The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) hopes to appoint an editor for a planned bi-monthly magazine by the end of May and could be distributing around a million magazines by September.
The as-yet unnamed magazine will aim to “disseminate information about economic opportunities to those who need to improve their lives”. One life that will be immediately improved is that of the editor: the GCIS is offering to start negotiations on an all- inclusive package from R500,000 per year.
The magazine was inspired by research that showed only the rich – who are reached by traditional media – have a thorough understanding of government support programmes and economic activities, as Minister Essop Pahad said in his budget vote before Parliament in mid-April. Those who have only limited access to the media are “precisely those who could benefit from these programmes,” he said.
GCIS deputy CEO Tony Trew says the magazine is likely to be a 32-pager, with four pages available for advertising. But running ads will be purely an experiment, and the GCIS will fully fund the publication, to the tune of around R20-million in this financial year.
In a forerunner project around 800,000 booklets were distributed around the country, and the GCIS expects the new magazine to have an equal or greater distribution. It will be distributed free of charge – once the project team figures out how to do it.
“Distribution is almost our number one challenge,” says Trew. “Given that the existing channels of distribution for mainstream media are not reaching many people, we need to come up with something a little creative to go beyond that. We need to get into the rural areas.”
Research must still be done but Trew envisages various regional versions of the magazine, each using at least English and a second language suitable to the area.
Content may include public health education and the like, but the focus will be squarely on economic development. Trew says it will cover everything from applying for a childcare grant to the support services available to entrepreneurs.
“People want very practical information about these programmes; how to get hold of them, who to contact. There is a mass of opportunities out there but to be honest it is quite a complex procedure to find your way around and tap into them.”
The magazine is also likely to have a strong focus on skills development and anything else that may contribute to creating employment.
Trew scoffs at the suggestion that the publication will be a government propaganda mouthpiece or that it will be edited by a remote controlled ANC apparatchik, although he does admit to some worry that it may be perceived as such.
“Propaganda doesn’t actually help anybody, and we are trying to help people. We want to give people access to information they can use to improve their situation for the better and to improve their communities. Propaganda is not going to achieve that.”
The best way to silence criticism, he contends, is to let the publication speak for itself.
Applications for the editor’s post close on May 9.
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