Very few things beat the feeling of opening a freshly-printed newspaper in the morning. This was according to Belinda Daffue, an advocate from Bloemfontein, and a former daily reader of the Volksblad printed newspaper.
Volksblad was established in 1904, making it the oldest Afrikaans daily newspaper in South Africa. Before Covid-19, their circulation figures were 11 913 between Mondays and Fridays and 12 298 on Saturdays, according to Gert Coetzee, editor-in-chief of Volksblad. PHOTO: Lara van Zyl
Volksblad, the oldest Afrikaans daily newspaper in South Africa, according to the Media24 website, discontinued their print publication in August 2020. The discontinuation was a result of the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Gert Coetzee, editor-in-chief of Volksblad, in email correspondence with MatieMedia.
“Publications closed down and staff members were laid off. Volksblad continued online but with fewer staff members,” explained Coetzee. Volksblad is part of the Media24 group, and thus adhered to a company decision that it would only publish online. This was Volksblad-specific.
The newspaper had already established an online presence in the early 2000s with its own website, and later joined Netwerk24 in 2016 when they published their e-newspaper on the site, according to Coetzee.
“The readership is stable with 94% of the subscribers to the printed publication also subscribed to the online publication on Netwerk24,” explained Coetzee. Volksblad now also has access to the 80 000 subscribers of Netwerk24, he said.
Volksblad did not experience a major shift, as they were publishing on Netwerk24. However, due to the discontinuation of the paper, some people did lose their jobs when the publication went solely digital, according to Coetzee. PHOTO: Unsplash/Kaitlyn Baker
Digital killed the printing star
The discontinuation [of the print publication] not only affected the newspaper and its readers, but many other livelihoods as well, according to Mossie Mostert, general manager at Novus Printing in Bloemfontein.
Novus Printing once shared the same building with Volksblad, until the newspaper stopped printing. After the discontinuation of the Volksblad print publication, Novus Printing bought the building in August 2020, according to Mostert.
“Due to [Covid-19] a lot of newspapers closed down, which had an impact on our business. Novus had to restructure to make the best of what is left in the market,” explained Mostert.
Before moving to an online-only model, Volksblad faced many challenges as a result of the hard lockdown. “Fewer newspapers were printed and distribution was minimised to save money, due to outlets being locked up and staff not being able to work as they normally do,” said Coetzee.
Mostert believes that the best marketing strategy for news publications is finding a balance between print and online, and that this balance is necessary. “Digital has killed the daily publications as everyone wants to get the news out first,” said Mostert. However, often it could mean that there was no time to fact check. This could be dangerous, he said.
Business as usual
The financial difficulty for newspapers came with the lack of advertisement revenue as it “shrunk to nought while the astronomical daily prices of printing and distribution continued”, explained Coetzee.
This, however, did not diminish the quality of work that was provided by the newspaper, said Coetzee. They covered major news stories such as the former premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule, appearing in court, the Senekal-uproar after the murder of Brendin Horner, the farm manager for the Bloukruin Estate at Paul Roux, and the murder of Leon Brits, a hotel owner in Pofadder — alongside other local, national and international stories, according to Coetzee.
“Volksblad is first and foremost a news publication, from and for the community,” said Coetzee.
Even though many news publications have either closed down or shifted to digital, there is still a future in print, according to Mossie Mostert, general manager of Novus Printing in Bloemfontein. There must be a balance between print and digital, and this can be done with the right marketing strategy, he adds. PHOTO: Lara van Zyl
Although there was no major transition from print to online, parting ways with this method of communication was bitter-sweet for many readers, according to Daffue. She still reads the e-newspaper every day, but “prefers the ‘old school’ version”.