
Scores of workers will be retrenched at the media group.
South African media giant Tiso Blackstar has announced they are closing down their tabloid the Sunday World…
This is amid rumours that the group is also looking for a buyer to take over the Sunday Times which they own.
Sources say the company is struggling to make money and has been running at a loss since 2017.
In March 2019, the company instructed UK law firm Hogan Lovells’ Johannesburg branch to manage the sale of the group’s assets.
The group owns a string of newspapers in South Africa, including the Sowetan, Herald and the Daily Dispatch.
In November 2017, the group announced they were no longer printing the The Times, citing unprofitability.
The Times was a daily South African newspaper – published Monday to Friday.
The latest announcement means that people will be retrenched across the country at the various publications owned by the influential media company.
The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is reported on the SABC saying the news is disturbing.
SANEF chairwoman Mahlatse Mahlase says this is an indication that there is a bigger crisis in the media industry.
“We are quite concerned because this has been a trend in the past couple of years, where we saw the closure of the Huffington Post and also saw the closure of another Tiso publication, The Times. But we also know that in between that, there’s also been retrenchments at other companies, Media 24, the Independent Newspapers and that is quite concerning because it has an impact on the quality of news that we are able to continue to pursue,” said Mahlase.
(edited by MLM)
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