncube recognises this potential.It is one of the reasons for hisgreat faith in the future of thenewspaper industry in Africa.“On the whole, newspapers areonly reaching the urban popula-tion,” he says. “We haven’texhausted their sales capacitybecause we have not reached therural markets. The majority ofAfricans have not had access tonewspapers. Although there areproblems with distribution, there

is also a tremendous opportunityfor growth.”

While the urban youth inAfrica – who are adept at usingtheir cellphones and computers –are perhaps yet to appreciate thebenefit of newspapers, the majority of the older readers areless likely to be lured away byelectronic media.

Coupled with the issue of thesurvival of newspapers, is thesurvival of a free press. This rightis guaranteed by the constitutionand enshrined in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights. Inall democratic states it is takenfor granted that citizens have aright to their opinions and toexpress themselves without inter-ference. Yet there is increasingconcern that government, irritatedby the views of certain newspa-pers, may introduce legislation tocurb this freedom as a form of‘damage control.’ The proposedamendments to the Film andPublications Act are causingjitters in many circles.

This raises the question: Whatuse is a newspaper that is not freeto state its views – and is thestruggle for freedom about tobegin again?

Ncube is concerned. “When


By Winnie Graham and Lynne Smit

continued on page 8

South Africa’s biggest-selling weekendnewspaper, The Sunday Times, has justlaunched a daily newspaper that is aptlynamed, The Times. Given the recent high-profile failures of Nova and ThisDay, ownersJohncom are playing it safe by not launchingthe newspaper on-shelf. Instead it will bedistributed to its loyal subscriber base. Thisgives the daily a guaranteed circulation of127 000 from its very first issue. If distribu-tion proves to be a problem for those situatedin areas that are more remote, Roy Hartley,editor of The Times, says that they can e-mail a PDF file if necessary.

It is this digital attitude that representsthe most exciting aspect of the launch. It’snot the guaranteed circulation as much asthe fact that The Times is touted as SouthAfrica’s first truly interactive newspaper.“We have rebuilt our Internet strategy forThe Times and we have a converged news-room and plenty of multimedia content inorder to capture the younger market,” says Hartley.

Designed to compete against establisheddailies such as The Star and The Citizen,the theme behind the paper is ‘smart, fast,fun.’ After extensive research it was foundthat a large proportion of the Sunday Timessubscribers do not read a daily newspaperand don’t want a heavy broadsheet on adaily basis. The aim is to deliver a 48-page

tabloid with hard breaking news and trends.The added bonus is the digital medium thatincludes a website with video, blogs, audioand podcasts. Constant updates will also befiltered through by SMS and e-mail.Readers will constantly be remindedthroughout the print edition to updatethemselves online.

Engaging with its readers is a huge themeand Hartley says that The Times will beutilising citizen journalism, including videouploads. Content will be included from TheTimes (UK) as well as the New York Times,with columnists such as David Kau, David

Shapiro and Justice Mahlala. A major aimfor The Times is to grow the subscriberbase of the Sunday Times, getting youngerreaders to migrate to the Sunday paper inthe future. The Times will not be madeavailable through a subscription of its own. Those who are interested in the daily will instead have to subscribe to theSunday Times.

According to Hartley, advertising is inte-grated – print, online and cellphone –which will be an interesting challenge formany advertisers. “They will now have tothink differently about how to integratetheir advertising. We can customise insertsfor regions; customise advertising onlineand we’re also looking at barcodes forspecial offers on cellphones, for example.”

New Times Ahead

Fast FactsReaders• Fifty-two per cent female, 55 per cent

black, 25 per cent white, 15 per centIndian, 5 per cent coloured

• 62 per cent are aged between 16-49 years old• One in five have a household income of R20 000+ a month

LucilleLucille

Girl:Lucille van Niekerk, general manager, Beeld. Visit www.beeld.com for more hot news


The State of the NewsMedia 2007 by the Projectfor Excellence inJournalism has beenreleased. While the reportonly deals with US media,it provides an insight intopotential newspaper trendsfor South Africa.

According to the report,there are seven majortrends:• News organisations need

to do more to thinkthrough the implicationsof this new era of shrink-ing ambitions

• There is mounting evi-dence that the newsindustry needs to becomemore aggressive aboutdeveloping a new eco-nomic model

• The key question iswhether the investmentcommunity sees the newsbusiness as a decliningindustry or as an emerg-ing industry in transition

• There are growing ques-tions as to whether thedominant ownershipmodel of the previousgeneration – the publiccorporation – is suited tothe transition that news-

rooms now need to make • The Argument Culture is

giving way to somethingnew – the AnswerCulture

• Blogging is on the brinkof a new phase that willprobably include scandaland profitability for some,as well as a splinteringinto elites and non-elitesover standards and ethics

• While journalists arebecoming more seriousabout the Web, as yet noclear models exist forhow to practice onlinejournalism – some quali-ties have still only beenmarginally explored.

While generally positive, thenewspaper section of thereport has also found somealarming and worryingtrends. The good news isthat it’s estimated that in theUS over 50 million peoplestill buy a paper on an aver-age day – and that 124 mil-lion people still read one.When the figures for bothonline and print readers arecombined, the newspaperaudience is larger than ever.However, as far as print goes,circulation is declining and

advertising is flat. Anotherconcern highlighted by thereport, is that online maynever produce the revenuesthat print can and thatnewspapers will not be ableto reduce their traditionalmanufacturing cost structurequickly enough.

In 2006 the indicatorswere negative and circula-tion fell even faster than in2005. Industry revenueswere flat. Print retail, nationaland car classifieds all showedweakness. Earnings fell.Layoffs at some of the bigmetro papers wereannounced, while othersclosed their national andforeign bureaus.

The industry startedlooking for positive storiesby proposing some newaudience measures. Someof the new measuresinvolve combining the totalreach of print, online andniche products, those thatread at least one edition inthe course of a week orhow much time someonespends with the newspaper.

According to the report,journalists and publishershave reacted slowly to new

technology and to how thishas affected the way a con-sumer consumes informa-tion. It also criticises news-paper publishers for spend-ing too little on R&D andfor not seriously investigat-ing new economic models.

The report expresses con-cerns about the news itself,as newspapers are the mostlikely medium to cover thebroadest spectrum of infor-mation and to provide newsfor the Internet and othermedia. The combination ofa reduction in staff and areduction in the physical sizeof newspapers, as well as afocus on more targeted andanalytical information (suchas the Wall Street Journal),could have serious conse-quences for news agendas.

One final thought fromthe report is that this is theyear when numerousredesigns are due to takeplace (both online andprint). It could well be that asmaller US newspaper, tar-geted to older, well-educatedreaders, becomes the norm.

For the full report visitwww.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2007

The state of the news media 2007

Finding the niche gaps in the localmarket is a hit and miss affair andMedia24’s latest addition to thestable, Sunday Afrikaans tabloidSondag, may just hit the mark.The first unclaimed niche forSondag is the missing Afrikaansweekend reader who doesn’t buyVolksblad and/or Rapport. Thesecond and more important mar-ket for the future of the Afrikaansnewspaper is the younger reader.According to Mike Vink, editor ofSondag, the tabloid complementsRapport and falls in-between thispaper and true tabloid, Son.“Sondag will cover the overallAfrikaans market a little better,”and it certainly seems to slot in

between the conservative and thesleazy. “It even uses colourful lan-guage that runs between Rapportand Son,” says Vink.

For advertisers Sondag is a wel-come breath of fresh air. Vinkexplains that it’s not constrainedby the usual rules of newspapers:“We can run ads in the middle ofpages if we wish and we challengeadvertisers to come up with some-thing exceptional.” Sondag alsooffers the only full page backcover in the Sunday market,although as Vink explains, the adhas to be full size and unique. Thefront cover of Sondag is region-alised and has a website to pro-mote interactivity with its readers.

Its more modern approach alsomeans that interactivity will beincreased through using SMS.The paper is backed by a huge

radio and TV campaign, whichshould help to make its target of100 000 circulation within thefirst couple of years.

News


Research undertaken by Poynter has unearthed some quiteastonishing facts. The EyeTrack07 survey tracked the eyemovements of around 600 people while they read websitecontent, as well as both tabloid and broadsheet newspapers.Over 350 elements were tracked, including headlines,photographs, graphics, blogs and podcasts.

The survey was undertaken in the US. Fifty-six per cent ofthe sample was 18-41 years old and 44 per cent was aged 42-65 years old. There were an equal number of male and femalereaders. Seventy one per cent of the group read print oronline four or more times a week and were regular readers ofthe publications they were asked to read.

There were some surprising results. Readers read more of aparticular story online, than they did in print: online readersread 77 per cent of what they chose to read, compared to 62per cent for broadsheet and 57 per cent for tabloid. Two kindsof reading were found: methodical and scanning. Print readerstended to be more methodical in their reading than onlinereaders, of whom approximately half were scanners.

Poynter also released information on its prototype portion,which demonstrated how readers reacted to alternative storyforms. Three versions were made for print and three for online.Each of the stories included identical information, althoughthey were presented in different formats. For both print andonline, respondents who’d read the version with the most alter-native structure (Q&A, timelines, sidebars etc) answered themost questions correctly when quizzed. As expected, largeheadlines and photos drew the most attention in print.Mugshots rarely captured any attention and colour photographsreceived more attention than black & white. For onlinereaders, navigation bars, teasers and story lists drew attention.

Poynter is looking for partners to work with EyeTrackstudies on various topics, such as news delivery on largeformat screens, high definition and small screens and searchability and interactivity online.

For more information, visit www.eyetrack.poynter.org.

Eye Track 2007

Fast facts• Target: 800 000 readers: 300 000 new readers/500 000 duplicated

readers (also read Rapport/Son)• 64 pages• Strong emphasis on colour• Bigger graphics, less type• First 20 pages are news, full-colour photos, highlights and news

snippets• The middle of the paper is covered by sports events, mainly rugby• The next pages are entertainment• The rest of the paper carries features.

It’s difficult to pick up a newspa-per or magazine today (or read ablog) without seeing negativenews about the newspaper indus-try itself. According to thesecommentators – who claim to seeclearly into the future – newspa-pers will soon be extinct and theInternet will be the only way thatanyone ever gets their news.

However, there is a seriousdisconnect between the actualfacts about newspapers and thenegative press about the newspa-per industry. Contrary to conven-tional wisdom and existingmisconceptions, newspapers arenot in a terminal decline. In fact,the opposite is true: newspapersare a growing, innovative andvital medium with a bright future.

Consider the following:• Global newspaper sales

increased by nearly two per centlast year, to a total of more than510 million paid-for copies.

• The number of new newspapertitles (i.e. paid-for titles thatdon’t include the new freenewspapers) has grown to morethan 11 000 for the first time inhistory.

• More than 1.4 billion peopleread a printed newspaper eachday.

• Free daily newspaper circulationhas more than doubled over thelast five years to a total of 40.8million copies per day.

• Print is the biggest advertisingmedium in the world, boastinga 42 per cent share.Newspapers alone are the sec-ond largest, representing 29.4percent of global advertisingspend. This means that news-papers get more advertising

revenue than the combinedadvertising value of radio,cinema, magazines and theInternet.

• More than US$6 billion havebeen invested in newspaperprinting and production equip-ment during the last 18months. So what accounts for the nega-

tive publicity? Much of it is gen-erated in the United States,where newspapers are facingnumerous challenges (while stillchurning out margins that are theenvy of other industries). However,the United States is not a proxyfor media markets elsewhere.With the exception of NorthAmerica, newspapers in everyregion, including Europe, showedan overall growth last year.

Nowhere is this better illustratedthan in South Africa, where paid-for newspapers recorded ahealthy growth in 2006, whilefree newspapers enjoyed double-digit increases.

This picture only represents theprinted publications – whennewspaper websites are added,newspaper audiences are growingas never before.

All the above figures are a

preview of the World Associationof Newspapers’ World PressTrends survey. This survey waspresented in its entirety on 5 Junein Cape Town, when the world’spress gathered for the 60th WorldNewspaper Congress, the 14thWorld Editors Forum and InfoServices Expo 2007.

These events in themselvesattest to the vibrancy of the news-paper industry. Approximately 1500 publishers, chief editors andother senior newspaper executivesfrom 95 countries will gather toexamine and discuss the lateststrategies and cutting-edge innova-tions that are making this the mostexciting time for newspapers in thelast 400 years of their history.

This is certainly not a pictureof an industry in decline.

More about WAN and itsactivities at www.wan-press.org

The Facts – Not the Myths – About Newspapers in 2007by Timothy Balding, chief executive officer, World Association of Newspapers

Timothy Balding

Sunday Sondag


As a staunch advocate of the newspaper medium, The Jupiter Drawing Room founderand executive creative director, Graham Warsop, recently completed a European andSouth African roadshow in which he gave a talk entitled Whatever Happened to theNewspaper Ad?

We caught up with him in his offices in Johannesburg and chatted to him about his pas-sion for the newspaper medium.

Newspaper 10: What prompted you to give a series of lectures entitled WhateverHappened to the Newspaper Ad?Graham Warsop: Towards the end of last year I traveled to Ireland as aguest speaker to launch the National Newspaper of Ireland’s initiative‘the essential pleasure of my newspaper.’ During my stay, I met GavinO’Riley and we found that we shared a passion – a love of the newspapermedium. Following that meeting, I was invited to a WAN Board meetingin Kiev, as well as to the World Association of Newspapers’ Congress inZurich in February, where I delivered the paper Whatever Happened tothe Newspaper Ad? Largely due to Gavin’s charm, I also agreed to write aglobal advertising campaign for The World Association of Newspapers.

N10: The title Whatever Happened to the Newspaper Ad? suggests thatthere are no longer any newspaper advertisements. Surely this is not the case?GW: In my talk I make it clear that I’m not referring to classified ads,recruitment ads or retail ads. I’m referring to those big (normally fullpage) brand ads that were commonplace in newspapers 20 years ago. Ifone looks back through annuals of the great print work that has beendone in the world, one will see that a large variety of brands used news-papers to advertise themselves. It was an era of copy rich, persuasiveadvertising that worked tremendously hard to build brands and toincrease sales.

N10: To what do you attribute the demise of these great newspaper ads of the past?GW: Creatives in agencies have fallen prey to the ‘print advertising as poster’ trend.Creating print advertising without words helps work to succeed at international awardshows (where the jury is composed of judges of several nationalities). A picture is universal.In the UK’s Campaign Press Awards, one currently has the ridiculous situation in whichthe Grand Prix for press has just gone to the same piece of work that won the CampaignPoster Awards several months ago!

N10: Isn’t there also the argument that people aren’t prepared to read advertising anymore?GW: Yes, I’ve heard that argument but I think its nonsense. People have and will alwaysread what interests them. I don’t think that people are not prepared to read ads anymore.It’s more that we no longer seem to be building a generation of copywriters who arecapable of writing ads that people want to read anymore.

N10: Is this trend of ads without copy restricted to newspapers or is it true ofmagazines as well?GW: The death of copy impacts most on the newspaper medium, which is also the onewhere copy works best. Glossy magazines on good quality stock better lend themselves toimages that rely on photography or illustration. Newspapers are more workman-like.They are the ideal medium to use words and pictures to persuade readers into a particularpoint of view. Magazine advertising doesn’t need to rely on words. My contention is thatthe best newspaper advertising does.

N10: Have you found that people are sympathetic toyour plea for the return of copy rich, persuasive adver-tising to the pages of newspapers?GW: I have – and when you look at the great newspaperads of the past and see that they would still work today,it’s a difficult argument to refute. Newspapers should bemaking a concerted attempt to attract brand advertisers back to their pages. At themoment newspaper revenue relies to a significant extent on retail advertising. With theascendancy of the Internet, retail will increasingly move online. Unless newspapers can

attract the prestigious brands back to their pages, their advertising revenue will suffer.

N10: So what would you advise the newspaper industry to do?GW: One of the things I would recommend is to encourage full page advertis-ing. Sell packages. Unless they are exploiting a tactical opportunity, most brandswill need to run ads in newspapers a number of times in order to achieve thedesired impact and the required memorability. Newspapers should be moreproactive in putting together packages for clients, as opposed to selling them oneoff ads.

N10: In your experience, is it difficult to sell clients on newspaper advertising?GW: Generally speaking, no. As an agency that believes in the power of newspa-per advertising, we normally try to ensure that newspapers have a role to play inthe communications mix. Having said this, newspaper advocates (such as myself)can only do so much to persuade clients to place their advertising in newspapers.Clients are unlikely to pay the premium if the cost per thousand is significantlymore expensive in newspaper than it would be to achieve the same reach inanother medium. Newspaper advertising needs to be priced competitively.

N10: In addition to being a medium through which to advertise brands, newspapersalso offer tactical opportunities, do they not?GW: Absolutely. There have been many excellent examples of tactical ads that have beenput together quickly to take advantage of events occurring in the media. I remember onefantastic ad for Flora margarine that appeared the day after Van Gogh’s Sunflowers wenton auction. It was a full page ad that showed a picture of the Flora sunflower margarine tubsitting at the foot of the vase in Van Gogh’s famous painting. The Flora tub was made tolook as though it had been painted by the artist himself. The line simply read ‘Very tasty ifyou’ve got the bread’ (the painting had sold for an amount in excess of £20m.).

N10: In your experience, do newspapers seek to attract a better quality of advertising?GW: Frankly, in my experience they don’t, which is strange because advertising is not ‘justadvertising.’ The quality of the advertising also raises or lowers the tone of the editorial.Newspaper advertising sales people need to understand that they’re not simply sellingspace. They should desire something that enhances the aesthetic content of the newspaper.

N10: What other suggestions do you have to encourage agencies and clients toproduce newspaper advertising?GW: I think it’s important that newspapers promote their own unique advantages. Theytruly are the ideal medium to house persuasive arguments in favour of a client’s brand. It’simportant that newspapers do not simply align themselves with magazines under the ‘printmedium’ banner. Newspapers need to distance themselves from magazines and promotetheir own unique advantages.

N10: Is this what the advertising campaign you’ve developed for the WorldAssociation of Newspapers is meant to do?GW: The campaign is there to increase creative awareness of the fact that newspaperstoday are still one of the most vital mediums in existence. Last year the headline ‘WhoKilled the Newspaper?’ appeared on the front page of the Economist. The article was notup to the normal high standard that one would have expected from the magazine, so wehave a dig at it in the first ad in the new campaign. The headline says ‘People say the silli-est things.’ Below this are a series of amusing quotes of silly things that people have said.The last one is a quote from The Economist article that says ‘Newspapers are now anendangered species.’ Given that newspaper sales have never been higher globally, this is apretty silly remark, don’t you think?

Whatever happened to the newspaper ad?


Newspaper readership has been impacted by developments in the black middle class. The Black Diamond study (conducted by TNS Surveys and the UCT Unilever Institute

of Strategic Marketing) reveals that the black middle class has increased by 30 per cent inthe last year to an estimated 2.6 million. It is now worth R180 billion. Spending power isalso hefty within the townships – for example, according to www.compas24.co.za, it isestimated that the Soweto market has R4.3 million in retail spend.

