Media24 on Friday announced the closure of the Gauteng and Free State editions of its Afrikaans tabloid, Son, citing weak growth prospects.
”The decision to close the Gauteng and Free State editions was based on a combination of market-related factors, including the increasingly weaker growth prospects that these editions faced under tighter economic conditions,” a statement read.
The Western Cape and Eastern Cape additions would continue to publish, a statement from Fergus Sampson, CEO of the emerging markets division, said.
The closure would allow Media24 to intensify its focus on them.
”It is a tough call, but a necessary call — it is not nice to close down a newspaper,” he said.
Circulation of Noord-Son, the Gauteng edition, had been sliding steadily from a high of over 50 000 to 31 173 for the October to December period, he said.
”For newspapers a sign of health is growth, [or] at least stability.”
In October and November 2007, advertising almost came to a halt due to a conflation of market conditions and a slowdown in the economy.
He paid tribute to the editorial team: ”They have done a helluva job … it’s just unfortunate that the market conditions at this stage do not favour a struggling newspaper.”
The Noord-Son announced its closure with the word ”Totsiens [Goodbye]” on the front page with the note: ”Dear reader, this is the last publication of Son‘s northern edition. Thank you very much for your loyal support through the years, Editor.”
The newspaper was launched in 2003 based on British tabloids like the Sun, and became famous for pictures of topless women on page three and its fusion of Afrikaans, English and slang in its writing style.
In a farewell letter, editor Estee Booyens said: ”… For years we fought a guerrilla war — tooth and nail against the establishment — and sometimes we fought with our bosses to give you your weekly Son. And although we never got tired, and fought bravely and fearlessly, we lost the war.”
Booyens also said: ”We did a good job. We tried to report as honestly as possible, calling a spade a spade … it was fearless reporting without jazzing it up.”
She said church groups and the Afrikaans Taal en Kultuur Vereeniging were among those who complained about the newspaper, and they were eventually ”forced” to put stars on bare nipples.
A reader’s letter in the final edition said what she liked the most about the newspaper was that it didn’t care about political correctness. However, she did feel that using the word ”steek” — slang for sex — was going too far.
”It is shocking to close an Afrikaans newspaper,” said Booyens. ”We have to keep the language alive. [As a tabloid] it had a fun factor; it was the first time people could read the news in Afrikaans and laugh and enjoy it.”
Commenting on why the Cape and Eastern Cape editions had survived the chop, she said that they catered to a different market.
Sampson said that there was already an established readership culture in Gauteng and launching a new newspaper meant trying to wean potential readers away from their usual newspapers.
Booyens said her main concern was ensuring that all staff members found placements within the company.
Booyens and her partner escaped a shooting attack at their home on the West Rand in 2007. A shot was fired through a bedroom window, hitting Booyens’s pillow. She was provided with bodyguards after that.
Condemning the incident at the time, the South African National Editors’ Forum said that although there was no clear evidence that it was an assassination attempt, it sounded a warning against violent attacks on journalists.
The company closed Nova in 2006, another tabloid that it had hoped would appeal to younger urban readers.
However, its title the Daily Sun, aimed at working-class black readers, according to its website, is the best-selling newspaper in South Africa.
Chief photographer of Noord-Son Cornel van Heerden wrote: ”… Thank you to all the girls who wanted to flash me to be on page three …” — Sapa