In its series of articles about the online versions of African newspapers, this week RAP 21 examines "Le Matinal" in Benin, which is about to launch its fifth online version.

"We are planning to contact both TV and radio stations to make an event out of the re-launch. Through them, we want to reach investors who hopefully will understand what an opportunity our web site is for advertising. This does not only concern companies who sell goods, but also importers and exporters," says Hippolyte Djiwan, who is in charge of the online version on "Le Matinal".

The online version of "Le Matinal" indeed possesses a very outgoing personality. Both the paper and the online version are published in three different languages: French, English and German.

"Well, French is our mother tongue. The English version, which is a weekly one, is aimed at the large Nigerian community living in Benin. The German version, which is also weekly, is linked to the close ties Benin has with Germany. There are many German investors in the country, and they are also an important part of the development community here."

There is, however, no version of the newspaper in any of the local languages. Even if discussions about launching a version in a local language were held in the year 2000, it failed due to one main reason.

"The illiteracy rate is very high among the people who speak the local languages. There would simply be no readers. If there will one day be a version of ’Le Matinal’ in a local language it will be the result of a very long process," says Mr Djiwan.

That being said, those who are illiterate still get to "read" the newspaper: the most popular radio show in Benin is the daily press review in one of the local languages.

Giving the latest news to the international community: Reaching both English and German-speakers in Benin is not the only far-reaching goal of "Le Matinal" online. "The main audience of the online version can be found outside Benin. It is people from Benin who live abroad and any other people abroad who are interested in our country, such as researchers, students, etc..."

Another important target group is the international media, such as the BBC, RFI, Deutche Welle and Courrier Internationale, who through online versions of African newspapers get the latest news in a fast an easy way.

"Before setting up ’Le Matinal’ the entire newspaper went for a training session in Senegal. That was when we realised that an online version of the newspaper was imperative. We needed to make ourselves known outside the borders of Benin," says Mr Djiwan.

Today the newspaper is actually a media group, consisting of a radio station, a printing house and a communication agency. This is impressive for a newspaper that was founded only five years ago in a country with almost 20 daily newspapers for 7 million inhabitants, and an illiteracy rate of 60 percent.

Paradoxically, the people who actually live in Benin are the ones that are the least concerned by the online version of "Le Matinale".

"We do not have the habit of reading newspapers online yet. In Benin, the web is used for sending and receiving e-mails, phoning over the web, looking for bursaries or getting romantically involved with other people."

No external investment: The content of the online version is basically the same as the printed one. The advertisements in the print version cannot, however, be found in the online version.

"The plus of the web version are the pictures. On one hand there are the photos we take from other web sites, obviously always citing the source. There are also photos from events in Benin that give a snapshot of ongoing events in the country for Beninese living abroad. And sometimes we will publish on the web site before they appear in the paper version, such as sports results."

The online version of "Le Matinale" is the result of important investments, both on a personnel and on a financial level. Thus far, the online version of the paper has not received any external investment, even if they have put a lot of money into it.

"In 1998, when we set up the online version we used to pay 120,000 CFA (183 Euro) per month to update and develop the web site. Besides that, the person who did the updates lived 30 kilometres from Cotonou so we had to go there very morning with a disk containing all the material that needed to be updated," says Mr Djiwan.

Today all this has changed. "Le Matinale" is now working together with a company called H2COM, which has designated three people to work on the newspaper’s website. They are responsible for all the technical aspects, as well as for the new version of the web site which, according to Mr Djiwan, resulted in a bill of between 10 and 12 million CFA (approximately 18,000 Euro).

"At the newspaper there are three people working on the web site: myself and two other people who have just finished their web site training."

The newspaper does, however, get rewarded for its work, at least in number of visitors: every day there are among 3,500 and 4,000 visitors on the "Le Matinal" web site. The newspaper makes no secret out of its statistics: they are available to anyone. Onee the web site one can find the number of daily, monthly and yearly hits as well as the most read articles and other information. The online version of "Le Matinal" is a hit.

To access the online version of "Le Matinal", go to: http://www.matinalonline.com