Daily newspapers have increased their reach into the middle income market since thelaunch of Daily Sun and Son, according to Francois Groepe, CEO, Media24Newspapers. These papers, along with Soccer Laduma, have added a large audience ofmiddle income, younger readers to their demographic profiles. “Ad revenue is increasingand will continue to do so as black spending power rises, provided we produce quality and relevant newspapers,” says Arthur Konigkramer, managing director, Ilanga.He also says, “Without Daily Sun on a schedule, an advertiser loses a third of thenewspaper audience.”

The Daily Sun is perhaps the most interesting case in point, having grown 12 per centin the last year, according to Deon du Plessis, the paper’s publisher. “What overrideseverything is the changing of the broad public opinion. It’s now in the hands of themiddle class black guy. This is a megatrend and the black middle class market are theopinion makers,” says du Plessis. While all this bodes very well for the newspapers thattarget the middle classes, Ingo Capraro, editor-in-chief, Son, maintains that middle classdoes not necessarily translate into more highbrow reading habits.

However, Fergus Sampson, general manager, Northern Newspapers Media24, goes onto say that since the Daily Sun’s entry into the market, it has evolved to include morewomen and more LSM 4-7 readers. “One million readers are in LSM 8-10 – now that’samazing. The opportunity is ripe in this market: there is an influx from rural areas and astrengthening of the townships.”

Follow the money

politicians propose legislation of this nature, we must never be naïve and think there’s noagenda,” he warns. He follows this statement with: “However, perhaps we should givethem the benefit of the doubt. The legislation as it is currently formulated is never goingto see the light of day because it is unconstitutional and something that we don’t need inour democracy.”

Tsedu is less worried about these concerns. “All governments are alike when it comesto freedom of the Press,” he says. “They don’t like criticism. Fortunately, we have theprotocols in place that ensure the freedom of the Press and freedom of speech. It is partof our ongoing battle to fight to keep these in place.”

Tsedu says that the constant in depth reporting on crime by certain papers is a way of cap-italising on the public’s concern in this regard. These papers create a niche for themselvesand as a result turn every little crime into a big issue. While this is not to suggest that reportsof crime should not be published, greater efforts should be made to create a balance.

He is also upbeat about the future of newspapers and about their overall quality.“Given the circumstances, we are doing very well,” Tsedu says. “Although there is amovement out of the industry (much of our journalistic talent has been lured away intohigh-paying jobs), I believe that 10 years from now South Africa will be producing itsbest newspapers ever.”

Local reflections from page 4

News

Graham Warsop

Local reflections from page 4

10 • NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2006 Community News

GautengSoweto/Alexandra Soweto and Alex weren’t measured on the same criteria as other urban areas. Some vitalstats: 48 per cent is LSM 7-10 in Protea, Dobsonville, Diepkloof – R8 400 a month. Zuluis the predominant language in Protea and Diepkloof. Setswana is the predominantlanguage in Dobsonville, Sepedi in Pretoria Central.

The overwhelming majority of the communities are female, aged 35+. The majority ofthe community is black (95 per cent) with 38 per cent speaking Zulu and 19 per centSotho. The average monthly household income is around R5 200. The top shoppingdestinations are Southgate Mall, Johannesburg CBD and Protea Gardens Centre.Average issue readership for community papers is 70 per cent, with 40 per cent for DailySun and 14 per cent for Sowetan Sunday World.

In Alex, 63 per cent are female, 98 per cent black with 31 per cent speaking Zulu.Average issue readership is higher for the Daily Sun than the Alex News and 10 per centfor the Sunday Times. Five per cent have e-mail/Internet and they should at BalfourPark and Sandton City. Forty-seven per cent are in LSM 6 and 43 per cent aged 16-34.

In Diepkloof, 12 per cent have e-mail/Internet and one-third speaks Zulu with 20 percent Setswana. Average issue readership for the Diepkloof Urban News is 83 per cent.Almost half of the community is aged 50+.

In Dobsonville, the average monthly household income is around R6 600. EldoradoPark is 89 per cent coloured and 74 per cent Afrikaans speaking. In Protea, 9 per centhave e-mail/Internet with an average monthly household income of R8 400. Averageissue readership for the Protea Urban News is 66 per cent and 88 per cent shop at theProtea Gardens.

East Rand (Brakpan, Benoni, Bedfordview & Edenvale, Boksburg, Germiston,Heidelberg, Kempton Park, Nigel, Springs)Fifty-five per cent of PDMs in the East Rand are female; 56 per cent of PDMs who readthe local community newspapers are female. The top two shopping destintations are EastRand Mall and Eastgate Centre. Sixty-eight per cent of the community is white with 44 per cent English speaking. Average monthly household income is around R17 600.The local community newspapers enjoy an average issue readership of 73 per cent with23 per cent for the Sunday Times and 13 per cent for You magazine.

Northern Joburg(Fourways, Killarney, Midrand, North Eastern Joburg, Northcliff/Melville, Randburg,Sandton)Fifty-six per cent of PDMs in Northern Joburg are female with 58 per cent of PDMs whoread the local community newspapers also female. The biggest age group is 35-49 yearsold with a high proportion of the community in LSM 9-10. Forty-one per cent have e-mail/Internet. The top shopping destinations are Cresta and Sandton City. The area is64 per cent white and 67 per cent English speaking with an average monthly householdincome of around R21 400. The average issue readership for local community newspapersis 68 per cent, with 36 per cent for Sunday Times and 27 per cent for The Star.

In Sandton, 41 per cent of the community is LSM 10 and 57 per cent female. InRandburg 50 per cent have e-mail/Internet. In Northcliff/Melville, most people shop atCresta and 45 per cent have e-mail/Internet. In Midrand, 54 per cent are black and 61 per cent speak English with 44 per cent aged 16-34. In North Eastern Johannesburg,it’s 60 per cent female and 36 per cent LSM 9. In Rosebank and Killarney a huge 59 percent have e-mail/Internet, a high proportion of 35-49 year olds and no LSM 1-5. InFourways, 64 per cent are in LSM 9-10.

West Rand (Krugersdorp, Randfontein, Roodepoort and Ruimsig)The community is majority white (80 per cent), 57 per cent Afrikaans speaking with anaverage monthly household income of around R16 900. The top shopping destinationsare Westgate Mall and Clearwater Mall. Fifty-four per cent of PDMs in the West Randare female as well as those who read the local community newspapers. The largest agegroup is 35-49 years old followed by those 50+. There are no members of the communi-ty in LSM 1-5. Over a third of the community have access to e-mail and Internet.

In Roodepoort, over 80 per cent is LSM 8-10 and 34 per cent have e-mail/Internet.

Southern Joburg (Alberton and Johannesburg South)The top shopping destinations are The Glen and Alberton City. The community is 49 per cent white and 35 per cent black. Almost half speak English and the averagemonthly household income is around R15 700. The largest LSM group is those in 6-7 andthe biggest age group is 35-49 year olds. Average issue readership of local communitynewspapers is 67 per cent with 19 per cent reading Sunday Times, followed by the DailySun.

Pretoria (Centurion, Gezina, Hatfield, Montana, Mamelodi, Pretoria East, PretoriaWest)Pretoria is predominantly white (66 per cent) and Afrikaans speaking (59 per cent) withan average monthly household income of around R16 100. Fifty-five per cent of PDMsare female and the top shopping destinations are Menlyn Park and Kolonnade. There’san average split between all ages groups 16-50+ with the highest proportion in LSM 6-7. Average issue readership for local community newspapers is 65 per cent followed by

Beeld and Huisgenoot. In Centurion, 21 per cent have e-mail, Internet. Mamelodi is 100 per cent black with 52 per cent SePedi speaking. In Pretoria East, 32 per cent havee-mail/Internet and 38 per cent are LSM 10.

Vaal (Meyerton, Sasolburg, Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark)The top shopping destinations are the Vaal Mall and Vaalgate. Average issue readershipfor local community papers is 71 per cent, followed by Daily Sun and Huisgenoot. Overhalf the community is black with 53 per cent speaking Afrikaans and 35 per cent anAfrican language. Average monthly household income is around R13 300.

Limpopo (Polokwane, Tzaneen)Average issue readership for local community newspapers is 69 per cent, followed by 39per cent for a weekly newspaper and 46 per cent for a weekly magazine. The top shop-ping destinations are Savannah Mall and Checkers Centre. The community is 63 percent white, 61 per cent Afrikaans with an average monthly household income of aroundR16 400. The majority of the community is 35-49 years old and a relatively high Internetand e-mail penetration at 25 per cent.

North West (Brits, Hartebeespoortdam, Klerksdorp, Mafikeng, Rustenburg)The community is 56 per cent female in the North West, mainly in LSM 8-9 and 16-49years old. The top shopping destinations are Game Centre and Mega City. The averageissue readership of local community newspapers is 71 per cent with 49 per cent weeklynewspapers and 41 per cent for dailies. The racial profile is 52 per cent white and 46 percent black with 46 per cent speaking Afrikaans and 36 per cent SetSwana. The averagemonthly household income is around R13 300.

In Brits 42 per cent are aged 16-34, 75 per cent are white and 77 per cent areAfrikaans. Average monthly household income is around R16 000. InHartebeespoortdam, 34 per cent have e-mail/Internet, 90 per cent white and 76 per centAfrikaans. Average monthly household income is R19 500. In Rustenburg, average issuereadership of the Rustenburg Herald/Heraut is 80 per cent and there is no one in thecommunity in LSM 1-5. In Mafikeng, 50 per cent of the community is aged 35-49 yearsold and it is 93 per cent black with 83 per cent speaking Setswana.


The National Advertising Bureau (NAB), Caxton and TNS Surveys recently released itsthird Roots Survey (ROOTS 2007) report detailing retail and readership in South Africa.Over 22 000 face-to-face interviews were conducted in 92 communities across all nineprovinces. For the first time, some of South Africa’s largest townships were included:Soweto, Alexandra, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha. In total, 35 new urban areas were included,representing around 2.2 million households and 4.3 million purchasing decision makers.

The full content of the report delves into demographics, health, clothes, home owner-

ship, technology, furniture, money, and importantly media. An overview of the reportshows clearly that each community has a character – language, wealth, shopping habitsetc. Editors and journalists need to ensure that the editorial in the community papers arespeaking to those people and media planners and advertising need to understand whatlanguage and tone to use. This is easier said than done, as the changes occurring inSouth Africa’s urban areas are incredible and moving quickly. The racial profile of com-munities is the most significant finding.

Roots 2007

Free community magazines (MyWeek and Get It) brokeonto the scene approximately a year ago and have sincemade their presence felt. (According to the latest figuresit’s a very strong presence, with a circulation of over half amillion, Jan-March 2007). They have a communitylifestyle focus and cover community news and events,decor, shopping and food, as well as local celebrity (com-munity leader) interviews. They offer advertisers theability to target consumers in specific regions, who wanta slightly more glamorous edge than the community paper.“We’re seeing new advertisers coming in at a local level whocan’t afford to go into the mainstream media (TV, radio,Cosmopolitan etc). Community magazines have filled a gap, giving these advertisersthe magazine environment at an affordable price,” says John Bowles, joint MD,Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB). As a result, the response from advertisers hasbeen very good.

The magazines are growing fast, as publishers identify regions and areas that holdpotential for advertisers (and the communities that are served by them). Initiallyconsumers were not too sure about free community magazines or their role. Bowlessays that it took a while before consumers realised that ‘free’ doesn’t mean ‘cheap’ andthat these magazines now have a huge appeal. “Although they don’t have the samenumbers as free community newspapers and they don’t offer total market cover in thesame way that these papers do, they have a longer lifespan – they can be placed oncoffee tables (in reception areas etc),” says Bowles.

Whereas free community newspapers must deal with challenges around distributionand access to gated suburbs, community magazines have less to worry about. They aregenerally distributed to shopping centres (and placed in front of stores and restaurants).Furthermore, publishers can build relationships with the body corporates of gated sub-urbs or complexes and arrange for access and delivery of the free magazines, says Bowles.

Publishers are looking to take these magazines online and into the growing townshipmarket in the near future. “At the moment, we are still growing our township newspa-pers – we will look at taking the community magazines into the townships furtherdown the line,” says Bowles.

Media24’s MyWeek is available across Gauteng, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and KZN(with a total of 34 magazines).

Caxtons’s Get It has 20 magazines in its stable, most of which are Johannesburgbased. Joint ventures in Bloemfontein (with OFM) and Cape Town (with publishers,Ramsay Son & Parker) facilitate their distribution processes in these regions.

Community glamour

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 11Community News

Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth and East London)The top shopping destinations are Green acres and Vincent Park Centre. The averageissue readership for local community papers is 62 per cent with 46 per cent for daily news-papers and 42 per cent for weeklies. Fifty-eight per cent of PDMs are female, 41 per centare white with 33 per cent coloured, 46 per cent speak Afrikaans and average monthlyhousehold income is around R10 800. In Port Elizabeth, 44 per cent of the community isover the age of 50. Its racial profile is 50 per cent white and 37 per cent coloured.Afrikaans speakers are at 54 per cent and English 40 per cent. In East London, 60 per cent are female, 54 per cent aged 35-49, 55 per cent speak Xhosa and 28 per cent Afrikaans.

Garden Route (Mossel Bay, George, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Sedgefield, Wildernessand Grootbrakrivier)Fifty-eight per cent of PDMs are female with a racial profile of 55 per cent coloured and37 per cent white. The majority speak Afrikaans (81 per cent) and the average monthlyhousehold income is R9 200. The top shopping destinations are Garden Route Mall andPick ’n Pay Centre. The biggest LSM grouping is LSM 6 with an even split across agegroups. Average issue readership is 55 per cent for local community newspapers and 48per cent for weekly newspapers. In Sedgefield/Wilderness/Grootbrakrivier, 40 per cent ofthe community is aged 50+, 60 per cent are white, 87 per cent speak Afrikaans and 37 are in LSM 6-7.

KwaZulu-NatalDurbanTop shopping destinations are The Pavilion and Gateway. Fifty-five per cent of PDMs arefemale with 77 per cent speaking English. The racial breakdown is 54 per cent white and26 per cent black. Average monthly household income is around R14 600. Average issuereadership of local community papers is 70 per cent with 46 per cent for weekly newspa-pers. The majority of the community is 35+.

In Berea, 38 per cent have e-mail/Internet, 38 per cent are also over the age of 50 and39 per cent are aged 16-34. In Highway, 77 per cent are aged 35 and older. InChatsworth, the community is 90 per cent Indian, 92 per cent are English speaking andthe Chatsworth Rising Sun has an average issue readership of 82 per cent.

On the South Coast, 30 per cent have e-mail/Internet and 42 per cent are aged 50+.In Amanzantoti, 38 per cent have e-mail/Internet. In Ladysmith, the community is 41 percent black and 36 per cent Indian and 26 per cent are LSM 9-10.

Mpumalanga (Witbank, Bethal/Secunda, Middelburg, Ermelo, Nelspruit)There is an almost even split between white and black in Mpumalanga with 43 per centspeaking Afrikaans and 30 per cent Zulu. The top shopping destinations are Pick ’n Payand Shoprite Centre. Average issue readership for local community newspapers is 79 percent with 48 per cent for weeklies and 47 per cent for daily newspapers.

Witbank has a community whereby 44 per cent are aged 35-49, 69 per cent are white and 55 per cent speak Afrikaans. In Ermelo, 65 per cent are Zulu speaking, 87 per cent are black, 46 per cent are in LSM 6, 61 per cent are female and 56 per cent are aged 16-34.

Cape TownCape Town North (Brackenfell, Bellville, Durbanville, Goodwood, Melkbosstrand,Milnerton) Seventy four per cent of the population is white; 51 per cent is Afrikaans, and 50 per centis English. The average monthly household income is around R18 400. Thirty two percent of the population has access to e-mail/Internet access. 74 per cent read the localcommunity paper while 53 per cent of PDMs are female. Forty-two per cent are above theage of 50 years, and one per cent fall into LSM 1. The top four shopping destinations inthis area include Canal Walk/Century City, Tygervally Shopping Centre, Cape Gate, andthe N1 City Mall.

In Milnerton/Melkbosstrand, 81 per cent of the community is white, and 86 per centspeak English. The average monthly household income is around R18 900 and 41 percent has e-mail. Seventy-eight per cent read the Tabletalk community newspaper. InParow/Goodwood, 75 per cent of the population is white, with 56 per cent speakingAfrikaans and 29 per cent fall into LSM 9. The average monthly household income isapproximately R16 700 and 61 per cent reads the Tygerburger.

Cape Town Central (Cape Town, Athlone, Gugulethu, Belhar, Kuilsrivier, Blue Downs,Michell’s Plain and Khayelitsha).Ninety-six per cent of the population is coloured, with 65 per cent speaking Afrikaansand 46 per cent are over the age of fifty years. Seventy seven per cent read the localcommunity newspapers.

In Athlone, 98 per cent is coloured, 58 per cent speak Afrikaans and 49 per cent areover the age of 50 years. Fifty-seven per cent are female and seven per cent have e-mail/Internet access. In Mitchell’s Plain, the community is 98 per cent coloured and 60per cent are Afrikaans speaking. The average monthly household income is about R7 700.Fifty four per cent are female, and half the population is over the age of 50 years. Thirty-six per cent fall into LSM 7 with 78 per cent reading the Plainsman. Gugulethu has a 98per cent black population with 97 per cent speaking Xhosa and 44 per cent between theages of 16 and 34.

Southern Seaboard (Constantia, Fish Hoek, Hout Bay, Seapoint, Southern Suburbs) The majority (57 per cent) of the population is white, and 30 per cent is coloured. Eighty-six per cent speak English. They shop primarily at Cavendish Square and CanalWalk/Century City. The average monthly household income is around R15 800; 42 percent are between the ages of 16 and 34 years. Forty six per cent of the population has e-mail/Internet access. In Constantia, 44 per cent are over the age of 50 while 37 per centare between 16-34 years old. Thirty-nine per cent have access to e-mail/Internet. In theSouthern suburbs, 57 per cent of the population is white, and the majority of the popula-tion is English-speaking. Twenty eight per cent fall into LSM 8, and the average monthlyhousehold income is around R16 900 with 56 per cent having access to e-mail/Internet.In Hout Bay, 44 per cent has e-mail/Internet.

Somerset WestEighty-four per cent of the population is white, and the majority are Afrikaans speakingand almost half are in LSM 10. Forty seven per cent have e-mail/Internet access. Theaverage monthly household income is almost R19 000.


While the dailies and weeklies of the newspaper worldfret over the pressures of online and free news, communi-ty newspapers are enjoying growth and development.Loyal readers, growing ad revenues and the subsequentcirculation growth are driving community papers forward.

