Caxton sounds alarm

Risk of print wasteland’ while Naspers online reaps rewards.

Caxton and CTP Publishers have again expressed concern over the closure of several Media24 news titles, saying alternatives have been suggested to the latter but ignored.

In a paid-for statement appearing in Beeld, Rapport, City Press and The Citizen, Caxton chair Paul Jenkins says Media24's decision to close the titles - driven, he says, by Naspers chair and Media24 non-executive director Koos Bekker threatens "to create a significant void in the country's media landscape".

Jenkins warns that the situation represents an existential crisis for the South African press.

Papers on the chopping block are City Press, Beeld, Rapport, Daily Sun and Soccer Laduma.