We have seen throughout the pandemic that the publishing industry has suffered greatly.

A number of local print publications have already shuttered their doors or tried to pivot to a digital only model and now several KwaZulu-Natal publications’ fate is up in the air following a Media24 announcement.

“Media24 is selling the bulk of its media operations in KwaZulu-Natal to Capital Newspapers (CN) (for an undisclosed amount, the publisher announced today (28 February 2022) The transaction includes The Witness, Weekend Witness and two community newspapers, Echo and the Greytown Gazette,” the company explained in a press release sent to Hypertext.

“This transaction is part of the consolidation process we embarked on three years ago to reshape Media24 in a landscape that is increasingly digital,” notes Ishmet Davidson, CEO of Media24.

While the fate of the aforementioned publications remains unknown at this stage, pending the sales, in the case of The Witness, it marks a significant blow to independent journalism in the country.

“It has been a great privilege to have had The Witness, the oldest continuously published newspaper in South Africa, in our portfolio,” added Davidson.

The release says that the transaction is expected to be concluded and the business transferred to Capital Newspapers by 1st July 2022. According to Media24 this includes the vast majority of staff members currently employed within the operations.

With the release ending by noting that Davidson is not available for interviews or comment, it looks like Media24 is quite content to let these important publications go without further explanation.

With several communities still reliant on paper-based news to stay up-to-date on the happenings in this country, it remains to be seen how else they will get their news.