edge
Suzy Bell
THERE’S a new generation of journalists emerging and they’re not simply bristling with the cockiness of youth, but have a reassuring sense of social realism, and equally a sense of business sass charging through their veins.
A group of trainee student journalists sensed an editorial niche in the market place to produce a free in-house campus magazine, The Edge.
The 20 page full-colour, A3 format magazine is produced by the department of journalism at Technikon Natal, making this KwaZulu- Natal’s first and only free student magazine, run by the youngest editorial team in the province.
Editor Jude Mathurine (22) and assistant editor Kirstin Gevers (21) started the magazine last year during their third year as Technikon Natal journalism students. They believe that The Edge is having an impact on Durban campuses with hard-hitting features, polemical student issues and provocative prose. Their distribution includes the four main campuses in the city – University of Natal, Technikon Natal, University of Durban-Westville and ML Sultan Technikon.
With a print run of 10 000 and six issues a year, Mathurine and Gevers estimate their readership at 35 000, targeting the 18 to 23 market.
Not only are they familiarising themselves with the new technology and trends transforming the print media, they have also compiled a promo video for presentations to advertising agencies and business. “It’s a lucrative market for advertising,” admits Mathurine. “That’s if you’re dynamic enough with the resources and talent available.”
They’ve already got Sappi sponsoring 10 tons of paper and their advertising is certainly picking up.
“What’s our competition? Student Life. But their magazine is not free, and although it is a national magazine, editorially it is very Cape-oriented,” says Mathurine, adding that The Edge’s local appeal includes “far more investigation”.
Other competition includes the University of Natal’s newspaper, Dome, and Rhodes Review from the University of Grahamstown.
And what to expect from the next [February] issue of The Edge?
“The Satanic Verses”, a feature on the rise of satanism in institutions of higher learning, and whether satanism should be a constitutionally recognised religion?
Previous issues covered features that included a “Rough Guide to safe sex: Advice for the young and hard” and “True life horror: Student abortion”.
“The standard of journalism in KwaZulu- Natal right now in the mainstream press is quite poor,” says Mathurine. “We had an interview with a big local newspaper and the reporter misspelt my surname. The mainstream local press is generally not very inspirational for us as hungry young journos!”