One of the biggest challenges to the newspaper industry in Africa is simply staying alive. The "Daily Times" newspaper in Malawi has defied the odds, and today, is well into its hundredth year of production.

In a three-part series, RAP 21 explores the history, the challenges and the advantages of some of the oldest newspapers on the continent.

History of the "Daily Times": The "Daily Times" of Malawi was established by British settlers in 1895. This English-language daily was the only newspaper to appear in Malawi until the early 1940s. Circulation rested in the hundreds, and was geared towards the predominantly white farming community. Throughout its existance, the newspaper has had its own printing house, the Blantyre Printing and Publishing company, which today also includes the "Malawi News".

Wales Mbekeani began reading the "Daily Times" in the 1930s at the age of ten. In the 1960s he became manager of its sister newspaper ("Malawi News") and today remains a loyal reader of the "Daily Times". He says much has changed since the newspaper’s founding.

"For so many years, there was no competition! There were no other newspapers produced locally that could attract the readers," Mbekeani says and adds that this was maybe one of the principle reasons for its survival. But perhaps more important, he says, was the fact that "those running the newspaper in its early days were very enlightened people."

When asked about some of the challenges the "Daily Times" has confronted over the years, Mbekeani says that at least financially, the paper never faced any great difficulties: "During lean times, the newspaper would simply reduce the number of pages," he says.

One of the greatest challenges faced by the newspaper over the decades has been adapting to political changes: "Newspapers sometimes do not to take into account that a change of government can also mean a change in people’s interests and taste. A newspaper has to be able to adapt to survive and prosper," says Mbekeani.

Present Day Advantages and Challenges: One of the advantages of being an old, established newspaper can be in the domain of advertising. Jika Nkolokosa, current general manager of the "Daily Times", says:"Advertisers have much more confidence in older newspapers than the newer ones as they appear to be more safe, more secure. This is important since newspapers in Africa depend more on advertising than on sales. Today, around fifty-five percent of the ’Daily News’’ revenue comes from advertising."

One of the drawbacks of depending so heavily on advertising revenue is that the newspaper sells advertising space on credit which can eventually leads to a financially unstable situation for the paper. Therefore, one of the future strategies of the "Daily Times", includes expanding its traditional readership along with boosting its circulation to put less emphasis on advertising.

As this problem illustrates, being one of the oldest newspapers does not necessarily mean that present-day challenges do not exist. Today, sales of the "Daily Times" have been eclipsed by the other national daily, "The Nation", although it continues to maintain a solid base of readership.

According to Nkolokosa, the "Daily Times" has the potential be the most popular newspaper in the country, but this is frustrated by the general perception that it has ties to one of Malawi’s political parties: "In the early 90s, readership dropped because of heavy anti-governmental stance. Readership was at its peak in the 1980s, and circulation hovered around 19,000. Today, it sits between 5,000 and 9,000. The biggest challenge the we confront today is not only to adopt a policy of independence, but to actually practice it."

The political situation in Malawi will also have an important influence on the future of the "Daily Times". Nkolokosa considers that there is a need to change the perception of the paper’s supposed political bias, something he hopes to do after the May 2004 national elections.

This specific problem of the "Daily Times" illustrates the more general issue that public perception is indeed a challenge to change, particularly if a newspaper has been identified in a certain way for a number of years.

Nkolokosa also believes the newspaper could be more responsive to its readers, something which limits growth in readership. "Also, you must surprise your readers every now and again, not be predictable, something we have been too often," he says.

Recent business strategies to re-invigorate the "Daily Times" include the re-structuring of its advertising department and implementing a commission-based sales to provide further incentive to members of the department to sell more space.

Over the last twenty years, the number of staff has remained rather constant at the "Daily News" with an editorial staff of 40, not including freelancers.

Says Nkolokosa: "Newspapers must change with the times, they must constantly reinvent themselves. the "Daily Times" has survived all this time through being able to do this, so today it shouldn’t be so difficult."

A concrete suggestion for change comes from Wales Mbekeani, the manager of the "Malawi News" in the 1960s: "Tell them to publish more international news. And there is too many advertisements in the paper!"