South Africa Magazine Analysis

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An in-depth overview of South Africa’s magazine history. South African media has the largest mass media sector in Africa, which is the reason why it is one of Africa’s main media centres. South Africa has many broadcasting and publishing corporations which reflect the diversity of the country’s population in its entirety. The most commonly used language is English, however all ten official languages are represented in various publications in the country. Press Freedom has made history in South Africa within regards to media openly criticising the apartheid system, politicians, public sectors and social issues that that South Africans could not talk about, discuss or know about due to government censorship during the apartheid years. censorship…show more content…
A monthly Afrikaans magazine that covered general issues the Huisgenoot only catered to those who were affluent in Afrikaans. The magazine was founded in the apartheid era, which is why only white people and Afrikaners could afford it and read it. Translated to English the Huisgenoot means, House Companion. The magazine was funded for one fundamental reason, the Afrikaans newspaper, Die Burger. The Huisgenoot debut was just ten months after Die Burger. Post 1994 the magazine was converted into a weekly magazine now ranks as the magazine with the highest circulation figures in South Africa. The Huisgenoot has expanded to two joint magazines namely, YOU, its English version and Drum magazine which is directed at black South Africans. Considering the country has a bigger population of women than men, Fair Lady and Sarie magazines are the highest selling women’s magazines in South Africa. True Love and Drum magazines are popular amongst black women. Competitors to Naspers, Perskor (Republican Press), CTP Holdings, Times Media, Primedia Publishing (the largest publisher in the trade and technical sector), Kagiso Media and Ramsay Son & Parker who also specialise in consumer magazines; cater to a majority of races and social groups in the country but are also stereotypical in the language use and presentation of their…show more content…
But the majority of the world and Africa’s population have switched over to reading their magazines and newspapers online as this saves time and allows one to get on with daily tasks, without having to take the time to go to a shop or corner stand to buy a magazine/newspaper. Digital magazines do not require a reader to be stationary. Digital news consumers read on-the-go. This begs the question whether print is really dying out? Whether there will be any magazines/newspapers in their physical form in ten years? The biggest publications have gone digital because it’s where the money is. It all comes down to the changing of times but most importantly, profit. Advertising plays a major role in the survival and longevity of any publication who hopes to crack it digitally and stay there. Therefore the quality of news, whether it be political, cultural, social, entertainment or lifestyle has all been diluted and cheapened. Churnalism has become the means of producing news online, paraphrasing and rephrasing articles to compete with other online publications but not taking the quality of news, nor the values of journalism and the reader into consideration. Online readers tend to believe everything they read online that’s why it is difficult to know what is true and what is not when you read online. Not everyone has access to Wi-Fi

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