Diversity and Transformation in the Print Media Indaba: Day 2

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Communications and Digital Technologies

22 September 2011
Chairperson: Mr S Kholwana (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

On Day 2 of the Indaba on the transformation and diversity of the print media, there were three submissions: from the Media Development and Diversity Agency, Print Media South Africa and the Fibre Processing & Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority. The FP&M SETA noted languages in which publications were printed were pre-dominantly English. This industry was dominated by a few large companies. The FP&M SETA had a challenge in ensuring smaller companies had access to its systems. Between April 2006 and March 2011, 1 199 learners were funded for print media training programmes at a cost of almost R20 million, a pass rate of 79% was achieved. A lot more learners were enrolled for training courses in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal as opposed to the other provinces. This was because the majority of media houses were located in the three provinces. SETAs and the Department of Labour had a prominent role to play with regards to promoting employment equity including exploring more stringent mechanisms for enforcement of compliance. There was a 85% black vs 15% white split and 57% male vs 43% female split in total number trained since 2006, whether SETA- or self-funded. In order to enhance print media transformation, sector profile research was due to be conducted to ensure there was more reliable baseline data available.

Print Media South Africa represented over 700 media publications written in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and isiXhosa and Chinese. The organisation highlighted the challenges in the industry, including the move to online and digital platforms which, required intensive capital investment, plus high printing, distribution and marketing costs. There was also a decline in readership, circulation and advertising spend. PMSA was committed to developing a consistent and coherent transformation strategy in the print media industry. Criticism had been leveled at the print media industry for a perceived lack of transformation. The ownership landscape had seen significant change from no black ownership pre-1994 to a percentage of black ownership ranging in size from 15% to 51.38%. However management of the print media industry as a whole was not sufficiently diverse to be completely representative. Of the four large media houses, average black board membership was 17.8%; average black senior top management was 70%; average black executive board members was 28.1% and average black other top management was 17.9%. However, change of ownership of the newsroom would not result in transformation of the newsroom, as no owner would dare compromise this. The employment equity score was low compared to the BEE Codes for management due to a lack of gender diversity and a lack of disabled employees. Extensive amounts were invested in skills development on an annual basis. However this fell short of the BEE Code target of 5% of basic payroll.

The Media Development and Diversity Agency was a statutory body responsible for promoting media development and diversity. This was achieved via financial support to developing smaller media houses and projects; encouraging diversity within management and ownership and promoting an enabling environment for media development. Redress was needed for previously marginalised communities and indigenous languages. All stakeholders had to work together to close any gaps in the media industry as information and knowledge was at the core of socio-economic development and the media played a primary role in this. Every citizen had to have access to information. A number of research reports (one on trends in ownership and control of media and the other on representation of racism, migrants and xenophobia in the community and small commercial media) had been completed in 2009 yet nothing had changed since then. Media concentration was still a challenge. Media ownership remained in the hands a few. The language issue remained a challenge, with a predominance of one or two languages in the media landscape. This had to be addressed. MDDA was hoping that the new approach to advertising by government would result in accessibility for all media houses and publications. Government at all levels needed to begin to print information in languages widely spoken within communities where publications were due to circulate. Such an approach would assist communities in accessing government information. A healthy democracy had to have dissent and debate within its media industry. Research had suggested that there should be a general agency for publishing services; better prices and credit should be made available and the position of individual publishers should be bolstered. The South African Human Rights Commission conducted a study looking at the existence of racism in the media at newsroom level. The study found that expressions in the media continued to reflect a consistent pattern of racism through racist expressions and content. The study also found that newsrooms continued to reflect racial and gender disparities. The 2011 Gender Protocol Barometer report of the Southern African Development Community had noted there was a glass ceiling for women who constituted about 42% of the population because they accounted for only 18% of staff in newsrooms across SA. Free, independent and pluralistic media could only be achieved through the diversity of media in respect of ownership, control and diversity of content, views and opinions. MDDA recommended:
• More support was needed with regard to formal and non-formal training, capacity building, skills development, mentoring and coaching.
• Media management should vigorously address the issue of the training and recruitment of black staff, especially sub editors.
It asked the questions: Is media charter a solution? Should the possible anti-competitive behaviour in the value chain (publishing, printing, distribution and advertising) be probed? Should print media be encouraged to contribute to media development and diversity (through the MDDA which was under-funded) by legislative prescription? It suggested that MDDA with PMSA and GCIS, conducting research to update information on ownership in terms of MDDA Act and on B-BBEE certificates.
 
