Media24 shutdowns — digital to retain 66 journos, but 334 jobs still on the line

Media giant Media24 has announced that it will retain all 66 journalists from the four print newspapers it has earmarked for closure, and will continue consulting with the remaining affected staff members.

The 66 newspaper journalists include editorial members who work with pure journalistic content – whether they create it (in words or with photos or multimedia), or process and package it. They will be incorporated into Netwerk24, News24 and at the Daily Sun website respectively. Based on previous numbers supplied by Media24, that still leaves 334 jobs in the balance.

Read more: Doors to close on Media24 print titles — 800 jobs affected

Ishmet Davidson, chief executive officer of Media24, says the company has strived to keep job losses to a minimum and hailed the development as “an important breakthrough in our consultations with staff around the proposed closures of the print editions of Beeld, City Press, Daily Sun and Rapport”.

Davidson says the decision, approved by the Media24 board, follows robust discussions and debates with editors that went “beyond the transition from ink on paper to digital in line with irreversible consumer trends and preferences”.

Media24’s submission to the Competition Commission ahead of the media inquiry earlier this year, notes that as the revenue from printed media has declined over the past five years, the business has had to reduce operational costs (including staff reductions and consolidating backend operations) to protect financial sustainability.

The submission also points out that the increased market demand for digital media has resulted in an exponential increase in technology/digital-related costs.

These range from licensing and engineering costs for related and broad-based software; developing platforms and tools; implementing digital subscriber management platforms and tools (including for payments, content predictability models, digital advertising technology and business intelligence); redesigning newsrooms and upskilling staff; and equipment for producing multimedia content.

“On the digital-only brands in the Media24 News division, technology costs alone more than doubled between 2018 and the financial year to 30 March 2023. This increase is considerably higher than the decrease in technology costs for the printed publications in this division. These costs alone are not nearly recouped by the revenue levels generated through subscriptions and advertising,” the submission states.

At the end of June, when news of the pending closures broke, Davidson said titles in the northern region had 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,” he said.

Labour group Solidarity said it was “delighted to learn that its sustained pressure, together with pressure from the wider media landscape and the public”, has led to the retention of 66 editorial positions at Media24, although talks on the layoffs of other staff continue.

“It is further encouraging to learn from Media24 itself that it still plans to allow both Beeld and Volksblad to continue to exist digitally. Several of our members are still, despite the latest events, affected by the planned layoffs. Solidarity will also demand transparency and fairness for these employees,” says Johan Roos, organiser of Solidarity’s communication and marketing network.

Beeld not up for grabs