South Africa: Ruling party set to get its own publication

African National Congress (ANC) is set to have its own newspaper which is set to go public in September 2010. The publication will be funded by the Gupta Group which is closely linked to the party president Jacob Zuma and the ANC.

 

The newspaper will be called the New Age, and will be published daily. Essop Pahad whose magazine is also bankrolled by the Guptas, is one of the people behind the newspaper and former Business Day journalist Vuyo Mvoko is expected as editor of the paper.

Meanwhile Pahad covered up for ANC by saying the newspaper  “is not and will not be affiliated to the ANC”. However the ANC has made no secrete of its dissatisfaction with the media and its belief that media companies are unfairly critical of it. At its Polokwane conference in 2007 it emerged that an ANC-aligned newspaper was needed, but the biggest obstacle has been to find a financier.

The New Age will target the middle top end of the market and will be based in Gauteng. The newspaper is described as “sympathetic” to the party in the media circles. Media analyst Anton Harber, said the newspaper would be a “healthy addition to the mix of voices” but that it was important that “they are clear and open about where they are coming from”. He said there was a need to ensure that government departments did not favour the new publication when it came to recruitment advertising, which he said “would be illegal”.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) spokesman Pratrick Craven welcomed the competition, saying the labour federation had always felt that “print media were owned by too few companies.”. //End//

 

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Reagan Malumo

Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat

21 Johann Albrecht St

Private Bag 13386

Windhoek

Namibia

Phone: +264 61 232 975

Fax: +264 61 248 016

Mobile: +264 81 311 2626

Official Email: reagan@misa.org

Private Email: reagan32002@yahoo.com

 

- July 6, 2010 by MISA

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Source: www.misa.org (accessed on 06.07.10)