In the US, newspapers are narrowing their focus tolocal news, in an attempt to create the kind of contentthat is not available online or through the mass media.Large publishers are looking to buy out small communitypapers to cash in on it all.

Locally, the community press industry is now at 459465, an increase of just over 60 000 copies (Jan-March2007) compared to the previous corresponding period.

The free distribution community papers are at an all-time high. The free newspaper figures from the latest ABCreport (Jan-March 2007) are standing at 4 506 039, anincrease of 595 910 in the last year, including an addition-al 20 new newspapers. “Readers love our local newspapersand clearly advertisers get a good response from spendingtheir money with us,” says David Hill. IndependentNewspapers Cape division publishes 14 titles, with a totaldistribution of 595 368. The National Advertising Bureau(NAB) boasts 120 community papers.

In order to keep up the astonishing growth, free com-munity paper publishers are finding gaps in their existingdistribution areas, as well as new potential footholds innewly developing areas (eg townships and Midrand inGauteng). “Nationally we are seeing a trend where newly

developed areas are evolving into self sufficient commu-nities and therefore there is a need for more clearlydefined community newspapers,” says Gill Randall, jointmanaging director, NAB. During the last few months,NAB’s community papers have expanded into areas suchas the Zululand region of KZN and the Lowveld inMpumalanga. According to Hill, IndependentNewspapers Cape has seen growth in areas such as theBoland and Cape Town city centre.

The major township developments (new shoppingmalls, commercial nodes, housing, etc) are creatingexcellent opportunities for community papers. “There isgrowth in the emerging sector and it is kicking inamongst LSM 4-5 and above. They are more educatedand their literacy levels are higher,” says John Bowles,joint managing director, NAB. Randall adds that at theend of March 2007, NAB saw a notable incline innational advertising sales throughout their 10 Sowetoofferings. She anticipates that with six shopping centresup and running in Soweto (and more developments tofollow), advertising interest is likely to continue itsupward trend. Thus far, NAB is reaching 80 per cent ofSoweto (and is therefore tapping 80 per cent of thehousehold expenditure). Independent Cape’s townshipoffering, Vukani (which is bi-lingual English-Xhosa) isalso in high demand. “Pagination has grown by 25 percent in the past two years. We expect this growth tocontinue,” says Hill.

While this increase is to be applauded, it’s not withoutits challenges, some of which could seriously hamperfuture growth. The biggest challenge for communitypapers is gaining access to complexes and cluster devel-opments. “The massive challenge is distribution,especially in boomed off areas,” says Bowles. Whileindustry sources will not reveal much at present abouttheir plans to overcome these issues, solutions are beingworked on. However, this doesn’t seem to be a problemin all distribution areas. Hill maintains that in the Cape,for example, demand for community newspapers is suchthat residents of gated complexes make arrangementswith Independent to receive them.

In spite of the challenges, community papers are see-ing exciting innovations. NAB is planning to go mobilewithin the next two years and is currently studying rev-enue models. “We will also be online when it becomesmore affordable for everyone – we have the infrastruc-ture in place already,” says Bowles. For Independent’spapers, the move online is expected to be seamless oncethe group’s community papers have switched to thePrestige editorial system (something that is set to happenin the near future). “We’re looking forward to a synergybetween our papers and the Internet,” says Hill.

Beyond this, community papers appear to be focusingon getting the relevant publications to their communi-ties, so that they can deliver the right product to theiradvertisers.

Community growth

12 • NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2006 International Special Report


� Two journalists have been killed in China in the lastyear, both at the hands of the police, albeit in com-pletely separate and unrelated incidents. (WAN)

� Eight journalists have been shot and killed in thelast year in the Philippines. (WAN)

� Raúl Sanchez Sandoval andJosé Luis León Desiderio werekilled in Ecuador. (WAN)

� One journalist hasbeen killed inGuatemala. (WAN)

� Circulation figures for Australian daily newspapers show adecrease but an increase in Sunday papers, from 1995-2005.

� According to major Australian news organisations, press freedomis under threat and wants government to lift restrictions.

� The Wall Street Journal announces its capability to publish scented ads. � USA Today, the country’s biggest newspaper states that ad revenue is

down 14 per cent in February compared with February 06.� The New York Observer redesigns from a broadsheet into a tabloid. � The Washington Post reduces cost in the newsroom by shrinking and

focuses on its website. � The latest ABC figures show a decline in paying customers and circulation

figures. � The New York Times employs a ‘futurist in residence’, Michael

Rogers, to help it with new technology developments. The paperopens permanent access to TimesSelect in a bid to attract students.Publisher of the New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, doesn’t know,or care, apparently whether the paper will be in a printed format inthe future.

� The New York Post runs its first front page ad.� According to a recent Gallup poll, 44 per cent of Americans use a

daily newspaper, a figure that has remained steady since 2004.Thirteen per cent say they use a newspaper several times a week whileseven per cent of Americans read a national newspaper every day.

� Most major newspaper report circulation declines in the latest UK ABC results. The Guardian wasthe biggest loser in the national daily market. The Sun also fell but retained its number one spot.

� The Financial Times redesigned and was one of the few national dailies to post an increase forthe latest ABC figures.

� The Guardian News & Media will cut jobs over the coming year whilst adding jobs in digitalmedia.

� thelondonpaper leads London Lite in the latest ABC figures, but both papers are being watchedcarefully after video footage of dumping was reported.

� Free newspapers across the UK have posted increases in circulation. � The Sun website claims 56 million new readers from around the globe in 2006.

� Four journalistshave died inColumbia. (WAN)

� Freelance reporter, Herliyanto wasmurdered in Indonesia. (WAN)

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 13International Special Report


� Ogulsapar Muradova died in jail in Ashgabat,Turkmenistan last year after serving less than onemonth of a six-year sentence. The time and circum-stances of her death remain unclear. (WAN)

� Mohammed Taha MohamedAhmed was murdered inSeptember last year inKhartoum, Sudan. (WAN)

� Martin Adler waskilled last year inMogadishu,Somalia. (WAN)

� Freelance journalistBapuwa Mwamba wasmurdered in theDemocratic Republic ofCongo last July. (WAN)

� Benicio Wedeinge andAugusto SebastiaoDomingos Pedro werekilled last year inAngola. (WAN)

� A Zimbabwean court refuses an application to restart two sisternewspapers that were shut down four years by the government.

� New Afrikaans Sunday paper, Sondag,launches in South Africa.

� The Times, a new daily newspaperowned by the Sunday Times, launchesto subscribers in South Africa.

� Seventy-three year old free-lance journalist, AjuricabaMonassa de Paula was beatento death in Brazil. (WAN)

� Bi-lingual and bi-monthly (Englishand Polish) freesheet, Gazeta zHighland is launched by ScottishProvinical Newspapers

� The oldest known newspaper in circulation, Sweden’s Post och InrikesTidningar, has gone digital and will only be available online.

� Layal Nagib and Suleiman al-Chidiac were killed in July inLebanon during missile and airstikes from Israel. (WAN)

� Abed Al-Usaili waskillled in Yemen inJuly last year. (WAN)

� Axel Springer launches dailynewspaper, Dziennik, in Poland

� Rumours abound regarding Rupert Murdoch’s launch of anEnglish tabloid in India.

� The Wall Street Journal and HT Media launch Mint, anEnglish language newsapaper in India.

� Three journalists in India were murdered in the last year.(WAN)

� Associated Newspapers inks deal with the India Today groupto launch newspapers into the Indian market.

� Bellal Hossain Dafadar was killed in Bangladesh inSeptember last year. (WAN)

� Four journalists have been murdered in Pakistan withinthe last year – three of the four were shot. (WAN)

� A total of five journalists have beenkilled in Sri Lanka. (WAN)

� Two journalists were shot last year inthe Dominican Republic. (WAN)

� Six journalists havebeen killed in the lastyear in Guyana. Allwere shot. (WAN)

� Six journalists inMexico were murderedin the last year. (WAN)

� Three journalists have been killedin Venezuela. (WAN)

� Boston gets another freedaily – Boston Now.

� The Emirates Evening

Post has been closed

down in the UAE.

� The Xpress weekly

tabloid freesheet was

launched in the UAE

in March

� The Palestine Times waslaunched in Palestine inNovember and is printedin English.

� Iran lifted a ban on the Shargh newspaper inMarch after being shut down in September.

� Ayfer Serce, a female Kurdish journalist work-ing in Iran was killed in July 06. (WAN)

� Forty five journalists have been killed inthe last year whilst in Iraq. (WAN)

� Three journalists were killed inAfghanistan last year. (WAN)

� Three journalists were killed inRussia last year: Anatoly Voronin,Anna Politkovskaya and YevgenyGerasimenko. (WAN)


History has shown that the mediaare a vital barometer of progress inthe modern world. This is still thecase today, as newspapers face theirgreatest challenge in the last cen-tury. It is one of such epic propor-tions that unless they revolutionisethe way in which they think andoperate, they too will go the way ofthe dinosaurs, in a no less spectac-ular fashion.

While this may seem to be anunnecessarily alarmist statement,newspapers currently face a greatmany more challenges in retainingtheir circulation than ever before.Gone are the days when newspa-pers were consumers’ sole sourceof information. They now have amultitude of opportunities andsources from which to get thenews that they once relied onobtaining from the morning paper.The proliferation of competition

and the plethora of media chan-nels have increased their volumeof choice. When consumers goabout their daily business, theycan watch the TV over breakfast,turn on the radio in the car or lis-ten to their iPods on the way towork. They can also log onto theInternet at work or at home orwhen they go out for a cup ofcoffee. The news business today istruly 24/7. It’s on-demand inevery room in the house and it’seven available on householdappliances such as the fridge!Given the growing familiarity andpopularity of innovative cellulartechnology amongst today’smodern consumers, it will be asmall wonder if newspapers sur-vive the cold winter that is ahead.

So what has changed in thenews business? For a start, it isnow more closely related to theentertainment business than itspurist founders might have hopedor envisaged. Consumers todayalso have a voracious appetite forthe news and consume far greateramounts of information than theirforefathers did. In addition, rapidchange and speedy technologyalso mean that we don’t have towait for the news, as we can getthe latest up-to-date reports 24/7.Rather than wait for the morningor evening paper, today’s newsconsumers can sign up for bul-letins that will discreetly updatethem via SMS, e-mail or RSSFeeds throughout the day. One

can therefore excuse newspaperexecutives if they adopt a measureof pessimism regarding the futureof their business. After all, thistraditional medium has its physi-cal limitations. It shares none ofthe freedoms that the Internet,radio, cellphone or TV offer.During the Gulf War for example,history was being created soquickly that the ink had barelydried on the newspapers at thepresses before the published infor-mation had changed and becomeold news.

In spite of this Talcott believesthat the newspaper business willnot only survive, it will prosper, asthe various channels continue toconverge and the drivers of thenews business evolve. History sup-ports his confidence. When televi-sion was born, there was a ferventbelief that it would replace radio.

This was not the case. It did, how-ever, act as a catalyst for change inboth mediums. Both radio and TVhave continued to evolve with thetimes, to the point where theynow provide exciting formats –such as talk shows and realityshows – that make the most oftheir mediums. They have joinedforces with the other mediumsrather than opposing them. Theyemploy the Internet to offer theirinformation hungry viewers andlisteners access to more data viaSMS, enabling the passionate tointeract with their programmes bycasting their votes, asking theirquestions and entering their com-petitions. If this is anything to goby, we are dealing with a case ofmedia convergence rather thanmedia divergence.

Central to the survival of eachmedia channel is the value that itdelivers to the consumer. InTalcott’s own words: “We used totalk about Content is King andwhile I still think that this is so, Ibelieve that context is even moreimportant.” Just as radio and TVchannels have evolved theirthinking and formats to maximisetheir strengths and value to theconsumer, the same holds true fornewspapers and their upstart chal-lenger, the Internet. When news-papers adopted the Internet theyfell into the same trap as the fore-fathers of the radio and TV busi-ness: they regarded the Internet asjust a newspaper on the web.

While this still seems to be thecase today, Talcott is adamant thatthe marriage between newspapersand the Internet has not yetarrived where he thinks it shouldbe. The challenge, as he sees it, isto determine the right place andthe right manner in which todeliver certain messages, in waysthat are relevant to readers.

This can be seen in the explo-sion of freesheets both here andabroad, as the newspaper businessseeks to meet the public’s seem-ingly insatiable hunger for news.News Limited gained first moveradvantage when they launched afree newspaper called MX inMelbourne and then again inSydney as a commuter paper.They capitalised on a distributionopportunity to reach large vol-umes of people as they left thecity in the afternoons, through a

relatively small number of distri-bution points. The launch was agood example of marrying contextand content, as the paper wasdesigned to be a 20-30 minuteread to match the average com-muter time. Its content was heavi-ly entertainment driven andincluded information on newsthat had broken after the otherpapers had gone to bed. Thepaper served the additional pur-pose of reaching a younger audi-ence for whom free news was theaccepted norm, thanks to theInternet. This made its free statusall the more important andappealing. This is not a new phe-nomenon. Many of the factorsthat motivate newspaper purchas-es are lifestage driven, which iswhy few young people read news-papers (as was the case in the1940s). They have other things todo, even if they do seem to findthe time to scan the Internet.

Change within the newspaperbusiness has come about in manyways. While previously executivesknew that their newspapersweren’t just products, they didn’tthink of them as brands either.They saw them as newspapers andmastheads at best. They nowrealise that they own some power-ful brands, which if managed cor-rectly, can live in other places aswell. This represents a significantshift in the cultural attitude with-in the newspaper business. Forexample, there is no reason why

the Australian newspaper’s‘Confidential’ gossip, entertain-ment and movie section shouldn’tdeliver the same message on TVand the Internet. Similarly, theNew York Post has its own ‘PageSix,’ which possesses huge credi-bility as a turn-to section thatoffers a guide to what’s happeningin New York. They also publish anannual issue – a big seller – thatshows that the right content canlive in many different places.

The challenge is to provide con-stant value and connectivity fornews customers. In this way thereaders of the morning paper cancheck the website for commentson articles that they have read andthey can provide their own feed-back. They are also able to turn tothe paper the next morning toread the online comments thathave been published. This meansthat the opportunity exists to havea brand that intersects with peo-ple’s lives in different places,which is of enormous appeal toadvertisers and marketers alike.This also provides the necessaryplatform for newspapers to con-nect directly with their readers –something that has hitherto notbeen possible because the tradi-tional distribution model requiresnewsagents. It is this new level ofconnectivity and collaborationthat will shape the future of thenews media landscape, just asiTunes has done in the music busi-ness and amazon.com has done inthe publishing world. In the sameway, we can expect the traditionaldistribution models for news tochange along with the times.

While speech developed in thetime of the caveman, the secondadvance in human communica-tion – writing – took place only afew thousand years ago. Writingallowed people to preserve knowl-edge and thoughts from genera-tion to generation and acted as atime machine of sorts, as it per-mitted communication with thefuture. The next significantadvance (which only came intobeing a few hundred years ago)was publishing, which allowed oneperson to communicate withmany people. In this way educa-tion was democratised and sciencewas made available to the masses.Cinema, television, radio and out-door are all part of the thirdadvance, as they are a small groupcommunicating with many.Talcott believes that we are onlyjust entering the fourth advance,which has been enabled by theInternet. This allows people toconnect individually and enmasse. It has revolutionised thepublishing model since all theseindividuals are publishers andcontent generators. Now peopletruly have the power to influence

content directly, something thatwas once the sole domain of theeditor, the publisher and theproducer.

This dynamic is changingcommunications. Companies likeLego, for example, now outsource abig portion of their research anddevelopment to their customers,rather than relying on six Danishscientists who are locked in a roombuilding models. They now havethousands of people all around theworld experimenting with theirproducts and building newcreations. McDonald’s has puttogether a community of youngmothers in the UK who speakopenly and assist the company innavigating its way through impor-tant health and nutritional issues(this may be the key to the compa-ny’s recent radical product develop-ment). P&G is another company tocome up with its own co-creationmodel by utilising two online con-sumer panels, ‘Tremor’ and‘Vocalpoint’ to canvass the opinionsof over 750 000 customers.Similarly, the millions of MySpacemembers and YouTube uploadersare evidence that the masses arethe media now – and that you canhave a vibrant media on theInternet without having a mediacompany involved.

In a similar vein, Tom Friedmanhas said that the next break-through in biochemistry is likelyto originate with a Romanian highschool student rather than com-ing from a university. With somany millions of publishers on thenet, hundreds of thousands ofproducers and millions ofresearchers and contributors toWikipedia, the media of tomorrowwill have the challenge of harness-ing the power of connectivity anddelivering news in such a way thatit creates a continued demand fortheir products. The traditionalmodel will change forever. Whilstcontent will remain important(with millions of channels tochoose from), the key differentia-tors will be talent, context andbrand strength.

For years the media have grownalong their path, sometimes quietlyand sometimes not. However itseems to that the last few yearshave revealed a new kind of energyand drive for change deep withinthe industry. Clearly they don’twant to be left behind. They aredriven by hard nosed owners withkeen entrepreneurial minds andan instinct for survival that isfueled by new entrants into theexecutive ranks, who hail fromthe fields of retail, FMCG andconsumer marketing. One has thesense that the giant has beenwoken and that this time he isdetermined not to let Jack getaway with the golden egg.

The Media RevolutionAustralian News

By Richard Duncan, Sydney, Australia, [email protected]

In an interview with group marketing director Joe Talcott of News Limited, Sydney Australia, we get an insight into the mind of one of the world’s biggest newscorporations and we learn about the new kind of thinking that is spreading through the media world, as newspapers face some of the greatest circulation threatsof the last century.