The Committee asked how FP&M SETA planned to level the playing field between the smaller and bigger media houses; why figures for people with disabilities enrolled in learnership programmes were missing; what assistance was given to learners from the more rural provinces; requested more information on the extent of foreign ownership of media houses and publications; about the funding needs of the MDDA; how MDDA aimed to help community newspapers and if PMSA followed international trends. The Committee said the MDDA had to fulfill its mandate and it should not delve into content of publications. One Member warned that regulation and control that would impede the media was not the way to go. The Chairperson closed by stating that challenges in the media industry had to be addressed and there needed to be a commitment to the transformation agenda. The Indaba was a first step towards necessary engagement on transformation and diversity in the media.

Meeting report

Fibre Processing & Manufacturing Sector Education & Training Authority (FP&MSETA) submission
Mr Bheki Zulu, FP&M SETA Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, said this print media organisation was relatively new. As from 1 October 2011 a board would be appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training. SETAs were guided by equity targets to ensure that 85% of those they trained were black, 54% were women and 4% were people with disabilities. The languages in which publications were printed were predominantly English. Smaller companies faced stiff competition from a few dominating large companies. FP&M SETA had a challenge in ensuring smaller companies had access to its systems. Between April 2006 and March 2011, 1 199 learners were funded for print media training programmes at a cost of almost R20 million, a pass rate of 79% was achieved. A lot more learners were enrolled for training courses in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal because the majority of media houses were located in these provinces. SETAs and the Department of Labour had a prominent role to play with regards to promoting employment equity including exploring more stringent mechanisms for enforcement of compliance. Of the 5 868 who completed their training out of 6 976 (either SETA- or self-funded) who registered since 2006, there was a 85% black vs 15% white split and 57% male vs 43% female split in total number trained.

There were gender challenges in print media and accelerated programmes for women in would have to be identified. In order to enhance print media transformation a sector profile research was due to be conducted to ensure that there was more reliable baseline data that was available. There would also be a need to come up with programmes for schools and dig deeper in the industry to identify solutions. There was a lack of effective career guidance on media opportunities and there was also inadequate funding for prospective learners. FP&M SETA would need support in terms of new venture creation. There were difficulties in accessing funding and support for setting up smaller enterprises. It was important to level the playing field and encourage competition. The proposed Media Charter should be seen as sitting alongside the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice; it gave teeth to the Codes. The Media Charter would allow broader consultation and thus it could lead to increased buy-in regarding transformation issues; it would facilitate for more co-ordinated enforcement of the transformation agenda and it would also provide a better mechanism for measuring progress.

Discussion
Mr N Van Den Berg (DA) said that the crux of diversity and transformation was that the big role players had to become smaller and the small role players had to become bigger, how was FP&M SETA going to manage this? How were big role players such as Caxton and Media 24 supposed to give up their market share so that the small role players could grow?

Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) observed that there was no mention of learners with disabilities in this year’s enrollment figures, why? How many learners with disabilities were included the figure of 6 976? The fire at Paarl Media was a concern especially as students wee enrolled there to do internships. What was the SETA doing to increase learnership figures in the other provinces? FP&M SETA had mentioned that 79% of learners had passed their learnership, what happened to the others? What was the role of FP&M SETA in creating awareness amongst learners at high school level?

Ms J Killian (COPE) said that it seemed as if Gauteng was one of the culprits where dropout rates and gender imbalance were concerned, why was this? What made it difficult for females to emerge in Gauteng especially since in Eastern Cape this was not a problem? Should there be measures in place to prohibit takeovers by big role-players?

