Why start another Afrikaans -Sunday paper?
It was in the interest of the Afrikaans public to start a new newspaper. A prominent Afrikaans academic contacted me more than two years ago while I was still in England and shared his idea about a new Afrikaans Sunday paper that would break the monopoly that Rapport has enjoyed for 35 years.
It was reported this week that the paper is in dire straits and that you will not be coming out this Sunday. How long can Die Wêreld keep going and who are you getting your money from?
There is no doubt that we will be appearing this Sunday and the next. We will keep going. We are going though a dip, but the rumours about our demise are a bit far- fetched. Ja, ons kan doen met ‘n miljoen [we can do with a million], but the Wolvaardt Family Trust, our original investors, will be supplying us with enough funds.
What kind of circulation would you like to achieve?
We are currently on about 40 000 to 50 000. But we are aiming for 100 000.
Is that achievable?
Not in the short-short term. We have a quality product that will attract readers with good, bumper-filled content.
What have been your biggest teething problems?
We are struggling with marketing, advertising and circulation. We are not getting our street sales right. Our first edition felt like a disaster.
After painstakingly reading through all the pages to ensure that our grammar, spelling and facts were 100% correct, the wrong pages got sent to the printer. We popped the champagne after our first copy was printed but to my consternation I saw mistakes all over. I chose the darkest corner at the printers and cried my heart out.
Your in-depth coverage has been welcomed, but newspaper -critics have been fast to latch on to your “lack of hard news?” Do you agree?
Our hard news coverage is not quite there yet and I would also like the stories to be shorter. I am very proud of our in-depth coverage, which is my personal baby. On the Afrikaans website Litnet, Die Wêreld was compared to the Mail & Guardian for its content and though we are not working with a specific model, we look towards your paper as a marker.
What is the ethos and character of your paper?
We are not left or right. We stand for justness and reasonableness. We do not have an agenda. On the side of equity, we appointed a coloured journalist and a black journalist on merit — we don’t have time for tokenism.
Who are you writing for?
Typically, our market represents the LSM six to nine, but I cannot say that we have a typical niche market. This is a newspaper for the whole Afrikaans family. Everyone will be able to find something that interests him or her in the paper.
You do not have a typical journalistic background. Do you find that the lack of experience has hampered you?
I adapted easily to the new job because I appointed journalists with amazing skills. The investors also -specifically asked for me to be editor.
You have a strong European background, having lived in the United Kingdom for quite some time, and some critics say your background has given the paper a Eurocentric view. How African is Die Wêreld in your view?
I do not think we are Eurocentric. I think one of the biggest problems with local papers, especially our opposition, is that … everything is seen through a politically, locally coloured lens. It is not put into context of how it relates to what is happening on foreign soil. We live in a globalised world after all. But we will try to have more African views in the paper, including building a better relationship with the government. We are not Europeans in Africa.
Can you recall a local story that was influenced by a foreign context?
The Pretoria name change saga. You have to compare Pretoria to a place like Colchester that still has its original Roman name. Different conquerors ruled the town, yet if you drive into the town today, you unmistakably link its history to the Roman conquerors, despite its Englishness.
What do you think about the Son?
Die Son is sonde [The Son is sin].