“I think (certainly in Australia) that there is a misconception that newspapersare dying and that all the people who have been reading newspapers have migrated to the Internet to get their information. The evidence

clearly doesn’t support this theory.”– Joe Talcott, group marketing director, News Limited, Sydney, Australia


1 Finland 0,50- Iceland 0,50- Ireland 0,50- Netherlands 0,505 Czech Republic 0,756 Estonia 2,00- Norway 2,008 Slovakia 2,50- Switzerland 2,5010 Hungary 3,00- Latvia 3,00- Portugal 3,00- Slovenia 3,0014 Belgium 4,00- Sweden 4,0016 Austria 4,50- Bolivia 4,50- Canada 4,5019 Bosnia & Herzegovina5,00- Denmark 5,00- New-Zealand 5,00- Trinidad & Tobago 5,0023 Benin 5,50- Germany 5,50- Jamaica 5,5026 Namibia 6,0027 Lithuania 6,50- United Kingdom 6,5029 Costa Rica 6,6730 Cyprus 7,5031 South Korea 7,7532 Greece 8,00- Mauritius 8,0034 Ghana 8,5035 Australia 9,00- Bulgaria 9,00- France 9,00- Mali 9,0039 Panama 9,5040 Italy 9,9041 El Salvador 10,00- Spain 10,00

43 Taiwan 10,5044 South Africa 11,2545 Cape Verde 11,50- Macedonia 11,50- Mozambique 11,50- Serbia & Montenegro11,5049 Chile 11,6350 Israel 12,0051 Japan 12,5052 Dominican Rep 12,7553 Botswana 13,00- Croatia 13,00- Tonga 13,00- USA 13,0057 Uruguay 13,7558 Fiji 14,00- Hong-Kong 14,00- Poland 14,00- Romania 14,0062 Central African Rep 14,50- Cyprus (North) 14,50- Guinea-Bissau 14,50- Honduras 14,5066 Madagascar 15,00- Togo 15,0068 Ecuador 15,2569 Nicaragua 15,5070 Burkina Faso 16,00- Kosovo 16,00- Lesotho 16,0073 Congo 17,00- Kuwait 17,0075 Brazil 17,1776 Argentina 17,3077 Mauritania 17,50- Senegal 17,50- United Arab Emirates17,5080 Albania 18,00- Qatar 18,0082 Paraguay 18,2583 Timor-Leste 18,5084 Liberia 19,00

85 Moldova 19,1786 Mongolia 19,2587 Haiti 19,5088 Tanzania 19,8289 Georgia 21,0090 Guatemala 21,2591 Angola 21,5092 Malaysia 22,2593 Comoros 22,50- Zambia 22,5095 Niger 24,50- Seychelles 24,5097 Morocco 24,8398 Bhutan 25,00- Côte d’Ivoire 25,00- Turkey 25,00101 Armenia 25,50- Malawi 25,50103 Indonesia 26,00- Sierra Leone 26,00105 India 26,50- Ukraine 26,50107 Lebanon 27,00108 Cambodia 27,25109 Guinea 27,50- Jordan 27,50111 Bahrein 28,00112 Cameroon 28,25- Peru 28,25114 Gabon 28,50115 Venezuela 29,00116 Uganda 29,83117 Tajikistan 30,00118 Kenya 30,25119 USA (extra-territorial)31,50120 Nigeria 32,23121 Djibouti 33,00122 Thailand 33,50123 Kyrgyzstan 34,00124 Chad 35,50125 Burundi 39,83126 Algeria 40,00

127 Swaziland 40,50128 Kazakhstan 41,00- Rwanda 41,00130 Afghanistan 44,25131 Colombia 44,75132 Mexico 45,83133 Egypt 46,25134 Palestinian Authority 46,75135 Azerbaijan 47,00- Israel (extra-territorial)47,00137 Bangladesh 48,00- Equatorial Guinea 48,00139 Sudan 48,13140 Zimbabwe 50,00141 Sri Lanka 50,75142 DRC 51,00- Philippines 51,00144 Maldives 51,25- Somalia 51,25146 Singapore 51,50147 Russia 52,50148 Tunisia 53,75149 Gambia 54,00- Yemen 54,00151 Belarus 57,00152 Libya 62,50153 Syria 63,00154 Iraq 66,83155 Vietnam 67,25156 Laos 67,50157 Pakistan 70,33158 Uzbekistan 71,00159 Nepal 73,50160 Ethiopia 75,00161 Saudi Arabia 76,00162 Iran 90,88163 China 94,00164 Burma 94,75165 Cuba 95,00166 Eritrea 97,50167 Turkmenistan 98,50168 North Korea 109,00

Source: www.rsf.org

Press Freedom In 2006:

Advice

• 81 journalists and 32 media assistants were killed• at least 871 were arrested• 1 472 attacked or threatened• 56 kidnapped• 912 media outlets censored. Those at the bottom of the Press Freedom Index haven’t really changed – NorthKorea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still the worstoffenders. While this is no surprise, the US (53rd), France (35th) and Japan(51st) have dropped significantly down the index. Kuwait is at the top of the listfor the Middle East (73rd). Bolivia (16th) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (19th) havenow broken into the top 10. In Africa, Benin (23rd) still leads the pack, followed by Namibia, Mauritius,Ghana, Mali and South Africa has dropped 13 places and is now in 44th, onlyslightly ahead of Cape Verde and Mozambique.

The rankingN° Country Score N° Country Score N° Country Score N° Country Score


Legal Column

Criticism of the films and publications amendment bill. 2006The Films and Publications Act (“the Act”) was promulgated in 1996. The primaryobjective of the Act is to regulate the distribution of certain publications, as well as theexhibition and distribution of certain films, through the following:

i) classification ii) imposing age restrictions iii) providing consumers with guidelines in respect of certain material. The Act therefore aimed, amongst other things, to set distribution standards for films

and publications. It appears that the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, 2006 (“the Amendment

Bill”) now seeks to further broaden the objects of the Act, to include the regulation ofwhat may or may not be published or broadcast. Its purpose is to protect children frombeing exposed to potentially disturbing, harmful and inappropriate materials in, inter alia,publications, films and the Internet.

Clause 16 of the Amendment Bill provides that “any person who, for distribution or exhi-bition in the Republic, creates, produces, publishes or advertises any publication that con-tains visual presentations, descriptions or representations of or amounting to:

• sexual conduct; • propaganda for war; • incitement to imminent violence; or • the advocacy of hatred based on any identifiable group characteristic shall submit in

the prescribed manner such publication for examination and classification to the classifica-tion office before such publication is distributed, exhibited, offered or advertised for distri-bution or exhibition.”

The Act clearly distinguished between publications and films, in that publications weregenerally not required to be submitted for classification prior to publication. The generalview was that written publications were less likely to fall foul of the provisions in the Act.

Furthermore, the perception was that there was a lesser need to censor publicationsbecause they generally serve to inform the public of the issues of the day. Consequently pub-lications operated on the principle, ‘publish and be damned.’ However in terms of clause 16

of the Amendment Bill, creators and publishers must submit materials for classification if thematerial contains presentations or descriptions of, inter alia, sexual conduct.

Therefore (in terms of clause 16 of the Amendment Bill), publishers of newspapers will berequired to submit proposed articles for classification if the articles, for example, describethe manner in which a victim was raped or sexually harassed.

Accordingly, reporting on stories such as the Jacob Zuma rape case or the rape allega-tions against Judge Desai, may be subject to the scrutiny of the classification office. Thisamounts to a violation of the media’s right to the press freedom prescribed in Section 16of the Constitution and introduces pre-publication censorship.

The requirement that the material be submitted to a classification panel prior to publi-cation is likely to disrupt the deadline system involved in processing news. This require-ment will make it difficult for newspapers to meet their publication deadlines in particu-lar, resulting in readers not receiving news and information in good time, which will be tothe detriment of the public as a whole.

The pre-publication classification requirement may also have an impact on the type ofnews that is delivered to the public. Editors and journalists may begin to censor theirown work, in an attempt to meet the deadlines imposed by the newspaper and to avoidhaving to seek pre-publication classification. This will compromise the standard andquality of the news that reaches the public.

While I acknowledge and support the legislature’s intention to protect children frombeing exposed to potentially harmful material, I am of the view that the legislature hastaken for granted the role that is played by parents in protecting their children. Inattempting to achieve its objectives, the Amendment Bill is over-regulating the films andpublications industry, resulting in the violation of the media’s right to the press freedomthat is entrenched in the Constitution. The Amendment Bill is interfering with themedia’s obligation to provide citizens with news and information. The result is that thepublic’s right to receive information is also severely curtailed.

By Portia Mngomezulu, attorney, Webber Wentzel Bowens

Africa 3 258 300 101Americas 16 65 476 74Asia 16 328 517 478Europe 5 112 98 183Middle East 41 108 81 76Total 81 871 1 472 9122005 63 807 1 308 1 0062004 53 907 1 146 622

Source: The 2006 Round-Up – Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom.

Killed Arrested Physicallyattacked orthreatened

Media outletscensored

2006

Worldwide PressFreedom Index 2006 – Reporters without Borders


In the months since the launch ofasap, the new Associated Press(AP) multimedia service for readersin their 20s and 30s, the operativeword has been ‘evolution’.

In its pilot phase until the endof 2006, asap aims at taking thebest of the AP resources anddirecting them toward a multi-media service for the 18-to34-year-old demographic.

To do that, we currently employ26 staffers, including the editorsand designers at New York head-quarters and journalists in NewYork, Los Angeles and Denver.We also draw heavily on AP jour-nalists from around the world.

They use video, audio, interac-tives, graphics and photographs tomake stories come alive and actu-ally conceive their stories fromthe idea phase with those media

in mind. We do stories that areentirely video, stories that are acombination of photographs andaudio packaged in a Flash interac-tive presentation, pieces that areaudio-driven, and stories drivenby the design of custom-built web pages

We are doing podcasts andvideo mini-documentaries regu-larly now. Song downloads are justaround the corner.

We have done hard news tofirst-person diaries of reporters onthe scene, which gets the insightsof the world’s AP correspondentsto our readers quickly.

We have done sports, from theX Games to the Olympics togonzo poker. Our business andtechnology coverage includes apersonal-finance column foryoung adults and frequent fea-

tures on the latest must-havetechnology.

And we do entertainment andpopular culture like no one else –everything from full and exclusivecoverage of the Oscars to explo-rations of the oddest corners ofAmerican culture.

The form that the journalismtakes is limited only by thecreativity of asap’s staff. Thematerial that appears on asap isexclusive – it appears nowhereelse in the AP’s report.

Since our launch on September19, 2005, asap has changed, as itshould. We have listened to feed-back from pilot participants andfocus groups, and we have honedwhat we do.

We are doing more ‘chunky’text and ore items off the news.More audio used with stories to

make them come alive. Morecreativity conceived Flash presen-tations that turn the news in to avisual experience.

But above all, we are doingmore video – something we haveheard over and over that pilotparticipants want.

AP recognises that for asap toachieve and maintain its maxi-mum relevance, it must neverstop evolving. The best hope wehave for asap is that it will neverget to where it wants to be.

Instead, it will keep changingwith the times, making sure thatit brings AP values and strong APjournalism to whatever it takes tograb this valuable audience.

Ted Anthony is editor of theAssociated Press’ asap found athttp://asap.ap.org. He is based inNew York City, USA and reachedby e-mail at [email protected] article first appeared in ideas magazine June/July 2006 (p.39). For more information,visit www.inma.org.

As the digital age continues toinfluence all aspects of modernlife, one of the fiercest debates iswhether online publications andblogging by individuals will haveany significant effect on the print media.

The question draws a widerange of responses. On the onehand, there are those who believethat the access provided by elec-tronic advances to the main-stream media will sink print mediainstitutions for good. On theother hand, there are those whobelieve that the printed word is soingrained in our society that it willnever disappear entirely. However,the main body of thinking sug-gests that it does not have to be ahead-to-head contest in whichonly one player survives. MatthewBuckland, publisher, Mail &Guardian Online, believes thatthe two can definitely work in acomplementary way.

“I think that media companiesthese days are not too concernedabout whether their online editionwill ‘replace’ their print properties.A media company is about dis-seminating information on a vari-ety of platforms and capturingaudiences. It doesn’t really matterwhether this comes from itsonline, print or broadcast entity,”he says. He also believes that printwill not die out – especially indeveloping countries on theAfrican continent, where theprinted word is a cheaper mediumthan the Internet.

Trevor Ncube, president of theNewspaper Association of SouthAfrica and chief executive andowner of the Mail & Guardian,agrees: “Any threats to the print

industry are subdued because ofour stage of development. Fewpeople in rural Africa have com-puters or access to the Internet.”

Buckland firmly believes thateven in the developed world therewill always be a niche market forpeople who will want to consumetheir news on paper. “It’s a simplequestion of preference. Eventhough I am a new media evan-gelist, I still consume my news viaa mixture of websites and newspa-pers. In the future, however, news-papers and online will eventuallyconverge and newspapers will beread on cheap, flexible digitalboards that are always connectedvia wireless. Websites and newspa-pers will become the same thing.”

According to Buckland, we haveentered the ‘age of the reader.’Audiences are increasingly becom-ing ‘small media owners’ and areparticipating in the publishinggame. This is so even in the adver-tising arena, where ads are placedby blogs via Google, for example.“Big media and the blogospherehave a mutually-dependent symbiotic

relationship – one that is bothcompetitive and complementary.Mainstream media online publish-ers need bloggers, as they link toarticles and provide traffic andcommentary. They also fulfil animportant watchdog function andare able to tackle niches that areoften ignored by big media.Bloggers are able to convey usefulcommentary with a brutal andoften acerbic honesty that is notconstrained by the corporate civili-ties of a big media organisation.”

One of the problems with blog-ging at present appears to be alack of the structures or guidelinesthat ensure standards of quality,taste and credibility. Easy accessi-bility and almost negligible costhave virtually created an openseason for anyone who feels thatthey have something to say.However, among the hundreds ofthousands of frivolous blogs, thereare those that are operated bypeople with significant standing,who have a major contribution tomake to the global flow of infor-mation. Buckland agrees that one

of the weaknesses of the so-calledcitizen media is its non-adherenceto the formal standards and ethicsof mainstream journalism.“Citizen journalists are not able toaccess resources in a coordinatedmanner, such as those that arerequired to tackle a big investiga-tive article, for example. This isthe benefit which mainstreammedia brings, that citizen mediacannot. I think that blog aggrega-tors, Technorati’s authorityweightings and search engines likeGoogle have a role to play inhelping us to sort the good stufffrom the rubbish.”

Buckland adds that while therole of citizen media will grow, itwill never replace traditional mediamodels. “Organised, corporatestructures with incentives (such assalaries) produce quality and getthe best out of human beings. It’sworked for centuries,” he says. Oneof the most successful players totap into the power of electronicmedia is Craig Newark, founderand creator of Craigslist, a globalonline classifieds system. Writing inthe report of the NiemanFoundation for Journalism atHarvard University, Newark attrib-utes the success of his business tobuilding a sense of trust in thecommunity in which he operates.“We all wonder whom and what totrust and want to know how infor-mation is verified. And we canonly hope that people have theopportunities, as I’ve had, to reallythink about a how a free press pre-serves democracy. I’m hopeful thatwhat I’ve learned about trust inour online community can helpjournalism to achieve this in theirdigital enterprises.”

Blogged out of journalism?By Ken Daniels

Google adsTaking a step forward (or is it astep back?) Google is now offeringads that will appear in the printeditions of 50 major newspapers inthe US. Already in beta testing,Print Ads, according to the news-paper companies involved(including Gannett, the TribuneCompany, The New York TimesCompany and the WashingtonPost Company) is doing well, so far.

Approximately 100 advertis-ers, including some of Google’sfavourite online partners, havebeen asked to take part. Onceout of beta, the project is aimedat getting those that have takentheir advertising away fromnewspapers, as well as smalleradvertisers who wouldn’t nor-mally be able to afford it, intoprint. While Google is not tak-ing any revenue during the testphase, revenue sharing will bedecided upon after the testphase is complete.

The process works on a bid-ding system. An advertiserchooses a newspaper, days of theweek, preferred section and adsize, etc; putting in a price it iswilling to pay. Publishers thenrespond and either accept orreject the price – and the hag-gling begins. A number of news-papers can be chosen and cre-ative can be uploaded for multi-ple newspapers at the same time.Naturally, there are concernsregarding the programme, whichinclude the effect on advertisingand media agencies, as well asad rates. Only time will tell howsuccessful Print Ads will be.Unfortunately for local newspa-pers, the service is only availablein the US. However, knowingGoogle, it may not be too longbefore it’s available worldwide.

The Associated Press creates a unique news vehicle to reach young web users by implementing a multimedia approach.

Packaging news to appeal to young audiences

By Ted Anthony

18 • NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2006 Business News & Technology


GOT IT COVERED 2006/2007

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 19Covers of the year


Dear EdI need your help. There’s a tidal wave of hype around this whole bloggingthing. Look, I’m not even sure that I know what it’s all about. It seems to methat all these ‘bloggers’ are just ordinary folks telling stories and sharing ideasonline. They also share videos, pictures and personal details on socialnetworking sites. Strange. Gimme a fax anyday! It’s funny though, in spite of all the rubbish out there, every now and again Istumble across a real literary gem. I wonder if these ‘ordinary folks’ would ever have bothered to write if not for blogs? This is where I need your opinion. Do you think I can trust these unfiltered, unedited sources?I mean, these guys and girls are just people like me – and what do I know about journalism? Still I feel drawn to the human tone of these sites. They speak the way Ispeak. It feels more intimate than I’m used to. I can identify with these digitalstrangers. It’s fast too! I thought you guys were fast but these people publishtheir stuff in seconds. It really is a new world – and I get to speak back! Theylet me comment on their stuff.I love your publication. There is an old romance to flipping open my weekendedition over a cup of steaming hot coffee. I’m beginning to need these newchannels… the new interactions too. I look forward to watching you adaptand evolve.

Your faithful reader

Mike StopforthMD, Cerebawww.cerebra.co.za

Dear EditorWhen driving down a busy suburban road there’s no way I can miss your bold,quirky (sometimes concerning) but always catchy newspaper headlinesdisplayed on street poles, garages, corner cafes and presented by street sellers asI jostle through morning and afternoon traffic. It entices me to buy the prod-uct, piques the curiosity to read about that story and at the same time, catch amore in-depth view of the other news items I saw on TV last night.

Needing to be situationally aware at all times means I have a continuousrelationship with the newspaper medium. It’s the one platform that’s alwaysavailable to inform, electricity or not!

If I want to see what movies are on over the weekend? Check the paper.Want more in-depth reports on that juicy business story or are if I’m moreinterested in what my local municipality is or isn’t doing? It’s all there in blackand white.

Tangible, entertaining, informative and credible, a newspaper as a resourcehas the ability to give me as much or as little information as I need.

Take it with you anywhere, consume it when you want to, read it back-to-front or front-to-back but face it, the newspaper is here to stay.

Chirene CampbellAccount DirectorOwlhurst Communications

Dear EditorNewspapers started the entire advertisingindustry back in the good old days whenpeople still talked to each other. People readnewspapers in order to be honestly and fac-tually informed about what was happeningbeyond their immediate surroundings, asthey had stopped trusting messengers whotended to embellish the stories. Or was it theother way around? Then some clever brokersstarted placing adverts in those newspapers –and hey presto! So what has changed?

I have often wondered what AlexanderGraham Bell would have said if he had seena cellphone. Is this what he had in mind allalong? Did the creators of computersenvisage that some day people would walkaround with computers in their pockets thatwould have the same capability as theoriginal that filled an entire building?

So what do our newspaper editors andpublishers believe will happen to theirbeloved newspapers? They have survived theonslaught of thousands of radio stations,hundreds of magazines and a multitude ofTV stations that provide everything imaginable.Now the biggest threat of all is about to beunleashed – fast and affordable (if not free)Internet access.

The rich will move away from newspapersfirst and the rest will follow gradually. Theonly people left to read newspapers will bethe very poor, who require them for every-thing other than the news! How they willkeep warm under a cellphone or for thatmatter what they will use for their fish andchips, is uncertain. This is sad – but true.

