Newspaper blues

Dear reader

The newspaper industry and the media in general have, just like all other sectors, been hard-hit by the advent of Covid-19 and the accompanying stringent regulations. As businesses went into lockdown, advertisements dwindled - the lifeline of our industry.

This immense dip in income has forced us to publish one weekly regional newspaper instead of the six hyper local papers that our readers know and expect every Thursday or Friday in towns across the Garden Route, Karoo and Hessequa.

To ensure that the regional paper still features your town's most important news, the publication includes four individualised pages - the front and back pages plus two pages inside the publication. So each of the six titles still has a hyper local aspect. The news that cannot be accommodated in the physical paper every week, is published free of charge on your publication's website, which is constantly updated with the latest news as it happens.

Group Editors staff members continue to work as hard as ever and have taken a 50% pay cut until our income stream picks up. We have also started an online fundraising campaign to keep our local newspapers alive. Go to any of our websites if you are able to make a contribution anything will help!

Please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to stay afloat.

If you are not in a position to advertise or to contribute to our rescue fund, we thank you for buying the paper. Please get everyone you know to follow suit!

Your support is much appreciated. Stay safe.

En alles sal regkom. Soos Nataniel sou sê: "Koop net die blêrrie koerant!"

- Ilse Schoonraad, Managing Group Editor