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| Media24 has announced the closure of 5 of its Magazines and 2 newspapers |
Media 24 has announced that it is considering the closure of five magazines and two newspapers, outsourcing and reducing the frequency of its remaining monthly magazines, taking two newspapers digital only and reducing staff in related support services.
It is an undisputed fact the already struggling print media has been badly hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. Media24 has joined Associated Media Publishing which closed shop permanently and forced South Africans to say goodbye to magazines such as Cosmopolitan, House&Leisure and Women on Wheels among others. Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers also closed their magazine division and affected publications such as Bona, People, and Garden&Home to name just a few.
Media24 CEO, Ishmet Davidson said that consultations with the expected 510 staff to be affected will start today. "The pandemic has accelerated the pre-existing and long-term structural decline in print media, resulting in a devastating impact on our own already fragile print media operations with significant declines in both circulation and advertising since April. For many of our print titles the benefits of prior interventions to offset the structural declines and keep them on the shelf no longer exist and they've run out of options in this regard,"
"Even with a return to pre-Covid-19 economic levels,the impact of the pandemic on our print media operations will be unrecoverable. Sadly, we have no choice but to restructure our business now to curtail the losses in our print portfolio and allow us to focus on keeping the retained titles sustainable and in print for as long as possible." he added.
Here are some of the changes in the magazine portfolio:
- Move, Men's Health, Women's Heath and Runner's World will shut down.
- DRUM magazine will be published in digital format only
- The remaining magazines will be issued six to eight times a year
For Newspapers :
