NASPERS’ Media24 unit announced on Tuesday that it is considering the closure of five magazines and two newspapers, outsourcing and reducing the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines, taking two newspapers digital only and reducing staff in related support services.
The company said it will start consultations with its media staff on Tuesday, according to Ishmet Davidson, CEO of Media24.
The changes will affect about 510 of the 2,971 staff at the unit, which also has interests in e-commerce and book publishing.
“From the earliest days of the pandemic in South Africa, everything we’ve done focused on two main priorities. Firstly, the health and safety of our people, and secondly, business continuity – by implication also protecting employment for as long as possible,” said Davidson.
“However, the pandemic has accelerated the pre-existing and long-term structural decline in print media, resulting in a devastating impact on our own already fragile print media operations with significant declines in both circulation and advertising since April. For many of our print titles the benefits of prior interventions to offset the structural declines and keep them on the shelf no longer exist and they’ve run out of options in this regard.”
He added: “Even with a return to pre-Covid-19 economic levels, the impact of the pandemic on our print media operations will be unrecoverable. Sadly, we have no choice but to restructure our business now to curtail the losses in our print portfolio and allow us to focus on keeping the retained titles sustainable and in print for as long as possible.”
Media24’s downscaling follows a May announcement by Caxton & CTP Publishers & Printers Ltd. of plans to close its magazine division, which held the local rights to People magazine.
The planned interventions are expected to affect around 510 staff members (with a proposed reduction of close on 660 positions) out of a total staff complement of 2 971, largely across the print media and distribution divisions, and include:
Magazine portfolio:
- Closing Move! and the Hearst portfolio (Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Bicycling, Runner’s World).
- Publishing DRUM in digital format only.
- A licensing agreement with editor Helen Schöer to publish the parenting titles (Baba & Kleuter and Your Pregnancy) independently.
- Outsourcing the editorial production of the remaining monthly portfolio (Fairlady, SARIE, SA Hunter/Jagter, True Love, tuis | home, Weg! | go! and Weg! Ry & Sleep | go! Drive & Camp) as well as the fortnightly Kuier.
- Reducing the frequency of the monthly magazines to six issues per year, and eight issues for tuis | home, SA Hunter/Jagter and Man Magnum.
The flagship weeklies Huisgenoot, YOU and Landbouweekblad will continue to be produced and published in-house.
Newspaper portfolio:
- Closing Son op Sondag and Sunday Sun.
- Closing the Eastern Cape edition of Son.
- Publishing Volksblad and Die Burger Oos-Kaap as weekday digital editions only, available as complete PDFs on Netwerk24.
- Closing four community newspapers in KwaZulu-Natal: Amanzimtoti Fever, East Griqualand Fever, Hillcrest Fever and Maritzburg Fever.
- Consolidating Noordkaap and Kalahari Bulletin into a single newspaper, Noordkaap Bulletin, and Kroonnuus and Vrystaat Nuus into Vrystaat Kroonnuus. At the same time, incorporating Theewaterskloof Gazette into Hermanus Times.
- Accelerating the digital transition of The Witness.
Other:
- Reducing staff in our media distribution business as well as in divisional and corporate services departments related to the proposed reduced print media operations.
“We are fully committed to managing this highly sensitive consultation with compassion while following the process as prescribed by law. Unfortunately, we cannot share any further details until the process has been concluded,” said Davidson.
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