Mr Zulu replied that the SETA was of the view that it was a partner in the media field as opposed to an expert. The situation was that the playing field was not level and that was the reality. Other instruments for the eradication of inequality had to be found. Overall there were about 2% of people with disabilities in learnerships; this was short of the required 4%. Companies, such as Paarl Media, took issues of health and safety very seriously and the fire may have been caused by human error. It was an unfortunate event. The SETA participated in a lot of career fairs in order to promote itself. It was conceivable that the mandate of the SETA was not well communicated. The SETA would begin to look at targeting schools.

Mr Simangaliso Mkhwanazi, Acting FP&M SETA CEO, said the number of applications for people with disabilities was very low and it had to be borne in mind that the SETA had its own entry requirements. The organisations that work with people with disabilities had to work with the SETAs and there was also a lot of in-fighting within these groups. The young people who were out there who did not have jobs had to be assisted and enrolled in the programmes.

Ms Newhoudt-Druchen followed up and asked what assistance was being rendered to pupils from the more rural provinces. How was the SETA encouraging rural communities to have community newspapers produced in local languages?

Ms Killian asked what the FP&M SETA’s views were on how it could assist community newspapers to incorporate business models as well as to attract advertisements. What was the SETA’s understanding of diversity and transformation of the media?

Mr Zulu replied that an even spread of learners across all the provinces was a concern of the FP&M SETA. Training that was offered by SETAs was focused on that industry, therefore most learners went to sectors where they could be professionals for example in law and accounting.

Print Media South Africa (PMSA) submission on Diversity and Transformation in the Print Media
Mr Hoosain Karjieker, PMSA President, said the organisation was a non-profit entity that represented the Newspaper Association of South Africa (NASA); the Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA) and the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP). The AIP had a seat on the PMSA board so that issues of the smaller players in the industry could be engaged with. PMSA represented over 700 media publications written in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and isiXhosa and Chinese. There were numerous challenges in the industry. The move to online and digital platforms required intensive capital investment and there were high printing, distribution and marketing costs. There was a decline in readership and circulation. The proportion of the advertising revenue pie had shrunk considerably. Most of the advertising revenue pie had migrated to television and other platforms. PMSA had adopted the industry’s BBBEE Codes of Good Practice, which was the common transformation measurement tool. PMSA would be solid and consistent in its adoption of the Codes. PMSA had embarked on its transformation initiative, which had focused on black interaction. PMSA was a level five contributor to BBBEE and it was committed to developing a consistent and coherent transformation strategy in the print media industry. This initiative had commenced in 2010 with the commissioning of a report on ownership in print media. In terms of this initiative smaller entities would be included at meetings and there would be workshops to develop strategies to accelerate transformation. What was of concern to the senior directors and managers was whether there was sufficient integrity, credibility and diversity within the newsrooms. Criticism had been leveled at the print media industry for a perceived lack of transformation. Of the four large media houses there was a direct correlation between levels of black ownership and the percentage of black board members. The average black board membership was 17.8%; the average black senior top management was 70%; the average black executive board members was 28.1% and the average black other top management was 17.9%. In pre-1994 there were few publications aimed at the Black market and few Black editors. In pre-1994 there were only 7% black editors; in addition there was no Black ownership of print media amongst the large media houses. In 2011 the figure for Black editors was 65%. There was a consolidated figure of 14% for black ownership amongst the four large media houses.

The ownership landscape had seen significant change in recent years, more than 50% of the collective size of the 4 largest print media groups in SA had a percentage of black ownership ranging in size from 15% to 51.38%. It was a fact advertising spend was now migrating from print media to more attractive media avenues such as the Internet and social media platforms. Advertising spend in print media had dropped from 42% in 2004 to 33% in 2011. The consolidated BEE score for management in the print media industry was relatively consistent across the four large companies, it was however recognised that management of the print media industry as a whole was not sufficiently diverse to be completely representative. The employment equity score was low compared to the BEE Codes for management due to a lack of gender diversity and a lack of disabled employees. Extensive amounts were invested in skills development on an annual basis however this fell short of the BEE Codes target of 5% of basic payroll. This had been affected by the gender adjustment factor, where the spend was discounted in relation to the percentage of black women trained. There was fundamental agreement that the PMSA would lead the development of an industry wide transformation strategy. There was a need to engage with stakeholders as well as the Portfolio Committee. This Parliamentary Indaba was seen as an important step in establishing common ground amongst stakeholders.

