Media24 shakeup: Hundreds of job losses loom as major newspapers face closure

In a bombshell announcement on Tuesday, CEO of Media24 Ishmet Davidson announced that a proposed restructuring of the company could lead to the loss of at least 400 jobs.

This cames after Moneyweb reported last Thursday that four major South African newspapers — City Press, Rapport, Beeld, and Daily Sun — are set to shut down by October.

After an online meeting with staff countrywide, Davidson further announced that the company’s community newspaper portfolio was sold to Novus Holdings, subject to regulatory approvals. An estimated 400 more positions will be transferred to Novus holdings.

A reliable source told The Citizen that no questions were allowed in the staff meeting, adding to the uproar of staff who feel senior management should have engaged with them as soon as Moneyweb broke the news.

With only a small print media portfolio remaining, Media24 also decided to divest of its media logistics business, On the Dot.

While the print editions of Beeld, Rapport, City Press, Daily Sun and Soccer Laduma will be closed, the digital (PDF) editions of Volksblad and Die Burger Oos-Kaap, and the digital hub SNL24 will also be shut down, Davidson said.

Most people prefer to read on cell phones or laptops

“In South Africa, like elsewhere in the world, consumer preferences have changed. People now read more news than ever, but most prefer to do so on their cellphones or laptops and publishers have to comply with their preferences.

“Consequently, print media globally has been suffering structural declines in circulation and advertising for decades. Combined with rising fixed distribution costs, this has had a devastating impact on print operations.  

“As a result, our titles in the northern region have been on life support for a while. Combined losses are projected to mount to R200 million over the next three years. After years of cutbacks, we’ve reached the end of cost reductions to try save these print operations.  We’ve simply run out of options.

“So, we have to restructure our business now. It will also allow the remaining viable brands to move fully to digital and will strengthen our two main digital news brands, News24 and Netwerk24, serving audiences and society across multiple market segments.”

‘Rapport’ and ‘City Press’ to be hosted as digital brands

He further explained that Rapport and City Press will be hosted as digital brands by Netwerk24 and News24 respectively.

“These readers will still be able to access their news on Netwerk24 and News24 with the two platforms’ ‘Al in One Place’ multi-content offering.”

According to Davidson, this renewed focus on Media24’s two hero digital brands contributed to the decision to close SNL24 and sell its interests in the profitable local newspaper sector.

“Daily Sun (part of SNL24) represents an important segment of the middle market. We will continue to serve this market with the relaunch of the brand as a standalone and free e-news site,” Davidson said.

“The consultation process with staff members is expected to be completed over the next three months, with 30 September earmarked as the last day of publication for the affected newspapers. We are fully committed to managing this highly sensitive consultation with compassion. We will follow the processes prescribed by law and intend to keep job losses — particularly amongst our journalists — to a minimum. Unfortunately, we cannot share any further details until the process has been concluded.”

Solidarity to consult with Media24

Media24’s decision to close its publications has a great influence on the South African media landscape, but especially on the Afrikaans landscape, CEO of Solidariteit Dirk Herman said in reaction to Davidson’s announcement.

“It affects our community, but it also affects our members. Solidarity will consult with the company. They are obligated to consult with us, and we will protect our members,” he said. “However, we also want to protect our community.

“This company historically has a special relationship with the Afrikaans community. The Afrikaans community has supported them for a very long time. To just throw them away for the sake of more profit is not acceptable. The fact is that Rapport is still making a profit and that Beeld’s advertising revenue even supports the digital side. We say the loss of the community must be balanced with this.”

Hermann concluded that Afrikaans is worse off if the publications are shut down.

The civil rights organisation, which forms part of the Solidarity movement, has since started a petition on its website with the heading: “Is this the end of print media in Afrikaans?”

It continues to state that “this is a black day for Afrikaans. Media 24 was built on Afrikaans money and is now turning its back on its origins. AfriForum needs your vote and is going to hand over a petition to Media24”.

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