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