Anton Harber
30 October 2009
opinion
Johannesburg — Sundays could become interesting again, at least for those of us who like our weekend newspapers. There is nothing like an infusion of new energy into the Sunday newspaper market, and hints of a circulation battle, to liven things up.
Things have been enlivened by some editorial musical chairs: Ferial Haffajee left the Mail & Guardian suddenly and unexpectedly to take the chair at City Press; Makhudu Sefara left City Press to displace Jovial Rantao at the Sunday Independent; and at the grand old Sunday Times, publisher Mike Robertson has been actively juggling things around to try to put some new energy into the operation.
Different things seem to be driving change in these companies. At Independent News & Media, something has been stirring in recent weeks. They appointed Ivor Powell as head of investigations and Jonathan Ancer as head of what sounds like a multi- oxymoron: the Independent School of Journalism Excellence. This from a group that has been careful for years to avoid investing much in either investigative journalism or training.
I suspect this rush of blood to the head was brought on by the shock of Irish boss Tony O'Reilly nearly losing control of the international Independent News & Media group. There is nothing like a near-death experience to change people. Local managers may have realised it might not be enough to supply O'Reilly with fantastic margins from SA and they might want to be seen to be reinvesting in the company.
Rantao was editor in name only at the Sunday Independent, spending his time as deputy editor at the group's flagship, The Star. The Indie became an experiment in producing journalism without journalists (or about two). It did not do very well.
Then Haffajee was recruited from the Mail & Guardian to take the helm at City Press, where the Media24 group had decided to infuse some new energy to take on the Sunday Times. It was a significant shift at City Press, which had been dominated by an old black consciousness gang, which had targeted the emerging black elite.
Haffajee is different. She is not a Thabo Mbeki acolyte for one thing, and the City Press brand had become deeply associated with the ousted president. The signs are that Media24 is giving Haffajee the resources to grow City Press's circulation. It sits at about 185000, still well short of Sunday Times's 504000, but there is a fairly common view that the Sunday Times, beset by internal malaise, is vulnerable to challenge. If there is any group that is willing to take it on, it is Media24.
It was only a few years ago that Media24 was dominant in the Afrikaans market and had a toehold in English newspapers. Now it sells more English papers than anyone else , its Daily Sun has overtaken the Sunday Times as the country's biggest paper while its Afrikaans titles have been steadily shrinking. Media24 is known for being prepared to throw money and resources to win markets, not a reputation enjoyed by their more defensive rivals in Independent or Sunday Times owner Avusa . With Haffajee's arrival at City Press, manager and former editor Khathu Mamaila went back to the Independent Group, this time as a regional manager, taking colleagues with him. He installed Makhudu Sefara as surprise new editor of the Sunday Independent.
This week the Indie ran an interview with Mbeki -- or rather, and quite oddly, a preview of a interview to be run in the coming week. It seems the brand identity of the former City Press, as the voice of the former president, has now crossed the floor. It is hard to see how a historic relic can revive a Sunday paper's fortunes, but the infusion of fresh editorial blood into the Independent may take it beyond its core sales of 36 000 into what was City Press territory.
There is a parallel battle for the tabloid entertainment end of the market, with the Sunday Sun - now run by the same team that runs the highly successful Daily Sun - overtaking the Sunday World. Given that the former is owned by Media24 and now run by the maverick tabloid master Deon du Plessis, I know where I would put my money.
So Sundays are looking up. Pass me the coffee.
Harber is Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits University.
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