Naspers is weighing the closure of its storied print newspaper brands such as City Press and Beeld, Media24 CEO Ishmet Davidson said.
He was responding to a Moneyweb report that prominent titles will cease publication in October.
“I’ve not made any announcements and am considering a host of options as [far as] the business goes. We are looking at the entire business,” said Davidson.
According to Moneyweb, prominent titles such as the Daily Sun and Rapport are also on the chopping block.
But Davidson referred to the report as “half-baked”.
“Anxiety runs through the entire industry and there’s the human factor to consider. We are now forced to talk to staff [by] doing internal communications even though no final decision has been made ... I can’t say yea or nay.”
The review reflects the flux the print media is in. A few weeks ago, the Daily Maverick staged a dramatic daylong blackout of its website in a desperate cry about the plight of journalism in SA.
Media24’s financial results for 2023 paint a picture of a company in trouble: revenue down to $217m, a 16% year-on-year drop, and trading profit at $7m, a 59% free fall from a year earlier.
If the shutdown of iconic newspapers comes to pass, it means diversity in information flowing through traditional means, signalling an acceleration of the shift towards the digital consumption of news.
The National Press Club expressed shock and sadness at the news. It said it “believes strongly that a robust media environment is central to a thriving democracy, and that diversity in our media landscape is what makes our media agile and competitive”.
Davidson would not be drawn on the future of its magazine division, which includes FairLady, You and Huisgenoot. The iconic Drum magazine has became digital-only along with True Love.
Trade union Solidarity, which represents 66 members across various Media24 publications, wrote in a letter to Davidson on Thursday that it wanted clarity on the “radical nature of these potential interventions in the media landscape”.
CEO Dirk Hermann said the lack of prior consultation or communication was deeply concerning.
“We understand that some of the newspapers slated for closure remain profitable and generate substantial advertising revenue. It appears, therefore, that the decision to close these publications is not solely motivated by financial losses but by other considerations. We seek answers that are accountable to the Afrikaans community,” Herman said.
Testimony from the media industry at the Competition Commission in March shows that the Mail & Guardian has an online audience 200 times larger than its print circulation, yet most revenue is made from print.
Update: June 12 2024
This story has been updated with Competition Commission information and Solidarity comments.
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