Media jobs on the ropes
By: Issa Sikiti da Silva
Dozens of journalists, photographers, subeditors and other media practitioners face an uncertain future as cash-squeezed South African media companies lay off permanent staff, cutting costs as the financial global meltdown wreaks havoc amid falling print advertising revenues, a decline in world economic activity and the US recession. Media experts this week told Bizcommunity.com that it is a sad period for journalism as experienced and hard-working staff leave.
With Naspers preparing to get rid of up to 20% of its newspaper division's workforce (
Beeld,
Rapport,
Die Burger and
Volksblad), the
Sunday Independent throwing out newsroom gurus Jeremy Gordin and Hans Pienaar, and community newspapers revealing that they are battling to ‘stay alive', industry watchers believe that they the worst is yet to come.
“Intertwined”Simon White, CEO of Stokvel Media and publisher of
Stokvel Times and
Township Property, told Bizcommunity.com: “The financial and economic hardship is affecting all industries, which are intertwined and interlinked to media.
“And if these industries cannot grow and make profit, it means that they cannot advertise and advertising being the ‘soul food' of media, these media companies will suffer and will have no option but to cut costs. Companies are not replacing people because of the market situation.
“Of course, it is sad for journalism as it compromises its quality as top guys are sidelined.”
Jacob Ntshangase, Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) executive director, echoed White's sentiments, saying: “Laying off journalists will definitely have an impact on quality journalism as those left behind will find themselves overloaded, thus compromising quality in their work.
“Already, the issue of understaffed newsrooms is impacting negatively on quality journalism in the SA media industry as a whole. One can only hope that in the process of cutting down on staff, the management doesn't cut corners and man newsrooms with juniors in an attempt to address (senior) staff shortage.
“Newspapers are a business and journalists (and other media workers) go to this industry knowing very well that at the end of the day it is going about the profitability of the business. It will be hypocritical to blame media bosses for scaling down in their business venture as a result of global business turmoil as it is all about the viability of the business.”
Expand new horizonsFurthermore, White pointed out that these retrenchments might provide various opportunities to expand new horizons and form new alliances and partnerships.
However, starting a business venture ‘out of nothing' nowadays is not as easy as it sounds because of funding and market access issues. “We live in very difficult financial times and banks policies and regulations are much tighter than they were before,” White said, making a remarkable u-turn.
Some journalists have indicated that they will be embracing the
freelance world, where they will probably be met with new regulations instructing freelancers to cut down on the number of stories and words.
“It is a scary and stressful situation,” one journalist told Bizcommunity.com on condition of anonymity.
For more:More by Issa Sikiti da Silva
More...ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Issa Sikiti da Silva is a freelance journalist and short stories writer whose work has been published in local and foreign publications, both in English and French. He contributes to Bizcommunity.com as a news writer. Email him at
issa@bizcommunity.com.
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