Discussion
Mr Van der Berg said that the challenges that the industry faced were the same for the small and big media houses. The media industry was tough and people were losing their jobs. Could more information be provided on how much foreign ownership existed in SA amongst the media houses? It had been presented that there were now more black editors, had this translated in a change in content?

Ms Newhoudt-Druchen asked why there was media in Chinese, which was a foreign language? The gender under-representation was a concern, what was PMSA planning to do to turn this around? How was PMSA planning to have more persons with disabilities working in the media? How many learners were being taken into learnerships?

Ms Killian asked what the current readership in the country was, given that PMSA had indicated that it had declined. Did PMSA study and follow international trends? How were the big four planning to cater for rural communities especially where debate on current affairs was concerned? Should the government aim to curtail direct foreign investment as it led to foreign ownership? How did PMSA plan to balance commercial interests with the need for important debate on national matters? What were the criteria that should drive the transformation agenda? What was needed in order to run a successful media house but at the same time ensuring diverse views were catered for?

Mr Karjieker replied that the use of Chinese was in a newspaper that was a voluntary member of PMSA. The other official languages of SA were represented through the membership of the Association of Independent Publishers. The industry did face numerous challenges and this included the smaller media houses. Media companies had had to re-model business strategies and also incorporate digital platforms such as the internet to reach target markets. PMSA had had to re-brand itself in order to keep up with the new changes. PMSA planned to work with the SETAs in order to enhance skills development. The PMSA was trying to increase the number of persons with disabilities as well as women in the industry. Internships, as opposed to learnerships, were widely used in the media industry. To date about 552 interns had enrolled in various internship programmes and 427 have completed them.

Mr Ishmet Davidson, General Manager of Independent Newspapers Cape said that the newspaper industry operated in a tough market. Between 2004 to 2006 there was a growing community based newspaper industry dominated by individual ownership. Since then things had become a lot more difficult with the economic downturn and a lot of those types of newspapers have closed down. Independent Newspapers was a company that was listed on the Irish and London stock exchange. It had a lot of Irish and other shareholders as well. Independent Newspapers was fully committed to transformation; it was a level 5 BEE company and had a 80% rating. Local or foreign ownership of the media was not the issue, the issue was maintaining editorial independence.

The Chairperson asked how PMSA managed to cater for the interests of both the big four and the smaller media houses as they were part of the same organisation.

Mr Karjieker replied that PMSA encouraged debate until consensus was reached amongst its members.

Ms Esmare Weideman, Media 24 CEO, said one of the challenges faced by print media was that ad spend was migrating to broadcasting, this was an international trend especially when there was an economic downturn. Digital media was an important medium to stimulate debate and reach people in the rural areas as well. International trends were being observed very closely and the total migration to digital media was being awaited. Print media in SA still had a long way to go and would stick around for a while.

Mr Paul Jenkins, Caxton Chairman, said that it was difficult to regulate and control the Internet. There was an international market for news and opinion, PMSA had to cater for both the international and local market. The international digital market was not going to be contained. It was important not to conflate the different markets for existing newspapers. The Daily Sun, for example, had penetrated the lower income market very successfully. Newspapers addressed two different markets, this was the readership market and the advertising market. Community newspapers were anonymous where a debate with the elite was concerned, they focused more on community issues.

Ms Ingrid Louw, PMSA CEO, said PMSA did listen to the views of community-based newspapers. The media companies would value the opportunity to play a role in enhancing the quality of media in SA. Media 24 had 30% of the free community newspaper market and 16% of the paid community newspaper market. Almost 96% of Media 24 newspapers were free, so this was a viable option in terms of getting government’s message across. 85% of the readers of community newspapers were black and almost 60% were in
Living Standard Measure (LSM) 4-7. The community newspapers run by the big four did play a role in the enhancement of the diversification of the media in SA.