So here’s a stab at the newspaper of thefuture: ‘The Daily Brain.’ Have this conven-ient microchip inserted in your ear lobe(which makes it reusable) at any of our con-venient ear piercing or tattoo outlets and wewill transfer all the breaking news directlyinto your brain at 4am each day. In this wayyou will awake inspired, informed and intelli-gent (and ready to buy).

Imagine what the brain brokers are goingto do with this capability.

Wayne ParryMomentum McCann MDMcCann Worldgroup

Letters to the editor

Dear EditorThank God for your black print and head-lines. From the short news ‘n coffee breaksnatched out of a busy day in the office, to aweekend indulgence (in a house filled withkids), newspapers provide me with a breakfrom the helter skelter of life.

While news and information are prettymuch a given, my newspaper fix is also aboutopinion. It’s my window onto what is going onboth at home and abroad. It offers me a wayto watch the turning of the world and makeup my mind about what it all means and if itmeans anything at all.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. Inthe course of our insight work withconsumers, we’ve heard people talk aboutyour pages as a source of many things:education, career advice, social planning,trusted financial advice, independent opinionand consumer protection. They are a link intothe communal joys and woes of living in ourcrazy country.

Time and again, people across all levels ofthe social divide speak of the ritual of theirdaily or weekly fix. For each one it is uniqueand personal: the taxi ride tabloid; theSunday in bed or the breakfast businessreport. Each fix is folded or divided orsectioned in a particular, idiosyncratic way.Some read from cover to cover; some readfrom comics to obituaries and some read fromsports page to movie listings. All readers havesomething to turn to (sometimes squabblingover the pickings).

Not surprisingly, consumers connect withyour brands, usually choosing those that makethem feel closest to the way they want to feel:informed, connected, in the know – or deli-ciously shocked.

While editorial emphasis may change andopinion may shift, newspapers will continueto adapt. It seems to me that they will alwayshave a place in our lives: they keep usgrounded in the world.

I’m glad – I’m not ready to give up thisSunday indulgence just yet.

Yours sincerelyKeith StevensMD, Added Value

Letters & Agonia

Dear Agonia,I fear that I have missed my calling in life. I have recurringdreams about working as a veterinarian and I wake upfeeling very nostalgic. Although I enjoy my current job as anewspaper reporter, I feel that it lacks the emotion andpersonal reward that make veterinary practice so engaging.Should I leave my job and become a vet instead? Dilemma

Dear DilemmaHave you lost your mind? The last time I took my belovedpooch to the vet, he had to squeeze certain glands …neither he nor my pooch gained any personal reward fromthis experience. Stick to journalism… it smells better.Besides, nothing beats the thrill of getting the scoop (and I’mnot referring to the poop scoop either).

Dear Agonia,I have really put my foot in it this time. I’ve vented my frustrations regarding my boss’s newpolicies and stupid morning meetings rather creatively on my blog and I’m afraid that hemight have seen it while surfing the company website. What should I do? I think he’splanning to fire me.Sweating

Dear SweatingYes, blogs are there for the expression of personal opinions and experiences. (Seems harmlessenough until you consider just how quickly that blog entry can be e-mailed around theoffice.) In this instance, your opinion is damaging to your boss’s reputation and standing.

The fact that you’ve published it on the company website blog meansthat company employees, partners, shareholders and potential clientshave access to it. To top it all you now look like a terrible employee.So yes, you have good reason to be sweating. Remove the post imme-diately. If you are confronted about it admit that you are a hair-brained, childish twit who cannot control his temper tantrums. Inthe meanwhile, invest in some lip balm (… you’re going to be doing alot of arse-kissing).

Dear AgoniaI have a rather embarrassing habit – it’s becoming a bit of a problem,actually. I’m in the habit of reading the whole Mail & Guardian (initself a good thing) whilst on the toilet. It’s not that I have lengthybowel movements – I just really love to read the paper in the comfortof the loo and once I start, I can’t stop. This means that I am awayfrom my desk and unavailable for hours every day. Please help!Pooh Bear

Dear Pooh BearI am wiping tears of laughter from my eyes as I read your letter! I’m inclined to think thatyour habit is rather disgusting but before I launch into a lecture about your personal hygiene, let me address your problem. You simply cannot be away from your desk during the week whilst you take in your daily M&G. Consider subscribing to their online newspaper– you can read it from the comfort of your desk. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds thatwill alert you to updates and interesting news stories. Now I do understand that it may takesome time for you to feel comfortable reading at your desk (and not on the potty). However,I’m certain that in no time at all you will come to love online news as much as you love yourtoilet reading.

Ask Agonia:



What a difference a year makes.Newspaper 10 interviewed many ofSouth Africa’s newspaper editorsand publishers last year and theresponse to online, while generallypositive and enthusiastic, was thatit wasn’t a major priority. Come2007 – and the attitude of the vastmajority has changed. “I see it asan opportunity to provide contentin a variety of platforms. Shouldpaper products decline, online andnew media will take up those read-ers,” says Sarel du Plessis, generalmanager, RCP Media.

The online agenda has definitelymoved up a few notches, althoughselling as many copies as possibleand improving the print product isnaturally at the top of the list.This is evidenced by the amountof mobizines, RSS feeds, blogs,podcasts and video clips that arestarting to appear on newspaperwebsites. Online news sites alsorank as some of the country’s mostvisited websites.

While online innovation wouldgo even faster if South Africa was-n’t hampered by slow and expen-sive broadband offerings as well asrelatively low access to theInternet, newspaper publishers arefinally trying to put themselvesahead of the curve in preparationfor the inevitable. For a start, wehave the launch of The Times –‘SA’s first truly interactive newspa-per’ – a sure indication of the shiftin mindset. Even the newAfrikaans Sunday tabloid, Sondag,has a website: its aim according toeditor Mike Vink, is to promoteinteractivity with its readers.Interactivity is the buzzword fornewspaper publishers and most arestriving to achieve this, not onlywith their readers but within theirown newspapers as well.

The Western Cape’s dailyAfrikaans newspaper, Die Burger,has developed the first multimedianewsroom, putting both theironline and print editorial teamstogether in one space. Beeld hasnow followed suit with a culturalmindset that says that every depart-ment on the newspaper has to worktogether. “We all have to follow thesame strategy and the online divi-sion is now under the publishingdivision,” says Lucille van Niekerk,general manager, Beeld.

Deals are being negotiated with-in the media houses themselves tobring online into the fold. A casein point is the Sunday Worldnewspaper and CareerJunctioncollaboration last year, which fol-lowed on the success of theSowetan deal. This partnershipsees all of CareerJunction’s jobsdisplayed on the Sunday Worldwebsite. “Online is the way to go:interactivity must be achieved,”says Gisele Wertheim Aymes, gen-eral manager, advertising strategyand trade marketing, NewspaperDivision, Johncom MediaInvestments. Even Ilanga, SA’soldest Zulu newspaper, has a web-site, although managing director,Arthur Konigkramer, admits thatthey havn’t advanced very far, as

online is not a burning issue intheir target market right now.Nevertheless, it is something thatthey will be attending to in themonths ahead.

While the shift in attitudetowards online is positive, theindustry must still battle with anumber of challenges, not least ofwhich is the battle for ad revenue.However, as Matthew Buckland,publisher, Mail & Guardian Onlinepoints out, ad revenue is growingat a pleasing rate as advertisingagencies increasingly buy into theconcept. Newspapers are also offer-ing print and online package deals,providing the opportunity to intro-duce new advertisers (who wouldnormally shun newspaper advertis-ing) into the mix. WertheimAymes points out: “Right now,print is strong and online offeringsmake it even stronger.”

Innovative ideas that incorpo-rate readers, advertisers, newspa-pers and online, such asIndependent’s online event auc-tions, represent one of the ways toattract interest from all parties.While this is not a new conceptfrom an international point ofview, the event last October, pair-ing the Sunday Tribune and TheMercury, was a first on the Africancontinent. The next one is to beheld in July between The Star andthe Pretoria News and retailerswill pledge their goods or servicesfor the auction. These will be dis-played on the The Star/PretoriaNews bidnsave website, as well inthe two newspapers’ cataloguesupplements on go-live day. Whenthe goods are sold, the retailerswill be given the full value of thegoods in advertising credits, aswell as a database of all the bid-ders that expressed an interest inthem. Readers are able to obtainthe goods and services at auctionprices.

According to Felix Erken, pub-lisher of JobMail and JunkMail,they became successful when herealised that they were no longertraditional publishers. “Webrought buyers and sellers togeth-er and print was one of the meth-ods we used to achieve this. Nowthere are other ways to do this and

we have found a new mediumthrough which we can do what wedo well.” Erken also straddles oneof the main challenges of paid forand free content, by offering mostcontent on a paid for basis andgiving some away for free. “Wekeep experimenting with thebalance until we get it right.”

Paid for or free content hasbecome one of the great onlinedebates. The majority of localpublishers provide free content,while Independent Newspaper’siol.co.za website is one of the fewthat has paid for content. “Accessto the full news articles and pagesthat appear in our paid titles, areavailable to our subscribers via theIOL website,” says Michael Vale,marketing manager, IndependentNewspapers Cape.

The overwhelming majority ofnewspaper publishers are of theopinion that while news itselfshould be provided free (after all,you can find the same stories byusing search engines), it is possibleto block off certain content thathas to be paid for. Examples of this

would be certain columnists,crosswords, dating services etc.“The answer here is unique con-tent. You can sell content thatnobody else has,” says IngoCapraro, national editor, Son.Buckland agrees: “Paid contentworks for publications that arehighly niched, although I am ofthe opinion that paid contentdoesn’t work as far as generalistnews sites are concerned.”

Of course, giving away free con-tent is one of many ways to drivetraffic to a website. Giving editorialpower to readers is another.

Weekly football newspaper,Soccer-Laduma is intending to dothis with the launch of itsrevamped website. The new web-site will have all the bells andwhistles and according to ownerand publisher, Peter du Toit, “therewill be a lot of content – storiesand opinions voiced by our readers– on the website.” Du Toit alsopoints out that while Soccer-Laduma’s readers are mainly fromthe black market, it is clear thatthey are moving up on the LSMscale. “While we are still gettingletters and faxes, we receive moree-mail. Added to the blogs, SMSsetc (and the proposed new web-site), these provide us with evenmore loyalty from our readers,keeping them with us for a longerperiod of time,” he says.

Locally, citizen journalism is agrowing market. Thousands of

South Africans are blogging awayand over 3 500 ‘reporters’ areregistered on Johncom’swww.reporter.co.za. The next stepfor newspapers will be to createsocial networking sections on theirwebsites, allowing users to uploadtheir own video clips and soundbites. Now that’s interactivity andpromoting loyalty.

Still, not everyone is convinced.Local tabloids such as Son andDaily Sun are reluctant to go withonline (although Son does have apaid for website for its girls) andcould potentially be caught offguard, should the online adoptioncurve suddenly spike upwards inthe future, as many expect it to.“Online demographics are growingin the lower LSMs and youngerage groups,” says Francois Groepe,CEO, Media24 Newspapers, “andthese readers are already using orbeginning to use online. If youdon’t provide it, a competitor will.Access from the workplace alsoplays a big role in these marketsegments. Regrettably, due to themonopoly, one has to accept thatthe Internet’s growth (in thiscountry) will be slower than in therest of the world.”

Still, despite the gripes regardingthe slow penetration of theInternet and broadband, publish-ers are pushing forward with mul-timedia platforms. Recent monthshave seen many websites offeringpodcasts, blogs, video and audioclips. All of these functions canhelp to provide the all-importantexclusive content that news sitesrequire, although the marketing ofthese assets seems to have fallenslightly behind the actual intro-duction of the digital innovations.“We are innovating and launchingnew products but we’re not beinggiven the credit for it,” saysWertheim Aymes, although as VanNiekerk points out, “newspaperswere (previously) in a comfortableposition – now we really have tomarket ourselves.”

Business News & Technology

A shift in attitude


SEO challengeWhile there are still challenges ahead, some of them can be madeeasier. The Online Publishing Association figures demonstrate thatthere is an international audience for local newspapers, which canonly grow as South Africa heads towards the FIFA 2010 World Cup.Search engines can create a major flow of traffic, from whichbrowsers will head for South African websites. Simple training forjournalists and editors on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), aswell as learning new techniques for entering headlines online inorder to jump up the search engine list, can drive more traffic towebsites. Many of the international newspapers employ SEO tech-niques in order to achieve traffic. Other helpful hints on improvingSEO results include: linking stories that are related; checking outthe most popular keywords on search engines at any given time;adding keywords to the headline and opening paragraphs and pro-viding keyword titles for images.

Beeld, Cape Argus, CapeTimes, The Citizen, DailyNews, The Herald,Isolezwe, The Mercury,Pretoria News, TheMercury, The Star, Mail &Guardian, The Post,Independent on Saturday,Sunday Independent,Sowetan, Sunday Times,Sunday Tribune

RSS Feeds

SowetanSunday TimesDie BurgerBeeld

Video

Die BurgerMail & Guardian

Blogs

The State of Online in the USAccording to The State of the New Media 2007 report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, whilenews websites are gaining in popularity, overall news consumption leveled off in 2006. Some exceptions werenoted, such as the number of Americans who go online for election news and the readership of blogs. It isestimated that in 2006 approximately US$40 million was spent online for political advertising. According toresearch conducted by PQ Media, this figure represents a 38 per cent increase over the 2004 elections.

2006 was a record-breaking year for online advertising, with ad revenue reaching $12.1 billion during thefirst nine months. Online video generated approximately $410 million. In 2005 US marketers spent about$763 million on news and current events websites, compared to $1.1 billion spent on portals such as MSN,Yahoo and AOL. Four websites dominated online news: Yahoo News, MSNBC, CNN and AOL. Accordingto Nielsen//NetRatings, TV news websites experienced the largest gains last year: CBS News was up by 29 per cent, ABC News by 22 per cent and Fox News by 17 per cent.

The good news is that trust in the Internet is rising. Fifty-five per cent of Americans aged 12+ who goonline consider the Internet to be reliable and accurate. Research conducted by Pew Research Center for thePeople and the Press, found that 39 per cent of Americans say that convenience and accessibility are whythey prefer the Internet to other news platforms. Younger Americans express more trust in traditional mediasources than they do in blogs. A survey conducted by the Knight Foundation found that 45 per cent of stu-dents say that TV provides accurate news, followed by newspapers (43 per cent) – blogs came in at only 10per cent.

A survey conducted by the Online News Association found that online managers valued content-relatedskills such as news judgement, grammar and copy-editing skills, over technology-related skills such as audioand video. The report stated that it had found that the news industry was ‘moving towards digital journal-ism with new seriousness… and that attitudes had begun to change.’ The report mentions that one reasonfor this shift is that online activities are finally beginning to pay off and that news companies are starting tosee revenue growth. It found The Washington Post website to be one of the best that it had studied. Thereport’s content analysis also found that some papers were still simply using websites to post their old copy.

For the full report visit www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2007

24 • NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2006 Business News & Technology

• Using the restrictions of All Media Split and Excluding SP • Report covers the time period from 01-Jan-06 to 31-Dec-06

2006-01 2006-01 2006-02 2006-03 2006-04 2006-05 2006-06Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure

AIRPORTS 14,229,918 14,321,470 15,259,460 14,483,302 13,012,753 13,252,804BILLBOARDS 51,645,653 55,168,750 49,636,785 52,109,178 55,861,897 58,634,094BUSINESS&TECHNICAL MAGS INSER 34,401 137,895 58,780 151,000 187,526 43,020BUSINESS&TECHNICAL MAGS ROP 5,736,669 14,308,224 18,418,233 11,104,721 17,531,256 18,297,145CINEMA - INLINE 471,033 438,404 426,937 627,335 140,534 662,948CINEMA - THEATRE 45,715,585 37,255,671 45,263,490 41,687,016 28,830,752 30,032,472COMMERCIAL REGIONAL 86,008,870 104,650,554 108,925,958 107,017,390 110,907,113 124,709,825COMMERCIAL STATIONS 76,012 111,040 76,609 87,179 150,532 174,492COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SOLD INSER 1,340,133 981,307 1,610,918 1,167,959 1,453,440 1,446,982COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SOLD ROP 8,250,695 14,134,042 17,509,974 13,741,740 14,822,403 19,644,913COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER VFD INSERT 13,832,114 14,404,403 24,251,050 14,814,378 16,364,188 17,334,460COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER VFD ROP 47,922,581 72,397,132 91,060,012 66,052,002 79,880,018 93,789,959COMMUNITY RADIO 787,168 1,307,186 1,229,544 1,124,818 1,163,834 1,123,654COMMUTER PROMOTIONS 299,839 145,945 136,858 36,056 119,911 263,231CONSUMER MAGAZINES ROP 107,688,170 112,866,621 127,092,217 138,246,299 139,221,739 149,384,590CONSUMER MAGS INSERTS 5,361,123 5,059,870 7,222,324 7,164,750 6,311,813 6,969,598CSN TV 4,094,355 3,384,361 3,879,017 5,174,462 4,315,944 5,084,966DAILY NEWS INSERTS 7,910,632 9,160,393 10,945,183 8,594,597 11,933,269 12,066,785DAILY NEWS ROP 148,968,855 216,305,749 236,733,477 184,420,963 241,171,603 251,604,338DIRECT MAIL UNADDRESSED 10,456,402 8,634,692 10,180,459 11,525,431 12,102,139 11,007,456DSTV 33,090,837 33,217,969 51,491,890 65,311,559 64,230,650 88,880,820E-TV 80,125,970 79,231,127 102,993,452 117,874,420 121,159,702 133,101,362ELECTRONIC 79,815 68,815 68,815 28,152 69,152 69,152INTERNET 12,173,343 13,350,491 12,920,383 12,213,336 14,571,311 13,908,424METROPOLITAN COMMERCIAL 27,026,386 31,083,669 35,322,219 30,071,743 29,659,522 32,574,418MNET 47,545,592 57,678,845 65,869,989 70,827,399 75,682,636 80,825,233NATIONAL RADIO 8,487,392 11,490,195 12,637,920 11,155,145 10,809,685 10,924,089PREMISES SIGNAGE 918,317 928,607 939,447 346,567 668,317 753,067PUBLIC BROADCASTER 35,491,004 47,389,238 48,966,994 44,440,985 46,562,769 47,760,335RETAIL STREET FURNITURE 5,853,929 5,841,987 6,280,828 6,293,038 8,568,371 8,494,207SABC TV 217,236,199 244,297,127 337,349,402 331,139,726 342,021,467 372,983,291TRADE MAGAZINES ROP 20,203,439 25,785,014 27,695,840 27,492,578 28,407,381 30,021,852TRADE MAGS INSERTS 190,592 274,974 235,530 242,866 155,153 214,314 152,140TRANSIT MEDIA 1,699,140 1,503,679 1,058,343 1,057,850 1,148,098 1,632,898WALLS & MURALS 1,065,325 1,045,301 942,458 892,648 1,113,937 976,803WEEKLY NEWS INSERTS 2,315,187 2,726,774 5,099,828 4,082,471 3,553,240 5,723,421WEEKLY NEWS ROP 65,535,160 97,676,418 92,928,128 106,560,488 101,750,979 106,012,365Grand Total 1,119,867,835 1,338,763,939 1,572,718,751 1,509,361,547 1,605,615,034 1,750,383,783

Microsoft has launched a newsoftware application, using Vista’sWindows PresentationFoundation, which allows news-papers to build unique digitalreaders. Already in use – by publi-cations such as the New YorkTimes (Times Reader),Associated Newspapers (MaileReader), Forbes (Forbes.comReader) and Hearst (news reader)– the applications allow publishersto provide users with abilitiessuch as navigating story lists,picture galleries and viewingcontent offline, with online infocontinually being updated. Usersof the digital readers can cus-tomise their digital newspaper bychoosing fonts, layout, contentrelevance etc.

