Jocelyn Newmarch
9 November 2009
Johannesburg — THE Weekender, Business Day's sister newspaper, is no more.
The paper published its last edition on Saturday after the board of BDFM -- which owns both newspapers -- decided on Friday to close the paper.
The board cited "insurmountable financial difficulties occasioned by the ongoing economic crisis in SA and the rest of the world".
The Weekender was launched in March 2006 with the aim of providing an upmarket quality read on Saturdays.
"It rapidly and deservedly developed a reputation as the best weekend read in the country," the board acknowledged.
"Unfortunately, the recession lengthened the financial break-even point to a dangerous extent and the board felt its first duty was to protect BDFM's established core products -- Business Day, the Financial Mail and Summit Television," it said.
Avusa , which owns 50% of BDFM, said in a trading statement last week that advertising had dropped 20% between April and September this year. It expects headline earnings per share for the period to be up to 65% lower than the same period last year.
Writing in a blog post on Friday, at http://blogs.businessday.co.za/peterbruce/2009/11/06/goodbye-to- the-weekender/, Peter Bruce, editor- in-chief of Business Day and The Weekender, said: "My original idea that there was a market for a Saturday read in SA was right.
"There's a gap in the market and a market in the gap and they want more than they're being offered."
Distribution had been difficult and advertising scarce, he said.
BDFM MD Mzi Malunga said he hoped job losses would be kept to a minimum, and BDFM would also look at alternatives for the paper.
"We will salvage as much as we can, but the Weekender will be discontinued in its current form," he told staff on Friday.
The Weekender's publisher, Karen Bonsall, asked subscribers to the paper to contact her directly for refunds at bonsallk@bdfm.co.za.
Wits journalism Prof Anton Harber said: " The Weekender enriched our Saturday offerings considerably. Our level of discussion, of discourse and debate will suffer without it ."
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