Mr Mike Robertson, AVUSA CEO, said there were a lot of places that were not being listened to in the country. One was not going to get enough advertisers for a community-based newspaper in Orange Farm for example; therefore other means of subsidizing such projects had to be found.

Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) submission
Mr Thatho Mahapa, MDDA Board Member, said MDDA was a statutory body responsible for promoting media development and diversity in SA. This was achieved via financial support to developing smaller media houses and projects; encouraging diversity within management and ownership; promoting an enabling environment for media development as one needed to redress the previously marginalised communities and indigenous languages.

Mr Lumko Mtimde, MDDA CEO, noted the Indaba was an important step to assist the MDDA in fulfilling its mandate. One should not have a case where the ideas coming out of the Indaba were buried and set aside. All stakeholders should work together to close any gaps in the media industry because information and knowledge was at the core of socio-economic development and the media played a primary role in this. Every citizen had to have access to information. SA citizens had to be provided with broader and more diverse information where the views of the previously disadvantaged were also catered for. Diversity referred to a variety of publications, services and programmes available. Plurality on the other hand referred to the different choices that people could make between the different providers of these services.

A number of research reports (one on trends in ownership and control of media and the other on representation of racism, migrants and xenophobia in the community and small commercial media) had been completed in 2009 yet nothing had changed since then. Media concentration was still a challenge. Media ownership remained in the hands a few after a full 17 years into democracy. The language issue remained a challenge, with a predominance of one or two languages in the media landscape. This had to be addressed. MDDA was hoping that the new approach to advertising by government would result in accessibility for all media houses and publications. New publications such as Vukuzenzele should be welcomed as they added to diversity in the media and also provided valuable information. Government at all levels needed to begin to print information in languages widely spoken within communities where publications were due to circulate. Such an approach would assist communities in accessing government information. A healthy democracy had to have dissent and debate within its media industry; the problem arose only where there were only a limited number of views, service providers and opinion makers. Newsrooms had to be enhanced so that they represented SA’s diverse society.

Research had suggested that there should be a general agency for publishing services; better prices and credit should be made available and the position of individual publishers should be bolstered. The South African Human Rights Commission conducted a study looking at the existence of racism in the media at newsroom level. The study found that expressions in the media continued to reflect a consistent pattern of racism through racist expressions and content. The study also found that newsrooms continued to reflect racial and gender disparities. The 2011 Gender Protocol Barometer report of the Southern African Development Community had noted there was a glass ceiling for women who constituted about 42% of the population because they accounted for only 18% of staff in newsrooms across SA. Only 35% of women were in senior management positions in newsrooms. Free, independent and pluralistic media could only be achieved through the diversity of media in respect of ownership, control and diversity of content, views and opinions. The combined effect of under-funding for the MDDA and lack of policy for measuring and implementing diversity posed a serious challenge. This had led to the destruction of the independence of publishers, small commercial and community media. The MDDA had to be given more funding so that it could come up with and implement a plan to assist new print media companies to become independent of the big media operators. There was a need to ensure the media developed a greater research capacity to avoid a blind replication of news and that there was diversity in the media so as to reflect and express the diverse population of SA. An important objective for the MDDA was to rigorously communicate the SA outlook and values. SA media should transform to ensure equitable access of both the rural and urban populations. The public should be given a platform to debate the issue of media transformation via a parliamentary process. The ideal media would be one that was accountable and free of commercial or political influence at the expense of the SA value system. All stakeholders should commit to some transformation targets. The SETAs would assist in the training, recruitment and mentorship of new entrants in the industry.
MDDA recommended:
• More support was needed with regard to formal and non-formal training, capacity building, skills development, mentoring and coaching.
• Media management should vigorously address the issue of the training and recruitment of black staff, especially sub editors.

It asked the questions: Is media charter a solution? Should the possible anti-competitive behaviour in the value chain (publishing, printing, distribution and advertising) be probed? Should print media be encouraged to contribute to media development and diversity (through the MDDA which was under-funded) by legislative prescription? It suggested that MDDA with PMSA and GCIS, conducting research to update information on ownership in terms of MDDA Act and on B-BBEE certificates.