Currently the software onlyworks for laptops and PCs,although Microsoft says that it willbecome available for use with cell-phones at a later stage. While theuse of electronic newspapers is notnew, the best part of Microsoft’snew software for publishers is thatthe digital reader application canbe customised. A publisher starterkit will be available free of chargeshortly. Questions have, however,been raised in various blogs withregard to having to downloaddifferent applications for differentnewspapers.

South Africa’s entry into the cellphone markethas been nothing short of dramatic. Althoughthere are no official figures (the existing num-bers differ), it is estimated that at least half ofthe population uses a cellphone. For this rea-son, the potential for newspapers on cellphonesis immense, with most newspapers alreadyoffering mobizines. “Mobile is a strong growtharea for online news,” says Matthew Buckland,publisher, Mail & Guardian Online.

While most publishers currently offermobizines, those that don’t, such as Beeld, areseriously considering the concept. “We will haveAfrikaans content on the cellphone, with break-ing news etc,” says Lucille van Niekerk, generalmanager, Beeld. Podcasting, which is onlyoffered by a few newspapers at present, is also onBeeld’s radar. Even the mighty Daily Sun is notaverse to mobizines, although given its ‘blueoveralls’ readers, this is going to take some time.“While the online audience for the Daily Sun isminiscule right now, cellphones are enormous.We’re not saying that we’ll never go electronic,especially when it comes to cellphones,” saysDeon du Plessis, publisher, Daily Sun.

Those that have taken the plunge seem to bequite content with their progress. One of thelatest newspapers to add a mobizine is TheCitizen. According to The Citizen publisher,Greg Stewart, although progress is slow, thereare over 100 000 mobizines being downloadedon a regular basis – and advertisers are happyso far. Stewart also believes that mobile andonline will become the biggest areas of compe-tition for newspapers over the next two years.

Mobizines have uses beyond merely provid-ing advertisers with another platform on which

to build a brand and putting more money intonewspaper publishers’ coffers. Francois Groepe,CEO of Media24 Newspapers, explains: “Thistechnology provides us with two things: Firstly,it creates a feedback loop that is much moreimmediate and interactive than anything wehave had to date, which leads to a greaterknowledge and understanding of our readers.This is far more than just developing a responsivestrategy in order to present them with contentthat they value: it also gives us a better under-standing of their worldview and their microneeds and requirements. Secondly, it enhancesour role as a facilitator of communication onand around topics of interest. Our ability toprovide our readers with a platform throughwhich they can participate in the sharing ofinformation across all levels, is what will set us apart.”

The potential for growth is huge and what’seven more exciting is that the mobizine era hasonly just begun. Local research company,African Response, recently hosted SteveGarton, global head of media at Synovate, whotalked about media trends that included the‘third screen’ – the small screen found on acellphone, iPod or PSP. Research conducted inAsia, where third screen usage is high, foundthat it was used for ‘deadtime’ and thatfavourite content included real time news,music videos and sports. Using AMPS 2006data, African Response found that locally 16 per cent of the total population sent SMSsweekly and that it’s especially popular with 25-34 year olds. With regard to using a cell-phone for the Internet and e-mail, only 0.8 percent of the population used e-mail and 1.2 per

cent have browsed WAP or the Internet fromtheir cellphones. As cellphones manufacturersbegin to provide bigger and better screens –particularly if Mobile TV (DVB-H) comes tofruition – this could further boost the use ofmobizines in South Africa.

Across the world, newspaper groups are lookingat ways of enhancing mobile offerings. Recentnews reports indicate that News Group isworking at enabling consumers to upload cell-phone videos onto The Sun website. News ofthe World is looking at Qode technology,which links special bar codes in print to themobile Internet.

In the US, Cellsigns, a mobile applicationscompany, launched Cellifieds multi-mediummobile solution for newspapers at NEXPO.Cellifieds links offline, online and mobilechannels. One of its most innovative aspects is that a website browser is able to send acoupon, story or ad from a particular website to his/her cellphone.


Newspaper Reader On the moveMobizinesCape Argus, Cape Times, The Citizen,Daily News, Isolezwe, The Mercury,Pretoria News, The Mercury, The Star,Mail & Guardian, The Post, Independenton Saturday, Sunday Independent, SundayTimes, Sunday Tribune

PodcastsMail & GuardianSunday TimesThe Citizen

Who offers what?

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 25

Top websites SA onlyThe leading website for Q1 2007,news24.co.za (part of Media24)once again emerged at the top ofthe list with an average of 726 175unique browsers, although it camein third in terms of page impres-sions, with an average of 16 293012. Independent Newspapersiol.co.za came third, with an aver-age of 487 742 unique browsersfor Q1. Iol.co.za moved into fifthplace in terms of page impressions,with an average of 8 250 837. Itmust be noted however, that – forboth news24.co.za and iol.co.za –these figures are for the newsportal and not for the individualnewspapers that each media house owns.

The Mail & Guardian cametenth with an average of 184 083unique browsers and an average of1 962 809 page impressions. JunkMail racked up an average of 147988 unique browsers and an aver-age of 3 898 028 page impressions.Sunday Times had 111 554unique browsers and 1 485 746page impressions. Business Reportposted an average of 105 669unique browsers for Q1 and484,705 page impressions, whileJobmail scored an average of 99435 unique browsers and 2 872

435 page impressions. BusinessDay recorded 66 855 uniquebrowsers and 736 004 pageimpressions. The Star broughthome 66,407 unique browsers and391 533 page impressions and TheSowetan posted 46 778 uniquebrowsers, with 1 083 635 pageimpressions. After its redesign inFebruary, SA only unique browsersrose by over 7 000 in March.

The Q1 average uniquebrowsers total was 3 290 585 forall 46 websites. The above- men-tioned websites totaled 1 976 279.

Top websites local and internationalWhen local and internationaltraffic is taken into consideration,Media24’s news24.co.za still topsthe list with an average 1 722 041unique browsers, earning secondplace with 22 984 624 pageimpressions. Independent’siol.co.za again comes second with

1 287 941 unique browsers andagain comes fifth with 1 287 941page impressions. Once again, thisis for the news portal of both com-panies and not for the individualnewspaper websites. Mail &Guardian moves up to seventhplace with 457 261 uniquebrowsers and posts an average of 3 399 290 page impressions.Sunday Times comes in at 16thplace with 226 636 uniquebrowsers and 2 455 205 pageimpressions. Business Report posts197 492 unique browsers, with725,998 page impressions.Junkmail-za has 171 257 uniquebrowsers and an impressive 4 376446 page impressions, whileBusiness Day follows close behindwith 168 034 unique browsers anda much lower average pageimpression figure of 1 154 377.The Star’s website star.co.za man-ages 126,192 unique browsers and624,064 page impressions, whileJobmail posts 114,958 uniquebrowsers and 3 224 322 pageimpressions. The Sowetan’s web-site sowetan.co.za offers 63 480unique browsers and 1 449 934page impressions. Independent’sioldating.co.za posts results of 56635 (bottom of the table) butracks up an impressive 1 267 831

page impressions – perhaps iol hashit on something here. In total, all the above- mentioned websites

take 4 409 099 out of an averageQ1 total of 7 735 454 and a totalof 49 websites.

Business News & Technology

Copyright © 2007 Nielsen Media Research. All rights reserved.NEWSPAPER 10 • PRINTED ON MONDI ENVIROTEXT 60gsm

Online Publishing Association Q1 resultsProfile of SA’s Internet Users:April 2007Sex M: 54% F: 46%Age 18-29: 34% 30-39: 31%Education Degree: 37% PostGraduate Degree: 15%Income: Household income >R400K: 17%Source: Nielsens//Netratings April 2007

2006-07 2006-08 2006-09 2006-10 2006-11 2006-12 Grand TotalExpenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure12,741,196 13,474,326 12,280,789 16,684,718 17,542,312 17,309,698 174,592,74657,859,065 60,278,415 63,463,133 66,528,093 65,436,875 62,316,528 698,938,46651,143 174,228 58,200 0 8,400 0 904,59315,386,544 18,298,145 21,047,059 23,164,567 23,293,364 10,429,210 197,015,137743,946 951,808 1,550,842 522,730 497,521 704,702 7,738,74024,502,067 32,522,254 23,897,244 21,265,651 23,221,099 31,337,084 385,530,385117,170,190 129,899,095 132,939,019 144,367,764 169,487,924 134,670,231 1,470,753,933169,876 127,088 81,993 135,484 163,935 131,010 1,485,2501,394,368 1,208,095 1,515,861 1,205,411 1,928,646 1,691,598 16,944,71815,219,847 16,253,149 19,566,519 18,566,718 21,507,552 21,543,596 200,761,14816,672,548 15,562,264 18,631,725 16,304,877 26,963,989 17,667,051 212,803,04777,652,594 87,226,124 97,332,865 87,114,144 101,417,073 84,456,965 986,301,4691,021,658 957,749 1,331,680 1,642,006 1,633,306 1,326,450 14,649,053321,870 322,018 205,636 108,682 113,668 0 2,073,714145,723,018 142,713,789 168,693,785 177,292,444 194,356,568 164,404,049 1,767,683,2894,602,008 8,388,963 9,136,805 9,128,047 12,519,334 9,753,508 91,618,1435,059,943 4,654,720 5,553,227 4,624,005 5,872,904 4,713,000 56,410,90411,761,255 11,272,377 11,104,869 11,152,778 15,863,505 11,288,224 133,053,867218,769,843 247,248,356 229,610,630 260,141,291 292,617,332 219,678,628 2,747,271,06510,569,400 11,567,664 10,236,733 12,975,159 12,932,212 14,156,998 136,344,74589,081,810 80,662,707 95,774,672 113,093,542 140,728,429 123,902,012 979,466,897138,196,895 139,839,077 148,896,549 159,708,410 181,972,464 158,756,567 1,561,855,99541,152 41,152 41,152 60,292 104,492 133,841 805,98213,300,552 14,792,781 16,736,931 16,772,626 17,118,475 16,215,540 174,074,19331,300,172 36,739,942 38,535,804 40,030,967 45,851,624 41,697,645 419,894,11183,849,199 83,686,816 87,323,047 88,500,175 99,531,810 78,059,545 919,380,2869,825,677 13,156,820 12,067,487 14,394,453 14,564,067 12,940,014 142,452,944865,067 1,634,362 1,159,275 973,639 828,989 1,233,514 11,249,16841,693,484 52,765,866 50,819,984 58,167,337 62,761,091 59,852,423 596,671,5108,446,032 8,403,258 8,123,894 8,222,132 8,850,290 9,766,183 93,144,149360,719,725 365,716,776 361,391,461 396,019,895 459,911,704 398,062,088 4,186,848,86128,428,749 34,034,646 29,772,895 33,575,939 23,831,439 23,196,106 332,445,878167,888 267,824 114,604 76,490 59,949 2,152,3242,189,035 2,541,756 2,003,249 4,197,767 4,240,887 4,554,159 27,826,8611,269,195 1,144,350 2,070,681 1,354,710 1,272,048 1,526,836 14,674,2924,309,720 4,394,556 5,360,244 1,688,135 3,011,812 2,680,759 44,946,147116,603,824 97,248,544 109,724,967 144,855,440 144,066,477 108,955,459 1,291,918,2491,667,664,807 1,740,071,924 1,798,308,730 1,954,654,632 2,196,100,107 1,849,171,170 20,102,682,259

SA’s richest netizensAccording to Nielsen//NetRatings, SA Market Intelligencereport, almost one quarter (24%) of SA’s Internet populationcomes from high-income households – R400 000+. Online brands with the greatest affinity for R400 000+ incomehouseholdsBrand R400 000+ HHI BusinessMoneyweb 38.7% Financial infoRunner’s World 34.6% Running magazineGolf Digest 34.6% Golf portalMining Weekly 34.2% Mining magazineBusiness Day 33.3% Business newspaperSuperGolf 32.5% Golf newsITWeb 31.4% Technology newsMineweb 31.1% Mining newsWINEmag 30.2% Wine magazineSuperAthletics 28.8% Athletics news

According to Alex Burmaster, Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings,few other online markets display the close correlation between wealthand sport that occurs in South Africa.

SA Internet Population by household incomeUp to R50 000: 13%R50 001-R100 000: 12%R100 001-R200 000: 21%R200 001-R300 000: 17%R300 001-R400 000: 13%R400 000+: 24%

Please note: SA’s Internet population is not representative of thecountry’s entire population.


TVCelebrityCelebrity

TV Guide

Your favourite newspaper has a lot more on offer than just the news.

Beeld:Sport-Beeld: local and international sports news and results.Sake24: local and international business newsKampus Beeld: student supplements, targeted to individual universitiesMotor-Beeld: weekly motoring, and motorsports news.Plus: music arts, movies, fashion, TV, lifestyle and entertainment.Jip: teen supplement

Die Burger:Sake24: national and international business news.Buite: nature, tourism, tourism in Africa, and outdoor life.Leefstyl: lifestyles, food, health, wine and gardening.NJ (NaweekJoernaal): arts and entertainment.Motors: aimed at motoring enthusiasts.Eiendomme: property guide for the Southern Cape.Kleinburger: aimed at the tweens.By (with newsreview): Saturdays; topical features and news items.LandbouBurger: aimed at the agricultural community.Netads: daily classifieds, radio and TV guides and entertainment info.Funda: aimed at the development of reading and writing.Leer-en-Presteer: a bi-weekly educational supplement.

Business Day:Appointments: job listings, and new appointments.Management Review: business management supplement; news, info, advice.Real Business: business case studies, news and resources.Property: all the news, advice and info on the property markets.Homefront: focused on homes, decor and home renovations.Motor News: motoring news and infoTechnology@Work: info, news and opinionson new technology and media.The Tourist: tourism news and infoWanted: lifestyle magazine supplementThe Golfer: explores the golfing industry.Business Law and Tax ReviewHealth News: medical and health news.SA Exporter: all the import and export news.Auctions: news and info on auctions

Cape Argus:Jobshop: recruitment and job listingsTonight: TV schedules, film reviews, gossip andhoroscopes.ClassifiedsPuzzles: 16-page supplement, full of crossword puzzles,sudoku puzzles, etc.Business Report

Cape Times:Career Times: career advice,recruitments and job listings.Life Times: entertainment guide.Property Times: property guide.Drive Times: motoring supplement.Top of the Times: lifestyle, food, entertainment.Business Report: business reports, finances.

The Citizen:Citizen Business: financial news.Vibe: food and recipes, health, home and entertainment.Motoring: motorsport news, car releases and testsCitizen Racing Express: daily racing update.Hammer and Gavel: listing of legal and auctioneer advertisements.Trucking and Transport: the road transport sectorCitigaming: online casino news.Citibike: focused on motorcycles.Citicollege: educational information for school-goers and students.

Daily Dispatch:Indabazethu: lifestyle supplement, written in Xhosa and English.

Daily News:Motoring: new car reviews, product launches etc.Business Report: business news, finances.

Daily Sun:Sun Money: weekly financial news.Sun Houses: DIY, the how to of property ownership and finance etc.

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)Margaret Fuller was America’s first female war correspondent and book review editor.A transcendentalist and womens’ rights activist, her classical education and precociouscuriosity won her admission to the male-only halls of Harvard University’s library. Sheserved with famed US poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, as an editor on The Dial, a literaryand philosophical journal. In 1844 Fuller was invited to join the New York Tribune as aliterary critic, after founder Horace Greenley read her book, Summer on the Lakes.She became the first female journalist to work on the staff of a major newspaper and itwas here that she developed her reputation as a literary critic. In 1846 she was sent toEurope as the paper’s foreign correspondent, where she covered current events andinterviewed political and artistic leaders.

Katharine Graham (1917-2001)Katharine Graham took over the Washington Post after the death of her husband (whowas also the Post’s publisher) and became the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.Under her leadership, the Post printed the Pentagon Papers and broke the Watergatescandal (which earned the paper a Pulitzer Prize).

Graham’s father, Eugene Meyer, bought the Washington Post in 1933 and her mother,Agnes, worked as a newspaper reporter. Katharine herself began to work for the Post as ajournalist in 1938. She married law graduate, Philip Graham, two years later and he tookover as the Post’s publisher in 1946. In 1959 he became chairman of the Washington Postcompany, which expanded its empire to include TV channels and Newsweek Magazine.

In 1963 Philip committed suicide and Katharine took over the Washington Post,although she only formally assumed the title of publisher in 1979. Two major casesdefined both her career and the Washington Post. In 1971 she ignored government pres-sure (and the advice of her lawyers) and published the Pentagon papers (the secret historyof the Vietnam War). In the following year The Post pursued the Watergate scandal –once again amidst government pressure – and it is believed that this coverage played amajor role in President Nixon’s decision to resign. The Washington post was awarded aPulitzer Prize for their reporting of the scandal. In 1973 she assumed the title ofWashington Post Company Chairperson, where she served until 1991. In 1997, the bookcontaining her memoirs, Personal History, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Carl Bernstein (1944- )Carl Bernstein is remembered as the Washington Post journalist who covered theWatergate scandal, together with his colleague, Bob Woodward. At the age of sixteen, heused his typing skills to apply for a job as a copy boy for the Washington Star. As theyrefused to employ him without a university degree, he applied for a position at theWashington Post, where he was successful. He quickly established his reputation as a goodreporter and was assigned to cover the Watergate story, along with fellow Post reporter,Bob Woodward. Their reporting won the Post a Pulitzer Prize for outstanding public serv-ice. They later published two books that contained the details of the scandal (All thePresident’s Men and The Final Days).

In 1977 Bernstein left the Post and took a position as senior correspondent for ABCNews. Bernstein has written for several high profile publications (including Time,Newsweek, the New York Times and Vanity Fair).

