/ 19 August 2011

The M&G invests in journalism, and it shows

The <em>Mail and Guardian</em>'s circulation figures have spiked in the past three months, despite declining print circulations in South Africa and abroad.

The Mail and Guardian‘s circulation figures have spiked in the past three months, despite declining print circulations in South Africa and abroad.

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show the newspaper has increased its circulation figures by 5% for the quarter from April to June, compared with the same period last year. Circulation increased from 45 745 to 48 016.

Although business subscriptions fell, individual subscriptions and single-copy sales increased by almost 9%.

Mail and Guardian editor Nic Dawes puts the success of the newspaper in the difficult global and local climate down to “investment in journalism”.

“The fact that our print and digital sales are so sharply up in a declining environment tells you a very simple story: for all the sound and fury about the future of newspaper publishing, readers want rigorous investigative journalism, they want political reporting that explains the state of our fractured nation to them, and they want the levels of texture and insight that thoughtful feature writing brings. Our business model is investment in journalism. It’s working”.

M&G publisher Anastacia Martin said the group’s growth across its products and platforms proved that the content engenders loyalty across the reader spectrum.

“Our steady growth as platforms fragment shows that our high-calibre readers will continue to choose our content across the variety of channels we now produce. We will continue to offer a superior journalistic mix and stay abreast of the evolving landscape,” she said.

“We draw our readers not only from academia, but also from government, captains of industry, business leadership and people of influence across civil society. We thank them for choosing our award-winning title as their read of influence, week after week,” she said.

M&G journalists shone at this year’s Mondi Shanduka awards, taking home — among other awards — the South African Story of the Year and Newspaper Journalist of the Year.