The press in South Africa
You'll never be left in the dark in this part of Africa. The country's turbulent history and the passage from apartheid to democracy has made its people remarkably news hungry, fed by a robust, free and flourishing press.
South Africa has 20 daily and 13 weekly newspapers, most in English. Some 14.5-million South Africans buy the urban dailies, while community newspapers have a circulation of 5.5-million. There is also a range of general and specialised news websites which, in terms of the speed and breadth of their coverage, are on a par with the best in the world.
South Africa has always had a courageous and opinionated press. For over 40 years the apartheid state tried to gag the country's newspapers, using legislation, harassment and imprisonment, culminating in the late-1980s States of Emergency. Through all of this, SA's press continued to report on all the news they could.
With democracy in 1994, South Africa's newspapers were freed from all restrictions.
Our new Constitution safeguards freedom of the media, freedom to receive or impart information or ideas, freedom of artistic creativity, academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.
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The news online - Click on each newspaper's masthead below to link to its website. For more on SA's news websites, click here.
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Reporters Without Borders ranks SA's press as the 26th most free in the world. That's ahead of the United Kingdom, ranked 28th, Greece (33rd), Italy and Spain (tied at 39th) and Australia (41st). Our press is the freest in Africa, and more free than any press in South America, Asia, the Middle East and Australasia.
In this three-part examination of
SA's newspapers, we look at the main dailies and weeklies, who owns them, and at the country's remarkable journalistic history - see the "story contents" box at right.
Read all about it!
SA'S DAILY PAPERS
Daily Sun is the first South African tabloid aimed at the black working class. Initially met with disdain by the established press, its huge sales - and the fact that it has made new newspaper readers out of millions of South Africans - have earned it some respect. In the few years since its launch by Media24, the Daily Sun has become the largest daily newspaper in South Africa. It is sold in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West.
- Average daily sales: 301 800
- Average daily readers: 2.29-million
The Star is published in Johannesburg and distributed throughout South Africa, with most sales in Gauteng. Once aimed exclusively at the white market, today over 50% of the Star's readers are black. It is owned by Independent Newspapers. Launched in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape in 1887 as the Eastern Star, the paper moved to Johannesburg in 1889.
- Average daily sales: 171 542
- Average daily readers: 616 000
- Weekly sales - Saturday Star: 143 797
- Weekly readers - Saturday Star: 447 000
Sowetan is Daily Sun's main competition, also aimed at an English-literate black readership. Initially distributed as a weekly free sheet in Soweto, the paper was transformed into a daily in 1981 to fill the void left by the Post, which was
de-registered by the apartheid government. Sowetan is owned by Johnnic Communications.
- Average daily sales: 118 261
- Average daily readers: 1.54-million
Afrikaans-language daily Die Burger, first published in 1915, is distributed in the Western Cape. The paper is owned by Media24.
- Average daily sales: 109 513
- Average daily readers: 562 000
Beeld is also an Afrikaans-language daily, printed six days a week and distributed in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. First published in 1974, the paper is owned by Media24.
- Average daily sales: 105 681
- Average daily readers: 364
000
The Citizen is published six days a week and distributed mainly in Gauteng. The newspaper is co-owned by Johnnic Communications and CTP/Caxton.
- Average daily sales: 90 978
- Average daily readers: 466 000
Independent Newspapers' Cape Argus is an afternoon daily aimed at middle- to upper-income readers in Cape Town. Some 53% of its readers are coloured, 33% white, 11% black and 3% Indian.
- Average daily sales: 75 549
- Average daily readers: 407 000
- Weekly sales - Saturday and Sunday Argus: 107 839
- Weekly readers - Saturday Argus: 410 000
- Weekly readers - Sunday Argus: 298 000
Isolezwe is the premier isiZulu newspaper, published Mondays to Fridays. The paper has also launched the first Zulu-language website in the world. It is owned by Independent Newspapers.
- Average daily sales: 58 848
- Average daily readers: 391 000
Independent Newspapers' Daily News, first published in 1878 as the Natal Mercantile Advertiser, is targeted at the middle market of Durban and the rest of KwaZulu-Natal.
- Average daily sales: 56 256
- Average daily readers: 308 000
Independent
Newspapers' Cape Times, a daily published since 1876, aims at the middle classes of Cape Town. It has a mainly white and coloured readership.
- Average daily sales: 51 285
- Average daily readers: 316 000
When Business Day was launched in 1986, it was the country's first mainstream business daily. The paper covers corporate reporting, black economic empowerment, economic policy, corporate governance and financial markets. It is co-owned by Johnnic Publishing and London-based Pearsons plc.
- Average daily sales: 42 322
- Average daily readers: 113 000
The Mercury, published since 1852, is Durban's morning newspaper. It is owned by
Independent Newspapers. Its readership is 47% white, 18% black and the rest coloured and Indian.
- Average daily sales: 40 526
- Average daily readers: 213 000
The first issue of the East London Daily Dispatch was published in 1898. The newspaper is the Eastern Cape's biggest selling daily, with a Xhosa and English supplement published on Wednesdays. The Dispatch was edited by Donald Woods from 1965 until his arrest and banning in 1977 for exposing government responsibility for the death of Steve Biko. It is owned by Johnnic Communications.