Robert ‘Bob’ Woodward (1943- )Bob Woodward is the assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, where he has alsoserved as an investigative reporter. Woodward helped to uncover the Watergate scandal,working with co-reporter, Carl Bernstein. Following his service as a naval officer Woodwardpersuaded the Washington Post to give him a two week trial period of employment on anunpaid basis. The Post subsequently decided that he lacked the necessary experience andhe was assigned to work as a reporter for the Montgomery County Sentinel. In 1971 how-ever, he joined the staff of the Post. During his career as an investigative reporter, he earnedthe Post a Pulitzer Prize on two occasions. The first was the Pulitzer Prize for PublicService, which he earned as a result of his work with Bernstein. The second was thePulitzer Prize for National Reporting (2002), which he won for his work on the aftermathof the September 11 attacks. Woodward has also authored more than 12 non-fiction books,many of which have made it onto the bestseller lists. He is regarded as one of the topreporters of his time.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)Rudyard Kipling, the British author and poet, is perhaps best known for his children’s books(namely The Jungle Book). Kipling was raised in India and England. As a young man, Kiplingsettled in India in 1882 to become the assistant editor of the Civil & Military in Lahore.While working at this newspaper, Kipling began writing short stories and verses. In 1884Kipling left India and travelled home to England via San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kongand Japan, writing articles for The Pioneer en route. In 1907 Kipling was awarded the Nobelprize for literature, making him the first English language writer to receive it. He was alsoregarded as the peoples’ Laureate poet (he had been offered both the Laureateship and aknighthood, although he had declined both).

Between 1898 and 1908, Kipling and his family travelled to South Africa, visiting with theirfriends, Cecil Rhodes, Lord Milner and Dr Jameson. During this period Kipling helped to startthe newspaper, The Friend, for British troops in South Africa. The Kiplings travelled a greatdeal and Rudyard Kipling died at the outset of one of their many trips in 1836.


gossip Extra!

Daily:

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 27TV Guide

Sun Wheels: motoring supplement.Sun Shopper: a consumer guide that highlights the latest trends anddevelopments in fashion, music, technology, music, etc.

The Herald:La Femme: a supplement for womenTales From Abroad: (online) expats share their stories.

Pretoria News:Motoring: motorsport news, car price guides.Tshwane News: community news and events.Tonight: TV guides, cinema schedules, movie reviews and gossip.Business Report: business news and info; financial reports.

Sowetan:Sowetan Sports Voltage: local weekend sports news, school sports, international news.Sowetan Job Market: advice and recruitmentSowetan Travel: travel focusing on local destinations.Road Rave: provides readers with info on the latest buys, new products and road safety.Sowetan Happy People: focused on community.Time Out: entertainment focused.Sowetan Education: targeted to school-goers in grades 10-12.

The Star:Motoring: motorsport news, test drives, and product launches.Travel: travel reviews and information.Tonight: TV schedules, cinema schedules and celebs.Workplace: jobs and career advice.Business Report: business news and info; finances.

Saturday Star:48 Hours: weekend entertainment guide.

Volksblad:Joernaal: arts and entertainmentVolksblad-Sake: business news.Volksblad-Motor: aimed at motor-vehicle enthusiasts.Huis en Tuin: homemaking, interior decorating and gardening.Kontrei: news and events from the Free State countryside.Jip: youth supplement

The Witness:Home Improver: monthly supplement; home DIY and decor.Farm Focus: price guides, product reviews and launches aimed at the agricultural community.Motoring: new cars, price guides, road tests.

Ilanga:leTheku: supplement covering music, theatre, fashion, travel, and entertainment; aimed at townshipand city dwelling contemporary youth. Written in a mixture of informal Zulu,English and Tsotsi Taal.

Mail & Guardian:M&G Campus: quarterly student supplement.Greening the Future: 8 June 2007; honouringand celebrating the achievements by companiesand organisations which are playing a role in the efforts to ensure a sustained andhealthy planet for all people. Higher Learning: 8 June 2007: the first of a monthly supplement onHigher Learning; Youth Day: 15 June 2007; the centrepiece will be a round table dis-cussion between people from both sides of this debate (ie. ANCYouth League and Cosatu on one hand, and the Solidarity tradeunion on the other).150 + Young South Africans: 15 June 2007; will be used to intro-duce different sectors of South African society to each other. BEE: 22 June 2007: exploring the vital areas of the BEE arena.National Arts Festival: 29 June 2007; exclusive supplement on theNational Arts Festival.

Sunday Times:Sunday Times Read Right: educational supplement for school-goers.Lifestyle: lifestyle supplement including news from the New York Times.Sunday Times Magazine: celeb interviews and TV guides.Sunday Times Sport: sporting news, reports, opinions and info.


CelebrityCelebrity

Mark James Cameron (1911-1985)James Cameron is the British journalist, broadcaster and author, in whose memo-ry the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is delivered. He witnessed theVietnam and Korean wars, amongst others.

Cameron began his journalistic career in 1935 by working at the Weekly Newsas the office dogsbody. He later worked for Scottish newspapers, as well as for theDaily Express in Fleet Street. He was rejected for military service in World WarII and after the War he reported on the Bikini Atoll nuclear experiments – anexperience which prompted him to help found the Campaign for NuclearDisarmament. He continued to work for the Daily Express until 1950, when hetransferred to the Picture Post. Here he joined forces with photographer, BertHardy, in covering the Korean War (the photographs of Inchon won them theMissouri Pictures of the Year Award). In 1952 Cameron moved to the NewsChronicle, where he spent the next eight years as a reporter. With the advent oftelevision he became a broadcaster, producing a number of television films oncontemporary subjects (he also presented several series’ for the BBC).

Paul Mackintosh Foot (1937-2004)Paul Foot was a British investigative journalist and radical activist for the socialistmovement. He was a graduate of the Shrewsbury School and University College inOxford, where he met his friend, Richard Ingrams (who was later to found and editPrivate Eye). After graduating in the early 60’s, Foot began writing for the DailyRecord in Glasgow, which led him to join the International Socialists. He began towrite for the Socialist Worker, something he would continue to do throughout hiscareer (he edited the paper between 1972 and 1978). In the mid-1960s he wrote forthe Sunday Telegraph on a part time basis and in 1967 he joined Ingrams and PeterCook at Private Eye. In 1979 the Daily Mirror editor, Mike Molloy, offered him aweekly investigative column of his own. He remained at the Mirror for 14 years, afterwhich he fell out with the new editor, David Banks, over the story of RobertMaxwell’s death. He rejoined Private Eye in 1993 and began writing a regular columnfor The Guardian. During his career, Foot was best known for his work as a campaignjournalist. He brought to light the corruption of architect, John Poulson; overturnedthe convictions of the Birmingham Six and the Bridgewater Four and he exposed theframing of former British intelligence officer, Colin Wallace. He also campaigned forthe pardon of James Hanratty, who was later proven guilty of the A6 murder.

Following his death, The Guardian and Private Eye joined forces to set up the PaulFoot Award, offering an annual £10 000 prize for outstanding investigative/campaign-ing journalism.

Ronan B.M.E. Keenan (1942-2007)Ronan Keenan was born in Queens, New York. He immigrated to South Africa withhis family in 1940 and began his writing career at the age of 14, when the nowdefunct Natal Herald published his boxing article. He went on to establish a stellarcareer as a sports writer in South Africa. In 1956 he published the book, Boxing’sGreatest Wars, which was nominated for the South African Writer’s Association Bookof the Decade award in 1960. In 1965 Keenan became editor of Sporting AffairsMagazine, where he remained until 1976. He wrote about black athletes at a timewhen the South African media were ignoring sportsmen who were not white.Although Keenan wrote academic pieces (under the name B.R. Keenan), he contin-ued to write about sports, namely boxing, for various online publications (includingdogshouseboxing.com and sportsbook.com) until his death in 2007.

Walter Winchell (1897-1972)Walter Winchell is regarded as the inventor of the gossip column. Born in New York,he spent his youth performing in vaudeville troupes. He wrote gossipy bulletin boardnotes about his fellow troupe actors and in the early 1920s he began to write for theVaudeville News (a Broadway publication). In 1924 he approached the New YorkEvening Graphic – a tabloid paper – and was given a job as a columnist and a dramacritic (his Broadway experiences had lent him the right credentials and the right con-tacts). He then moved to the New York Mirror, where he started to write the gossipcolumns that would change tabloid journalism forever. In the early 1930s he beganpresenting a weekly radio show that made him immensely popular. It’s estimated thathe reached 50 million US households through his newspaper columns and his weeklyradio show. During the 1950s, Winchell’s luck turned and he began to be perceivedas cruel and ruthless. His public image soured as the advent of TV dimmed the NewYork social scene that had fed his talents for over two decades. Winchell becameincreasingly political in ways that alienated him from his fans and supporters.Winchell’s popularity was in part due to the style of his reporting. He developed alanguage full of New York slang, forever changing the American vernacular.

gossip

Jackson Northman Anderson (1922-2005)Jack Anderson, as he was known, was an American newspaper columnist, who is todayregarded as one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism. He was hired by theWashington Post in 1947 to write for Drew Pearson’s Washington Merry-Go-Roundcolumn. He took over Pearson’s column after his death in 1969 and relinquished it in2004, when Parkinson’s disease left him too ill to write. His aggressive and tenaciousreporting earned him a place on President Nixon’s ‘enemies list’ and many politiciansregarded him as a very dangerous man.

Anderson is best known for his reporting on the Watergate scandal; J. EdgarHoover’s ties to the Mafia; the John F. Kennedy assassination and the CIA plot toassassinate Fidel Castro. In 1972 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for NationalReporting, after he had investigated the secret American policy decision-makingbetween the US and Pakistan, during the Indo-Pakistan War.

Weekend:

Weekly:

TVExtra!

Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysisby John E. Richardson (Palgrave Macmillan)In this book, which is aimed at journalism and communications students, JohnE Richardson, a lecturer in the Department of Journalism Studies at theUniversity of Sheffield, offers a practical guide to the way the language of jour-nalism works. Using case studies, Richardson provides an easy framework touse for applying critical discourse and analysis to newspapers from around theworld, while studying the effect and power of language.

Ripper Notes: How the Newspapers Covered the Jack the RipperMurders by Dan Norder (Inklings Press)Any book related to Jack the Ripper is worth reading and this collection ofessays regarding the newspaper coverage of the case is especially interesting.Ripper Notes covers many aspects of the murders, including foreign cover-age, the inaccurate reporting of the facts and their cultural impact onVictorian society.

Spy: The Funny Years by Kurt Anderson, Graydon Carter, George Kalogerakis(Miramax Books)The original satirical magazine is back, this time in book form. It celebrateseverything there was to adore about the magazine, still regarded as one of themost influential in America in its time. The book includes Separated at Birth,Naked City and Fine Print, as well as some examples of the magazine’s bestwriting, investigative journalism, photography and illustrations.

Writing for Comics by Peter David (North Light Books)Writing for, or developing a comic, is an absolute skill. Peter David, awriter on Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Star Trek and Babylon 5 amongstmany others, is one of the top comic writers in the world. This book is theultimate guide to writing for this genre and in it David teaches one how tocreate a comic from beginning to end. This is a valuable resource for bothbeginners and seasoned writers. It’s an easy how-to guide, featuring illus-trations and comics from major publishers.

P. S.: On a Life in Newspapers by Peter Stephens (Melrose Books)Peter Stephens has seen and done it all on his way up from the city papers toFleet Street. He is credited with helping to turn Rupert Murdoch’s The Suninto the UK’s top tabloid, while working closely with the man himself. This isabout Stephens’ journey. It covers his travels in journalism and coping withParkinson’s disease. It will inspire anyone who reads it.

News and the Net by Barrie Gunter (Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesInc, US)News and the Net, as the title suggests, is an in-depth examination ofnewspapers, the newsroom and the implications of the Internet. AuthorBarrie Gunter takes a holistic look at how newspapers have developedonline; how some news organisations have developed their strategiesand how the Internet has developed as a source of information for bothjournalists and consumers. Gunter takes a critical look at the lack of new models that effec-tively explain the impact of online communication. He also examines and discusses theopportunities that online presents for news organisations.

Blood and Sand by Frank Gardner (Bantam)Imagine watching as your friend is killed instantly by gunmen – and thenhaving those same gunmen shoot you repeatedly, while people stand aroundyou waiting for you to die. This happened to Frank Gardner while he wasfilming a report on Al-Qaeda with his cameraman in Riyadh in 2004.Incredibly, Gardener survived. This is his story of how a chance encounterwith Wilfred Thesiger led to his immense interest in the Arab World and tobecoming a BBC journalist. Gardener has a unique insight into this worldafter spending much time in North Africa and in the Middle East. He cre-ates a perspective on the ‘war on terror’ and what it means, from a well-informed point ofview. A must-read.

The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade by PiersMorgan (Ebury Press)It doesn’t matter who you are – everyone loves skinner and scandal.Piers Morgan is a master gossiper, who became editor of the UK’s Newsof the World at the age of 28. During the 90’s the extraordinarilymedia-savvy Morgan kept his own diaries on celebrities, political secretsand top-level meetings in the UK. This enthralling and entertainingbook is filled with juicy details about Rupert Murdoch, Princess Dianaand Tony Blair, as well as everyone who was anyone during his time atthe News of the World and The Mirror, which he later edited.

Another Bloody Love Letter by Anthony Loyd (Headline Review)Anthony Loyd is an award-winning foreign correspondent for The Timesand has covered numerous conflicts that include Iraq, Afghanistan, SierraLeone and Bosnia. His memoirs relate to the coverage of these wars. Thebook is also about his very personal battle with heroin addiction and havingto cope with the deaths of close friends and family. An intense but extremelyrewarding read.

Words and Deedes: Selected Journalism 1931-2006 by WilliamDeedes (Macmillan)William Deedes is one of the greatest journalists ever to put pen topaper. This is a collection of his very best columns, leaders andarticles, spanning 70 years of British, European and world events – aremarkable achievement and an even more remarkable read.

Rolling Stone 1, 000 Covers: A History of the Most InfluentialMagazine in Pop Cultureby Jann Wenner (Harry N. Abrams, Inc)This is the stunning second edition of the pictorial history of pop culturefrom Rolling Stone, the leaders in this genre. This revised and updatededition presents a collection of Rolling Stone covers in full Technicolor –along with excerpts from the magazine – from 1967 onwards. Of course, thestunning photography is enhanced by the fact that the world’s best photographers,including Herb Ritts and Annie Leibovitz, did so many of the covers.

Advertising in the News: Paid-for Content and the South AfricanPrint Media By Adrian Hadland, Lesley Cowling and Bate Felix Tabi Tabe (HSRC Press)Increased commercialism has led to increased competition for ad revenue; print media have responded by incorporating increasing amounts of paid-for content (supplements, advertorials, etc). Through interesting local case studies, theauthors question the consequences that paid-for content has for the SouthAfrican print media (for media ethics, profitability and editorial integrity, forexample). They question to what extent the commercial media regulate andmanage paid-for content. This is a must read for anyone involved in themedia or advertising.

AfricaWorld Congress on Global ethics forthe Media in the 21st CenturyLusaka, Zambia30 August-1 September 2007www.kasomamediafoundation.comKeynote speakers, panel debates andworkshops will result in a formal state-ment on global media ethics for the21st century.

AsiaAsia Pacific Publishing ConventionKuala Lumpur, Malaysia2-3 August 2007www.publishingconvention.comThe theme of this year’s conference isIntegrate Publishing with DigitalTechnology Profitably.

AustraliaPANPA 2007 Annual ConferenceMelbourne, Australia6-8 August 2007www.panpa.org.au

EuropeMedia Events, Globalisation andCultural ChangeBremen, GermanyJuly 6-7 2007www.mediaevents.uni-bremen.deThe keynote speakers are Daniel Dayan,Eric Rothenbuhler and Ingrid Volkmer.Topics to be discussed include: sport gamesand media events, political communica-tion as media events, digital media eventsand media events and future research.

The Future of NewspapersCardiff, UK12-13 September www.tandf.co.ukThe conference will focus on the highlycontested future of newspapers withcontributions from the internationalcommunity of academics, along withnewspaper executives, trade unionists,journalists and regulators.

INMA Classified Advertising Warsaw, Poland

27 Sept 2007INMA Web 2.0 Seminar28 September 207www.inma.org

INMA Europe ConferenceVienna, Austria1-4 October 2008 www.inma.org

Restrictions and Possibilities. TheMedia in Discourses of Migration,Citizenship and Belonging in AfricaUppsala, Sweden5-7 Octoberwww.nai.uu.se The workshop invites research papers thatcritically discuss aspects of the media andmedia texts in discourses of migration,citizenship and belonging in contemporarysocieties in Africa and its diasporas.

2nd World Digital PublishingConference & Expo/10th WorldEditor and Marketeer Conference & Expo Amsterdam, The Netherlands17-19 October 2007 www.wan-press.org

Business Models for NewspaperPublishersLisbon, Portugal25-26 October 2007www.ifra.comThe focus is on future developments inboth technology and media markets.

IndiaIfra India 2007Chennai, India4-6 September 2007www.ifra.comIf you’re interested in the Indian newspa-per market, Ifra now has an exhibitionfocused entirely on the Indian newspapermarket to coincide with the conference,which includes a publishers and techni-cal forum.

USANEXPO 08Washington, DC, USA12-15 April 2008www.nexpo.comNEXPO is the world’s largest annualnewspaper exhibition and conference.

It combines workshops and seminars onindustry topics as well as a showcase ofthe industry’s products and services.

Classified Advertising ConferenceNaples, Florida, USAAugust 23-24 2007www.nna.org

National Newspaper Association’s121st Annual Convention & TradeShowNorfolk, Virginia, USA26-29 September 2007www.nna.org

Society of News Design AnnualWorkshop & ExhibitionBoston, USA11-13 October 2007www.snd.orgThis year’s speakers include MarkPorter, Sara Quinn and Pegie StarkAdam from the Poynter InstituteEyetrack study, Archie Tse and Stig Ørskov.

