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Other articles in the RAP 21 Newsletter n°17/2004:
The Business of Newspapers
Botswana: Local language newspaper aims to capture hearts and minds of nation
Looking for the story within the story: Lessons learned during a training course
NEWS FROM THE MEDIA SCENE
Dakar: Leading African intellectuals call for repeal of all laws which undermine freedom of expression, media and academic freedom
West African journalists to form sub-regional network
PRESS FREEDOM
Alerts from the continent
FELLOWSHIPS
African journalist sought for six months at Commonwealth Secretariat
IWMF International Fellowship Programme
Launch of scholarship for South African journalists
AWARDS OPPORTUNITIES
African journalists eligible for annual journalism prize
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Environmental reporting course in Nairobi, Kenya
Newsletter n°17
19.10.04
THE BUSINESS OF NEWSPAPERS MANAGEMENT

Mozambique: Vulnerable newspaper industry suffers from lack of capital and management expertise

Ten years after the end of the civil war, Mozambiques newspaper industry is still fighting to get on its feet. The countrys almost 19 million inhabitants have access to a total of ten publications, of which only two are published daily.

According to a recent report by the government-owned Sociedade de Noticias, the main daily newspaper in the country, Noticias, has a circulation of around 13,000 copies. The other daily in Mozambique, the Diario de Mocambique, which is published in the northern city of Beira, has a print-run of 5,000. In addition the country has a number of newssheets that are distributed through fax, and weekly papers.

RAP 21 spoke to Fernando Lima, chairman of the MediaCoop Group in Mozambique.

In Mozambique, fax publications are very popular. A couple of computers, some phone lines, a modem, and you are in business. Usually these dailies have four A4 format pages, including advertisement, says Lima. His group publishes the fax paper Mediafax, the weekly Savana magazine (which is a printed paper), and the English language Mozambique Inview which is published twice monthly.

According to him, newspapers in Mozambique face several important obstacles.

The newspaper industry is highly vulnerable. The newspapers of our country are dependent on four offset printing machines, of which three are based in Maputo, says Lima and continues There are some political connections relating the ownership of those premises with the ruling party which could turn the operations of independent press more difficult. Since there is not a tradition in dealing with newspapers as a business, there is some hostility from financial institutions to support newspaper projects.

Lima considers the absence of a business approach to newspapers as the greatest hinder to the development of the countrys media. In most cases there are no economic groups behind media initiatives. So the lack of capital and the lack of management expertise are the biggest challenges in the survival of Mozambican alternative media.

He also criticises the international donor community.

Foreign donors are more focused in providing support for other productive activities since media is not considered a priority. And, of course, the government lobbies strongly to direct funds to their own media, namely state radio and television.

And as if all of this would not be enough, Mozambique has also had its share of natural disaster over the last years, which have had an influence on the development of the newspaper market. In early 2000, and again in 2001, the country was hit by floods which destroyed a large part of the countrys infrastructure. Besides this, a severe drought hit the country in 2002.

The natural disasters affected the people’s purchasing power. So this had a significant negative impact on the sales of newspapers. However, I believe that with better editorial quality and contents, Mozambique newspapers can attract a much higher readership.
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