- Average daily sales: 33 535
- Average daily readers: 226 000
Founded in 1845 as the
Eastern Province Herald, the Herald is one of South Africa's oldest newspapers. Its first edition - four pages - came out on May 7 1845 and cost one penny. The Herald is owned by Johnnic Publishing and distributed in the Eastern Cape, with its main base in Port Elizabeth.
- Average daily sales: 30 230
- Average daily readers: 193 000
First published in 1904, Volksblad is the oldest Afrikaans daily in the country and the largest in the Free State and Northern Cape. It is owned by Media24.
- Average daily sales: 28 707
- Average daily readers: 126 000
Pretoria News, first published in 1898, is Independent
Newspapers' daily in the capital city. Mainly sold in Gauteng, it is also distributed in Mpumalanga and North West. Some 65% of its readers are black and 33% white.
- Average daily sales: 28 055
- Average daily readers: 86 000
- Weekly sales - Pretoria News
Weekend: 16 397
- Weekly readers - Pretoria News
Weekend: 89 000
South Africa's oldest newspaper, the Witness, serves English readers throughout KwaZulu-Natal, with most of its readers in greater Pietermaritzburg and inland KwaZulu-Natal. Owned by Media24, it was formerly known as the Natal Witness.
- Average daily sales: 23 804
- Average daily readers: 167 000
Established in 1878, Independent Newspapers' Diamond Fields
Advertiser is based in Kimberley and targets the communities of the sparsely populated Northern Cape.
- Average daily sales: 8 954
- Average daily readers: 55 000
Launched in 1995, Business Report is South Africa's second financial daily, edited in Johannesburg but printed in three cities. It is inserted in all Independent Newspapers morning titles in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.
SA'S WEEKLY PAPERS
Johnnic Publishing's Sunday Times is South Africa's biggest national newspaper, read by over 3-million people. The paper includes Sunday Times Magazine, Lifestyle, Business Times and
Metro sections. Established in 1906, the Sunday Times is distributed all over South Africa and in neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland.
- Average weekly sales: 504 657
- Average weekly readers: 3.24-million
Rapport is South Africa's national Afrikaans Sunday newspaper. It is distributed countrywide and in Namibia. Owned by Media24, Rapport has the biggest Afrikaans-language market penetration in South Africa.
- Average weekly sales: 325 807
- Average weekly readers: 1.6-million
A specialist soccer newspaper published on a Wednesday, Soccer Laduma is aimed primarily at young lower-income black
men - 87% of its readership is male. It is published by Media24.
- Average weekly sales: 209 547
- Average weekly readers: 2.03-million
Son is the first Afrikaans-language tabloid in the world. The newspaper is based on British tabloids such as the Sun, focusing on scandal, gossip, entertainment and sport. It is owned by Media24 and published on Fridays.
- Average weekly sales: 179 287
- Average weekly readers: 744 000
First published in 1982 as Golden City Press, City Press is aimed at the black market. Its name was changed in 1983 by its owners, Jim Bailey and the South African Associated Newspapers. Media24 acquired the paper in
1984. It is published on Sundays.
- Average weekly sales: 177 615
- Average weekly readers: 2.06-million
Established at the beginning of 2002 and aimed at black readers, Sunday Sun is the fastest growing newspaper in the country. Its content is largely of a tabloid nature, and much of its audience first-time newspaper readers. Owned by Media24 and published by RCP Media, Sunday Sun is sold countrywide as well as in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
- Average weekly sales: 172 050
- Average weekly readers: 1.96-million
The Sunday World, launched in 1999, is a tabloid aimed mainly at black readers. Owned by Johnnic Communications, it is distributed in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North
West.
- Average weekly sales: 142 912
- Average weekly readers: 1.06-million
The Sunday Tribune caters for KwaZulu-Natal readers. Its is published by Independent Newspapers.
- Average weekly sales: 113 577
- Average weekly readers: 672 000
The Independent on Saturday caters for the KwaZulu-Natal market. It is published by Independent Newspapers. Its readership is 47% Indian, 33% white and 15% black.
- Average weekly sales: 56 220
- Average weekly readers: 270 000
Post was launched in the mid-1950s as "a racy read, spiced with sex, soccer and news". Targeted at the Indian communities of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, it is owned by Independent Newspapers. Post is published on Wednesdays, with the leisure and sport edition Postweekend appearing on Fridays.
- Average weekly sales: 49 548
- Average weekly readers: 340 000
The Sunday Independent was established in 1995 and aims at readers in the higher-income bracket. Its main sales are in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Northern Cape. Its readers are 47% black, 29% black, 11% coloured and 13% Indian. It is owned by Independent Newspapers.
- Average weekly sales: 41 464
- Average weekly readers: 179 000
Mail & Guardian, formerly the Weekly Mail, was established in 1985 at the height of resistance to apartheid. When foreign donor funding started drying up for anti-apartheid organisations in the late 1980s, many of the country's alternative newspapers - notably Grassroots, South, New African and New Nation -
folded. The Weekly Mail, however, struck up a partnership with the Guardian of London, ensuring the paper's continued existence. Today, Zimbabwean entrepreneur Trevor Ncube's company, Newtrust Company Botswana Limited, has a majority share of 87.5% in Mail & Guardian, with the Guardian holding a 10% stake.
- Average weekly sales: 39 612
- Average weekly readers: 233 000
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