When Maggie leaves her township home to catch a bus to work in the mornings, she stops to buy a newspaper. It’s a new experience for her. Ten or 15 years ago, she did not bother. Then she occasionally listened to news reports broadcast by radio but, she admits, she wasn’t particularly interested. The news did not affect her.
”We lived in a different world then,” she says. ”Now I have a different job and I’m expected to be informed. Then I had problems of my own. Why should I have worried about a war in Bosnia or a rail accident in India when I didn’t have money for lunch?
”I think newspapers have changed. The one I buy looks at matters that concern me. It tells me what’s happening in my township — not just what is happening in Jo’burg.”
Maggie, a mother and office receptionist, reflects the views of the changing newspaper readership in South Africa. Not that long ago, the readers of most major newspapers in this country were white, the content subliminally focused on issues of interest to them.
The change in reading patterns has had another effect as well. While black readership of newspapers has grown markedly in South Africa in the past 10 years, in many instances white readers have tossed their papers aside, irritated because the news focused too much on ”black” issues. A common South African identity is proving difficult to mould.
The issue may be a local one, but the question of readership is of concern to publishers and editors around the world. In fact, when the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) meets in Cape Town for the 60th annual newspaper conference from June 3 to 6, it will be looking at the future of newspapers — and the elements that affect circulation.
Threat or boon?
The growth of hourly radio news reports, online news services and, more recently, even cellphone news flashes — services that provide an immediacy newspapers cannot match — could well be affecting circulation. Are they the threat to daily newspapers worldwide that is generally supposed?
Some internationally known newspapers have indeed closed down — but there is a flip side to the coin.
Mathatha Tsedu, editor of City Press, a newspaper with a circulation of more than two million, sees the online component as a boon. In many instances the online version is growing more rapidly than the newspaper itself — and they exist comfortably side by side.
”The online version of the Guardian in the United Kingdom makes more money than the printed edition,” he says. ”The one has not taken advertising from the other; rather, a new stream of revenue has been created requiring only slight adjustments. The two mediums exist comfortably side by side.”
Trevor Ncube, president of the Newspaper Association of South Africa and chief executive and owner of the Mail & Guardian, agrees. ”We need to leverage the opportunities that are offered by new media. We shouldn’t see blogging or the internet as a threat.”
He adds: ”I have great faith in the future of the newspaper industry. If all we focus on is that we deliver credible, analytical content to our readers, I have no doubt that we will survive.”
While newspapers cannot provide readers with immediacy, their websites can. And while websites are not geared to give long reports, newspapers are. This has prompted a change in the way news is published. According to Tsedu, readers may turn to websites for instant information, but they buy papers for background material and analysis. They want in-depth information on a range of matters that affect them.
Black middle class
Similarly, he views the growth of black readership as a natural progression. ”It was inevitable that as black people moved out of poverty into a middle class they would start reading papers,” Tsedu says. ”When you see issues that affect you reflected in a public arena, you become sensitised. The paper speaks to you and you begin buying it.”
The emergent black middle class is now recognised as a serious target market for newspaper publishers. Yet despite the growing black readership, newspaper penetration in South Africa stands at just 13%. An enormous growth potential exists and many could be encouraged to become newspaper readers of the future.
Ncube recognises this potential, and it is one of the reasons he has great faith in the future of the newspaper industry in Africa.
”On the whole, newspapers are only reaching the urban population,” he says. ”We haven’t exhausted the capacity that newspapers have because we have not reached the rural markets. The majority of Africans have not had access to newspapers. It’s not easy, there are problems with distribution, but there is tremendous opportunity for growth.”
In Africa the urban youth, adept at using their cellphones and computers, may have yet to appreciate the benefit of newspapers, but most older readers are less likely to be lured away by the electronic media.
When the WAN meets in Cape Town, it will be looking at the future of one of the world’s largest industries. The association itself represents 18 000 publications on five continents, papers that reach 1,4-billion readers a day. The industry is reputedly worth $180-billion. It sustains the fortunes of some, the livelihood of tens of thousands and the interests of people round the globe.
Free press
Coupled with the issue of the survival of newspapers, is the survival of a free press, a right guaranteed in constitutions and enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a given, in all democratic states, that the citizens have a right to express themselves in any way they wish, and the right to hold opinions without interference.
Yet, concern has been increasingly expressed that the South African government, irritated by the views of certain newspapers, may introduce legislation to curb this freedom as a form of ”damage control”. And the proposed amendments to the Film and Publications Act are causing jitters in many circles.
Of what use is a newspaper that is not free to state its view? Not only that, but is the struggle to be free about to start yet again?
Ncube is concerned. ”When politicians come with legislation of this nature we must never be naive and think there’s no big agenda,” he warns. ”But maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt. The legislation as it is currently formulated is never going to see the light of day because it is unconstitutional and is something that we don’t need in our democracy.”
Tsedu is less worried about the press-freedom concerns. ”All governments are alike when it comes to freedom of the press,” he says. ”They don’t like criticism. Fortunately, we have the protocols in place that ensures freedom of the press and of speech. It is part of our eternal struggle to fight to keep that in place.”
He says the constant in-depth reporting of crime by certain papers is a way of capitalising on the worries of people. They create a niche for themselves and, as a result, turn every little crime into a big issue. This is not to suggest that crime should not be published, but that greater efforts should be made to create a balance.
In the same way he is upbeat about the future of newspapers and, overall, of their quality.
”Given the circumstances, we are doing very well,” Tsedu says. ”There is a movement out of the industry. Much of our journalistic talent has been lured away into high-paying jobs, but I believe that 10 years from now South Africa will be producing its best newspapers ever.”