Mixed reactions to government plans to launch a newspaper

By Khanyisa Tabata
28 March 2011


Some media experts have labelled government’s plans to launch a newspaper next month as a move to feed propaganda to the public.

Government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi this weekend said plans are already in place to convert the bi-monthly Vuk’uzenzele publication into a fortnightly tabloid.

Julie Reid, a lecturer at the University of South Africa, says however that the paper could serve a useful purpose if managed transparently.

Meanwhile, Jane Duncan, head of the Media and Information Society at Rhodes University says the money government plans to spend on the newspaper could be put to better use elsewhere.

Duncan says government has raised legitimate concerns about the lack of linguistic diversity in newspapers and the prioritising of news from the metropolitan areas.

She says government should rather help struggling independent community newspapers

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