Book Corner

Travel & Books




Aries (21 March-20 April)As the first born, pioneering Ram of the zodiac family, you’re extroverted and smug. You spendmost of your life charging into situations head-on and with reckless bravado – no wonder youspend so much time complaining about your head injuries. You’re definitely a Son reader (boldheadlines, juicy content). You have a volcanic temper that flares up and explodes with great ener-gy, although it also cools quickly. You’re easy to pick out amongst the crowd: always first in line,displaying a lot of guts (and delusions of glory). It’s a pity that you never finish what you start. Taurus (21 April-20 May)This is a stubborn beast with a brooding and emotional disposition. Although you’re tough to fig-ure out (you answer questions with questions), this doesn’t mean that you are interesting. Youcan be resentful and petty. Your love of the ‘good life’ explains your rounded figure. As far love isconcerned, you are both possessive and impatient. While you like to think of yourself as the‘strong, silent type,’ everyone else thinks you’re obstinate, boring and inflexible. Your paper ofchoice is Die Volksblad: no mess, no frills. Gemini (21 May-20 June)Everyone loves a Gemini because everyone loves a schizophrenic (you believe that Isolezwe sitson the end of your bed at night). You’re the duplicitous, inconsistent and two-faced twin of thezodiac, with a childish streak that endears you to your friends (and drives them crazy at the sametime). Although very outgoing and progressive, you are also prone to a pushy and overbearingmanner. Gemini’s are often caught talking to themselves (usually in a high pitched voice in thebath tub). Arguing is your real strength, as you possess a quick wit and are prone to artful retorts.Cancer (21 June-22 July)You’re the home-body, book-club-loving housewife of the zodiac: you love knowing what’s going onin the lives of other people. You enjoy nurturing those that surround you (in fact you’re such amummy that you would breast-feed the world if you could). You read The Post (gossip, recipes andgardening). You’re easily manipulated and although you won’t admit it, you feel useless if nobodywants to use you as a doormat. You are naturally defensive and have a wild inferiority complex.Leo (23 July-22 August)You’re the drama queen of the zodiac, grabbing attention in any way you possibly can and sulkingwhen ignored. You’re the ultimate narcissist and spend hours kissing your reflection in the mirror.While Leos seldom marry (no one is good enough for them), they adore receiving physicalaffection. You are stubborn, pompous and snotty when you’re not in the limelight. You read theSunday World, largely because you’re convinced that you will see yourself on the celeb pages.Virgo (23 August-23 September)You give new meaning to the term ‘obsessive compulsive.’ You take your job as critic of thezodiac very seriously, subscribing to Mail & Guardian and returning each copy with correctionsmarked in red. You use pointers and elaborate charts to explain simple concepts and you don’thesitate to clean everyone else’s desk so that you can feel better about your working environment.Brainy and methodical, you’re a perfectionist in the most uptight way imaginable.

Libra (24 September-23 October)Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy defines your bipolar personality. You may be a super trendyfashion slave, but you cannot decide what to wear without first consulting your therapist. Youcan’t decide which paper to read either, so you listen to the radio instead. You’re constantly wor-ried about what other people think and you panic under the mildest scrutiny (you invented para-noia). Fortunately, you make a great mediator as you are both diplomatic and very laidback. Scorpio (24 October-21 November)You are titillated by conspiracy theories and alien abductions: it’s no surprise that Halloweenoccurs during your birthday month. You like to think of yourself as the most mysterious personal-ity in the zodiac but the truth is that no one else can tolerate your delusions of mystique. You’re aborderline sex addict, which explains why you subscribe to the Sunday Times (you simply lovedthe online video that showcased a Brazilian wax). You are vengeful and stubbornly hold grudgesif scorned.Sagittarius (22 November-21 December)This is the zodiac’s philosophising adventurer and party planner. You have a weird ability to putup tents in the wild with no instructions (and no pegs). Rather than doing something the easyway, you prefer to sustain an injury by doing it the hard way. You’re also completely tactless andwill tell your friend that ‘her bum looks fat in those jeans.’ You’re generally trendy which mayexplain why you read Beeld.Capricorn (22 December-20 January)You’re hard working and reliable and will carry out your responsibilities with absolute attentionto detail. You’re also duller than a fat free, wheat free, gluten free cracker. Whilst you thinkyou’re charismatic, you’re actually a nit-picky, tight-fisted geek – your parents probably gave youlaw books so that you could underline legal loopholes. You love to read Business Day for itsmarket reports and financial jargon and like to be seen talking on your cellphone (even if you’refaking it, since you have no real friends).Aquarius (21 January-18 February) You are the epitome of the eccentric party animal and love being naked in public (it shouldcome as no surprise that Paris Hilton is an Aquarius). You adore social gatherings that allow youto pull out all your party tricks. You read the Daily Sun because it’s full of crazy stories that some-how make perfect sense to you. You’re the only sign in the zodiac to allow yourself every possiblevice on the planet (while not giving it a second thought). You make great rock stars but poorlovers, due to your frequent hangovers and your strange concept of romance. Pisces (19 February-20 March)You are a pretentious, cry-baby, artsy fartsy dreamer, deeply confused by the idea of sex. You like tothink the nonsense you write is poetic and meaningful. You use community newspapers to makepapier-mâché sculptures (but love reading inserts and supplements). You’re extremely sensitive:even when you ask for honest criticism, you break down in tears (or try to commit suicide) whenyou receive it. You consider Narnia to be your ideal home and you’re perpetually zoned out.

Crossword Clues

The Headbanger Stumper

Crossword, Weather & Horoscopes

ACROSS2 Easy as 1,2,3 national Spanish daily7 Joburg’s daily10 SA capital’s newspaper12 Pro-Islamist daily from Bangladesh 13 Popular morning paper in theMother City14 An everyday newspaper15 New Afrikaans Sunday tabloid20 Largest newspaper in the world22 Daily broadsheet based in Kiev23 Biggest Afrikaans daily25 Afrikaans Sunday paper26 Weekend Zulu paper28 Afrikaans sleaze 34 Associated’s London freebie36 Popular intellectual Slovakian daily39 Newspaper Advertising Bureau41 New Polish daily42 English daily in Palestine44 Indian newspaper found in KZN45 Latest Zulu paper46 Named after SA’s most famoustownship47 New free daily in SA

DOWN1 Oldest Zulu newspaper3 Cape Town’s afternoon read4 Healthy Hong Kong newspaper5 SA’s only football focused newspaper6 Early morning Pakistani newspaper8 Australia’s biggest daily9 UK biggest redtop11 Bulgarian daily and the favourite ofSonic the Hedgehog13 Distinctly African newspaper16 SME news you can use for SA’srichest province17 Biggest selling newspaper in Europe18 Popular leader of newspapers19 US capital’s newspaper21 Trevor Ncube’s newspaper24 Dow Jones’s own27 NI’s London freebie29 Wish upon it everyday30 SA’s business read for the weekend31 Wanted, to buy section32 The world’s greatest newspaper33 A neighbourhood read35 SA’s paper for the everyman36 Largest SA weekend paper38 Biggest-selling paper in SA40 Different newspaper versions43 Japan’s leading national qualitydaily; part of the Shimbun family


Daily forecast:Fair weather for most of the country although somewhat cloudy by the coast, wheretemperatures will drop.Weekly forecast:Sunny, clear skies, with a gentle breeze. Temperatures moderate and pleasant in mostparts of the country.Weekend forecast:Larger cities and towns will experience warm, sunny conditions.

Weather Report

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 31Sport

DAILY NEWSPAPERS– AND AWAY THEY GO

BeeldGoing: Wet-FastBeeld is certainly going all out from the starting gate and its persistentdriving has paid off. A bobble at the end of 2006 however, does not diminishthe achievements the Afrikaans daily has made over the last year.

Die BurgerGoing: HeavyDie Burger is going all-out but is constantly bearing in and out with itshandicap for Jan-March 2007 sitting at just over 90 000.

Business DayGoing: FrozenBusiness Day is hung with very little variation from race to race.

Cape ArgusGoing: FrozenThe afternoon paper for the Western Cape is running evenly since itsgain in 2006. The latter half of the year tends to falter although itremains steady.

Cape TimesGoing: FrozenThe Cape’s morning paper has the blinkers on to avoid any distractions,and it works. Like its sister, the first half of the year runs more evenlythan the second half but overall, it’s a consistent steady runner.

The CitizenGoing: FirmThe Citizen is going all-out and racing evenly over the last year with small incremental gains. Its recent winnings state 74 077 (Jan-March 2007).

Daily NewsGoing: FirmDaily News is an even bet and breezing through the course. Its latestthree month stretch shows 52 106 (Jan-March 2007).

Daily SunGoing: Fast This stallion shows no signs of slowing. Celebrating its fifth birthday thisyear, it continues to set track records. Now it’s the fastest front runnerand leads by a good few furlongs. Its latest winning streak put thegraduate at 508 512 (Jan-March 2007).

IsolezweGoing: GoodThis Zulu filly is now working at a breeze as it matures. Although it hasgained over 27 000 over two years, the last year has seen a definite slow-down. Its current status is 98 990 (Jan-March 2007).

The MercuryGoing: FrozenAnother even run for The Mercury, a favourite with KZN’s elite, and itis racing in hand.

Pretoria NewsGoing: FrozenFew falters and an even temperament make for good odds, but it isneither extended or driven giving it a run of 28 560 (Jan-March 2007),an increase of only 58 copies over the corresponding race period.

SowetanGoing: FastWith a lot of driving from its owner, Sowetan is easily running. It’s gotover its early hurdles and is now a great stretch runner. Its currentwinnings sit at 143 167 (Jan-march 2007).

The StarGoing: FrozenA steady performer for many years, it’s still a front runner despite itbeing under wraps. The last two years over the corresponding periodshave seen blanket wraps of around 200 copies a time. The Star iscurrently sitting at 177 899 (Jan-March 2007).

VolksbladGoing: GoodThis mare still has life left in her and while it’s not setting a blisteringpace, it is a closer. In the last year, it’s gained almost 1 000 copies to passthe finish post at 28 708 (Jan-March 2007).

Jan-March 2007 Jan-March 2006Beeld 105 363 103 714 Die Burger 90 279 95 208Business Day 41 976 41 623Cape Argus 75 935 75 860Cape Times 52 044 51 794The Citizen 74 077 72 472Daily Dispatch 32 363 32 508Daily News 52 106 52 023Daily Sun 508 512 452 368 Diamond Fields Adv 10 105 10 075The Herald 28 383 28 738Isolezwe 98 990 97 370The Mercury 38 857 38 614Pretoria News 28 560 28 502Son 80 994 –Sowetan 143 167 131 458 The Star 177 899 177 665 Volksblad 28 708 27 844The Witness 23 692 23 755

July-Sept 2006Beeld 104 932Die Burger 92 319Business Day 41 981Cape Argus 73 417Cape Times 49 718The Citizen 71 858Daily Dispatch 31 027Daily News 52 339Daily Sun 467 681Diamond Fields Adv 9 093The Herald 26 979Isolezwe 88 456The Mercury 38 246Pretoria News 27 584Son –Sowetan 133 195The Star 168 776Volksblad 28 004The Witness 22 729

Oct-Dec 2006Beeld 99 162Die Burger 91 216Business Day 41 914Cape Argus 73 414Cape Times 49 647The Citizen 71 432Daily Dispatch 31 666Daily News 50 229Daily Sun 494 875Diamond Fields Adv 9 364The Herald 26 860Isolezwe 96 485The Mercury 40 683Pretoria News 29 776Son 72 049Sowetan 134 818The Star 163 332Volksblad 28 476The Witness 23 089


Apr-June 2006Beeld 105 114Die Burger 99 288Business Day 42 022Cape Argus 75 714Cape Times 51 405The Citizen 71 582Daily Dispatch 32 583Daily News 60 738Daily Sun 463 691Diamond Fields Adv 9 431The Herald 27 245Isolezwe 91 316The Mercury 43 097Pretoria News 28 104Son –Sowetan 131 562The Star 168 878Volksblad 27 669The Witness 23 603

Busine

ss D

ay

Business Day

Daily News

Daily

New

s



BeeldThis Afrikaans racer isrevving its engines and moving slowly but steadily up thegrid again. However, it must watch out for those tight cor-ners and hairpin bends if it wants to carry on making itinto the top eight for some points. Current points in thedrivers table are 88 299 (Jan-March 2007).

Die BurgerDie Burger is slippingdown the table after a number of chassis failures and drivererrors. Still, its technical team is working on a brand newengine, so we’ll see what happens for the rest of this year.Current points are 108 056 (Jan-March 2007)

The CitizenSitting in the middleof the drivers’ and constructors’ tables, The Citizen isfalling behind slightly this season. However, a host of newdrivers and new body work should rev up the team.Present points: 54 516 (Jan-March 2007).

City PressWith a new manage-ment team and race director in place, City Press ismoving rapidly up the drivers table. It has also managed afew choice pole positions in the last few months. In factthis has gained them sorely needed points of 201 235(Jan-March 2007).

Ilanga LangesontoA recent entrant on to the circuit and already IlangaLangesonto is setting a strong race pace. A huge jump upthe driver and constructors’ tables should spur it on togreater heights. It’s currently sitting pretty on 74 878points (Jan-March 2007).

Independent on SaturdayA steady season overall sees the Independent on Saturdayin the middle of the table on 53 754 points (Jan-March2007) although it needs some podiums to increase itsstanding.

Pretoria News SaturdayRising slowly up the table, Pretoria News Saturday hasmanaged a few pole positions and now sits on 17 250points (Jan-March2007).

RapportBurning rubber, Rapporthas finally found the traction it needs and is revving up thetable. Currently sitting second in the table with 318 359points (Jan-March 2007).

The Saturday StarHolding its position over the last season, The SaturdayStar is performing at a steady pace but it’s not risingthrough either the constructor or driver’s table with just afew wins. Currently has 148 599 points (Jan-March 2007).

The Sunday IndependentOnly moving up a couple ofplaces, The Sunday Independent is holding its positionwith 42 807 points (Jan-March 2007).

Sunday TimesStill at the top of the table for both constructors’ anddriver’s although a few enginefailures and crashes havedropped its normal highnumber of points down 499 033 (Jan-March 2007).

Sunday TribuneReliability is never an issue for theSunday Tribune although it coulddo with some pole positions and podiums to increase itspoints which have remained constant for over a season.Currently sitting on 109 509 (Jan-March 2007).

Sunday WorldSquealing out of the pit lane withthe quickest car on the grid, SundayWorld is zooming up the drivers’ table with 193 584 (Jan-March 2007).

VolksbladDropping a couple ofplaces down the table due to tyre problems, Volksblad is aconstant and steady race team with 24 381 points (Jan-March 2007).

Weekend ArgusAfter a shaky season acouple of years ago, a new team combination produced aresult that sees the Weekend Argus holding a steadyposition on 108 399 points (Jan-March 2007) although ithasn’t moved up the driver’s table since last season.

Weekend PostWeekend Post is in the sameposition as last season with 30 230points.

The WeekenderThe Weekender is the LewisHamilton of the F1 scene. The newcomer has got off to aflying start with a couple of podium finishes but still hasto prove itself. So far, it’s doing pretty well for a nicheaudience with 9 752 points on the board.

Sport

Jan-March 2007 Jan-March 2006Beeld 88 299 85 706Die Burger 108 056 112 787The Citizen 54 516 55 593City Press 201 235 185 540Ilanga Langesonto 74 878 46 501Independent on Sat 53 764 53 626Pretoria News 17 250 16 879Rapport 318 359 312 561Sat Dispatch 25 249 26 608The Sat Star 148 599 148 374Southern Cross 10 857 10 482The Sun Independent 42 807 42 001Sunday Sun 209 474 183 045Sunday Times 499 033 504 013Sunday Tribune 109 509 109 428Sunday World 193 584 153 822Volksblad 24 381 24 399Weekend Argus 108 399 108 371Weekend Post 30 230 30 930Weekend Witness 29 804 31 195The Weekender 9 752 –

Jul-Sept 2006Beeld 86 444Die Burger 109 218The Citizen 52 002City Press 186 224Ilanga Langesonto 58 391Independent on Sat 53 574Pretoria News 17 000Rapport 311 573Sat Dispatch 24 625The Sat Star 136 335Southern Cross 10 700The Sun Independent 44 020Sunday Sun 216 686Sunday Times 504 376Sunday Tribune 106 863Sunday World 181 090Volksblad 23 763Weekend Argus 104 275Weekend Post 29 033Weekend Witness 29 265The Weekender 7 548

WEEKEND NEWSPAPERS

Apr-June 2006Beeld 90 176Die Burger 109 926The Citizen 53 507City Press 187 741Ilanga Langesonto 52 224Independent on Sat 60 375Pretoria News 16 746Rapport 313 528Sat Dispatch 25 969The Sat Star 141 859Southern Cross 10 745The Sun Independent 45 867Sunday Sun 195 850Sunday Times 504 301Sunday Tribune 119 300Sunday World 178 620Volksblad 24 363Weekend Argus 108 013Weekend Post 29 519Weekend Witness 31 294The Weekender 5 076

Oct-Dec 2006Beeld 84 305Die Burger 103 862The Citizen 52 217City Press 183 101Ilanga Langesonto 70 291Independent on Sat 59 905Pretoria News 19 761Rapport 300 338Sat Dispatch 24 431The Sat Star 137 196Southern Cross 11 171The Sun Independent 42 617Sunday Sun 200 315Sunday Times 504 475Sunday Tribune 113 681Sunday World 185 772Volksblad 23 877Weekend Argus 104 013Weekend Post 28 788Weekend Witness 29 521The Weekender 9 368

WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS

IlangaAlthough Ilanga dropped from the top of the Castle Premiership to theMvela Golden League for the season 2005-2006, it has since stabilisedin the league and playing a steady albeit unspectacular game. Its

current score is 103 965 (Jan-March 2007), around 900points up on the corresponding previous period.

Mail & GuardianThe M&G is climbing the Premiership with a number of heftygoals scored (against at the SABC in particular) which haspushed its position further and further up the table. As a result,

the number of fans has grown to 47 133 (Jan-March2007).

The PostAn overhauling of the team a few years ago has paid off and newsignings put it back on track and moved it from the bottom of the

Premiership. Although The Post has only scored a few goals in the lastseason, it’s still comfortable in the middle of the table with a score of

46 556 (Jan-March 2007).

Soccer LadumaSoccer Laduma is at the top of the league and holding thePremiership title. Its unprecedented goal scoring ability of 322 865(Jan-March 2007) is not due to any new signings or exclusivebranding deals, but simply investing in and honing the skills of its team. Unbeatable.

SonThis Afrikaans team has let in too many goals this year although its own goal scoringability has kept it in third position. A few key strikers leaving the team and major injurieshas resulted in a goal scoring average of 74 082 (Jan-March 207), a huge loss of over 100 000 from the corresponding previous period.

UmAfrikaThe team of highly educated Zulu footballers are definitely isclawing their way up the Premiership although the start to thisnew season there have been a few missed penalties. Having saidthat, the team is playing much more tightly together compared to

the corresponding previous period. UmAfrika is sitting with 28 509 goals scored (Jan-March 2007).

Jan-March 2007 Jan-March 2006Ilanga 103 965 103 044Mail & Guardian 47 133 42 116The Post 46 556 46 208Soccer-Laduma 322 865 283 593Son 74 082 189 045UmAfrika 28 509 24 858

Oct-Dec 2006Ilanga 100 906Mail & Guardian 48 292The Post 47 151Soccer-Laduma 303 461Son 76 830UmAfrika 32 978

July-Sept 2006Ilanga 97 072Mail & Guardian 43 102The Post 46 700Soccer-Laduma 311 621Son 192 757UmAfrika 35 262

Apr-June 2006Ilanga 97 822Mail & Guardian 43 050The Post 46 641Soccer-Laduma 295 833Son 184 179UmAfrika 32 288


Newspaper 10 Smile

Sport

All comics copyright of WAN/Cambon

NEWSPAPER 10 • JUNE/JULY 2007 • 35

Newspaper 10 2007

Documents

Transcript of Newspaper 10 2007