Discussion
Mr van der Berg said that a lot of the presentation had value in it and the suggestions therein were brilliant. The question was what was the MDDA going to do because the presentation seemed to suggest that there was a lot of change. The MDDA should stick to its mandate and change would follow but gradually. The MDDA had to take the lead role and drive the change. The MDDA also had to try and assist the smaller media companies as much as possible.

Ms Killian said she was disappointed in the presentation. It was a concern that government wanted to venture in areas where criticism against the government should flow from, such as the media. Regulation and control would impede the media and was not the way to go. The challenge was to get more active readership especially amongst the under-serviced rural communities. What could the MDDA do about this? What would be MDDA’s approach regarding regulation of the media as the current attitude of the organisation seemed threatening? How much more money did the MDDA need? There was a need for the MDDA to strengthen a free and independent media. The problems of the MDDA and its barriers had to be the main focus so that they could be overcome and a vibrant print media sector could be established. There should be less focus on content, as it seemed as if there was discomfort from the MDDA on what was printed in the media. From what could be gathered from the presentation, the focus of the MDDA was wrong and the tone of the presentation was also disappointing. It was not aiming to resolve the problems faced in SA.

Ms Newhoudt-Druchen asked what the MDDA’s views were on the statement from PMSA that change in ownership would not bring transformation? How was the MDDA going to assist small community newspapers? One could not run away from the fact that digital was the future. Was the MDDA going to work with the SETAs as they were not mentioned in the presentation?

Mr Mahapai said that there was a limit to what the MDDA could do and this was also dependent on available resources. MDDA funding had restricted it to intervening in only certain areas per year.

Ms Louise Vale, MDDA Board Member, said the major media houses contributed a voluntary figure of R4.4 million per year towards transformation. This was clearly inadequate. The support MDDA provided to small media entities was research, training and development oriented. The broadcasting corporations contributed far more as this was a regulated figure of a certain percentage of income. Most community-based organisations could not compete with the big four and did not have access to media agencies that handled the accounts of advertisers; the playing field was not level. Access to retail advertising was difficult to access. Even though certain companies operated in these local communities, they did not advertise in their local newspapers.

Mr Nkopane Maphiri, MDDA Programme Director, said the organisation supported about ten entities per year on average. Requests for support ranged from R40 to R50 million and every year projects piled up. Clearly there was a funding crisis of note. The MDDA had become creative in lending support through capacity building and providing support via the SETAs as well. From next year the figure contributed by the major media houses was due to drop to R4 million - perhaps this should be regulated in law or otherwise.

Mr Mtimde highlighted that one of the biggest challenges MDDA faced was printing costs. In response to Ms Killian, nowhere was it suggested in the submission that there should be control of content. The MDDA Act did not allow the entity to interfere with content and it did not. The Media Charter was there for the purpose of setting objectives for the transformation of the print media so that it could better serve SA society. It was important for the media landscape to be diversified and it was only through a diversified media landscape that democracy could be sustained. Transformation was a bigger picture that had to do with more than just ownership. Transformation was inclusive of ownership, control (not of content) as well as management and capacity building. A non-diverse media would mean a lack of access and misinformation for the citizenry. The advertising cake was distributed by advertising agencies that normally went for any of the publications from the big four, this re-enforced the growth and development of the big four, much to the detriment of the smaller media houses. MDDA worked with SETAs including the two that operated within this industry. Media diversity should be embraced and any new publication should be welcomed and viewed as adding to media diversity. The challenge of transformation must not be shelved and instead should be embraced.

The Chairperson said the MDDA and the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) were a joint venture therefore GCIS should make a comment.

Mr Jimmy Manyi, GCIS Director General, said he wanted to encourage MDDA to continue with the good work it was doing. The media should extend its coverage - for example, there was not enough coverage on the census. The government wanted to challenge black editors and the role that they played in the media.

The Chairperson closed by stating that the Indaba had been very interesting. The challenges of the media industry had to be addressed. The issue of foreign ownership was not a simple matter and could only be resolved through engagement with all concerned parties. There was a need for commitment to the transformation agenda. The Indaba was a first step towards necessary engagement on transformation and diversity in the media.

Meeting adjourned.

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