mail & guardian • Tags • Page 2 of 3 •

Digital growth for the Mail & Guardian

A short while back Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes told Grubstreet that the paper’s website was doing very well – with its traffic up by about 40% over the past year.

“We’re rolling out new products,” Dawes said in February this year. “We’re spending money on growing a digital business and our online traffic was up 40% last year. We sell something like 1500 iPad editions and approaching 3000 Kindle. So we’re growing and things are happening.”

That’s great news from the tough little paper that has gone from strength to strength in recent years. It is, in fact, one of the few in SA to have stable or rising circulation so it’s heart warming to hear that M&G online is also growing – especially in a market dominated by the giant News24. Grubstreet tracked down M&G online editor Chris Roper to find out more the website’s fortunes.

Media corrections and our social reputations

The modern news cycle has been diminished to a matter of minutes — even less on services like Twitter. And it seems to just keep speeding up.

SABC News (again) found guilty of broadcasting ‘untruths’

The SABC News department has had more shame heaped upon it by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) in a judgement that found it had been unfair to and broadcast ‘untruths’ about investigative journalist Sam Sole.

SABC News “unprofessional”, “reckless” and “duplicitous” – BCCSA

SABC News has been shown to have sunk to a new low. The Broadcast Complaints Commission (BCCSA) has found that the SABC was “unprofessional and actually reckless”, as well as “duplicitous” and deceptive, in its broadcast of allegations by controversial businessman Robert Gumede that investigative journalist Sam Sole was ‘bribed’ with a R900 air ticket by John Sterenborg, a former business partner of Gumede, to investigate him.

Mercury retrenches third of staff following GCIS move

Media placement house Mercury has had to retrench 10 staff members following a decision by the Government Communication and Information Service (GCIS) to centralise control of Government’s R1.7 billion annual advertising budget (including departmental). The GCIS was a long-standing client of Mercury, which has had considerable success in attracting business from government departments and parastatals over the years.

World cup: newspaper editors innovate amid circulation decline

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has been the biggest South African news story so far this year. The tournament dominated media coverage over several months, both in the build-up to and during the actual event. Newspapers sat between a rock and a hard place during the world cup, as television ruled with its live broadcasts and online was first with live commentary, opinion and blow-by blow recounts.

TV’s world cup, but real growth for online too

TV owned the 2010 FIFA World Cup. There, I said it. While the Internet increasingly owns breaking news and the various South African news portals came up with numerous strategies for making their world cup content as engaging as possible, it could not even attempt to mimic the vibe of families, friends, even communities, gathering together in the real world in front of TV screens to follow the main matches.

Tag archives: mail & guardian