Media24 may close 7 print titles, cut staff

MEDIA24, the print media division of South African company Naspers, said yesterday it was considering closing five magazines and two newspapers and reducing staff, among several measures in response to the negative impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the business.

Media24 said the proposals, which would affect more than 510 jobs, included outsourcing and reducing the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines and making two newspapers digital only.

Consultations with staff were to start yesterday, it added.

“The pandemic has accelerated the pre-existing and long-term structural decline in print media, resulting in a devastating impact on our own already fragile print media operations with significant declines in both circulation and advertising since April,” said chief executive Ishmet Davidson.

“For many of our print titles the benefits of prior interventions to offset the structural declines and keep them on the shelf no longer exist, and they’ve run out of options in this regard.”

South African businesses have taken a knock from the coronavirus pandemic, which saw the government impose a lockdown from March 27, initially grounding most economic and social activity.

The lockdown regulations have since been gradually relaxed but for many companies, the damage has already been done.

Davidson said even with a return to pre-Covid-19 economic levels, the impact of the pandemic on Media24’s print media operations would be unrecoverable. The company had no choice but to restructure its business to curtail the losses in its print portfolio and focus on keeping the retained titles sustainable and in print for as long as possible.

He said that in a very competitive landscape that included major international brands, online news services News24 and Netwerk24 were holding their own, with the former averaging 1.6 million daily unique users for the year to date, a 63% increase on the 2019 average.

Media24 said the planned closures would affect around 510 staff members – with a proposed reduction of close on 660 positions – out of a total staff complement of 2 971, largely across the print media and distribution divisions.

The Move!, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Bicycling and Runner’s World magazines would all be closed, while DRUM would be published in digital format only.

A licensing agreement would be pursued with editor Helen Schöer to publish the Baba & Kleuter and Your Pregnancy publications independently, and Media24 said it was outsourcing the editorial production of other magazines such as Fairlady, SARIE, SA Hunter/Jagter and True Love.

The plans also include reducing the frequency of most of the monthly magazines to six issues per year and eight issues for a handful, while the flagship weeklies Huisgenoot, YOU and Landbouweekblad will continue to be produced and published in-house.

In the newspaper portfolio, the company is closing Son op Sondag and Sunday Sun, as well as the Eastern Cape edition of Son.

Four community newspapers in KwaZulu-Natal, namely Amanzimtoti Fever, East Griqualand Fever, Hillcrest Fever and Maritzburg Fever, will also cease.

“We are fully committed to managing this highly sensitive consultation with compassion while following the process as prescribed by law,” Davidson said.